Illini Notebook - No. 19 Iowa 35, Illinois 21: Illini Defense Suffer Massive Injuries

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The misery of the final three quarters of football for Illinois was compounded by key injuries to defensive starters.

In the midst of its 35-21 loss to No. 19 Iowa, Illinois lost four defensive starters throughout the course of the loss including senior cornerback Nate Hobbs, defensive tackle Jamal Woods, junior safety Sydney Brown and junior linebacker Khalan Tolson.

Hobbs left the game in the second quarter after suffering what looked like concussion-like symptoms. Hobbs missed the 41-14 home loss to Minnesota on Nov. 7 with a shoulder injury but returned the following week at Rutgers. The senior co-captain finished with four tackles and one solo tackle but Hobbs’ absence for the final two and a half quarters was extremely noticeable as Iowa (5-2) began to pick on his replacement (senior cornerback Kendall Smith) to get Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras some confidence. Petras had 211 of his 220 passing yards and all three of his touchdown passes after a very shaky first quarter.

When asked after the loss why redshirt freshman defensive back Marquez Beason, who was a four-star prospect out of Dallas two years ago, didn't receive any playing time Saturday, Illinois head coach Lovie Smith said "that's between Marquez and I".

"We put the guys out there today that we thought gave us the best chance to win right now," Smith said. "We'll kind of go with that."

Woods, who has already missed two games this season with injuries, left the game early in the first quarter and was seen after halftime wearing a medical boot on his left foot. Woods was replaced on the defensive line with freshman Jer'Zhan Newton, who has made an impact in his first fall on the Illinois campus. Woods, who has 14 career starts, represented the only member of this Illini defensive line with any returning starting experience but came into Saturday with just four total tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss this season. In Woods’ absence, Iowa was able to find 159 yards on the ground in the second half as the Hawkeyes had seven rushes of 10 or more yards Saturday.

“I think you only talk about injuries when you lose and give up yards and points,” Illinois head coach Lovie Smith said Saturday in his post-game media conference. “Everybody saw the game (and) we did lose some guys. Some key guys were out. When that happens, other players need to step up and that didn’t happen today.”

Brown’s unknown injury, which saw him go into the locker room in the second quarter, wasn’t serious as the Canadian native returned after halftime and finished Saturday with four tackles. Brown came into Saturday fourth on the team in tackles with 33 but was part of the early-season struggles against long passes in the Illini secondary.

Tolson left the game in the first half with what appeared to be a leg injury and was carted out of the stadium before halftime. Tolson’s injury and Delano Ware being listed as inactive before kickoff left Illinois with three scholarship linebackers (Jake Hansen, Milo Eifler and freshman Shammond Cooper) available for the remainder of Saturday’s contest. Smith confirmed earlier this week that Tarique Barnes, who had earned himself a starting spot after his production in the second half of the season opener at Wisconsin, had season-ending surgery this week.