(Update: Wes Lunt wins Big Ten player of the week award)
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement pioneered by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. Cubitism (trademark The Sports Bank.net) is what Illini offensive coordinator Bill Cubit does with quarterbacks. He took a very mediocre signal caller in Nathan Scheelhaase and shaped him into a Picasso style masterpiece. Now Cubit has a really talented QB in Wes Lunt and through two games he’s put up ridiculous numbers.
He threw for a career-high 456 yards Saturday, which ranks second on the all-time Memorial Stadium passing yardage, just six yards shy of the school record 462 yards set by Juice Williams vs. Minnesota (Oct. 11, 2008). Lunt’s performance stands fourth, meanwhile, on the Illini all-time single-game passing yardage list. All in just his second game at Illinois
Lunt’s 456 yards broke his previous career high of 436 set during his true-freshman season at Oklahoma State. Take a look at this chart sent out by the Illini Sports Information Department, it compares Lunt’s first game versus those of the most prominent QBs in NFL history.
Tim Beckman on the offense under Wes Lunt thus far.
“I think that as we progress, I still don’t feel offensively that we are clicking in all cylinders yet, but we’re still able to put some points on the board.”
Of course, there’s a whole lot of caveats here. In Champaign, Wes Lunt has only faced a FCS (Division II) opponent and a mid-major side with a suspect defense. Also, his big yardage totals and due to the team falling behind most of the game, and having an extremely ineffective run game. The two wins were both as ugly as possible, and the Illini had to pass because their run blocking is terrible right now.
Wes Lunt on the comeback win:
“I think it shows what type of guys we have on the team.”
Lunt on the mistakes he made in today’s game:
“(I’m) just happy to get the win. A couple of those turnovers, like the fumbled snap, that’s something that (center) Joe (Spencer) and I need to get right. Along with a close one with (Josh) Ferguson, we almost lost that one. We need to work on the fundamentals and get ready for Washington.”
The 2014 Illini football team doesn’t have much going for it, but they do have a quarterback, and that really means something. It’s the most important position in sports and if you have a true, strong QB you can go places. At least in this Big Ten, which reached a new low Saturday.
“Wes Lunt is a big, strong kid. throws the ball pretty much effortlessly,” said Illini Tight end Jon Davis.
Like I said, Lunt has a really poor supporting cast, but the league itself is as poor as it has ever been. With the Illini having such a soft schedule, and a QB as good as Wes Lunt is, they can truly be mediocre this year. Maybe.
Aside from Christian Hackenberg and Connor Cook (probably also the guy from Rutgers) who is better Big Ten QB than Wes Lunt?
Paul M. Banks owns and manages The Sports Bank.net, in partnership with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his feature stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)