Didn't Punt. Lost.

The first thing I googled when I got home: "Steve Weatherford college stats." I know that it's going to take me to his Sports Reference page – and if I don't include the whole "college stats" bit it will take me to his NFL Sports Reference page – and on his Sports Reference page I can see his game log. Let's go through that game log.

Punts for Steve Weatherford in our 2004 Big Ten games: 4, 8, 5, 4, 8, 6, 8, 8.
Punts for Steve Weatherford in our 2005 Big Ten games: 7, 5, 7, 9, 4, 10, 6, 3.
Punts per game for Steve Weatherford in our 2004 & 2005 conference games: 6.4
Punts per game for new Illini punter Lars Rau in 2026 so far: 0.5
Illini record: 1-1

We used to punt all the time. Punting used to be Illini football. Hey Lou Tepper, who is the most important player on the field? "Our punter, Forry Wells." (Not Dana Howard, Simeon Rice, or Kevin Hardy?) Who was the best player on the 2003, 2004, and 2005 Illini? The most confident punter in the history of football, Steve Weatherford. Who had the most viral clip of the 2021 season? Blake Hayes breaking an imaginary oar over his knee at Minnesota.

We used to see six or seven punts every single game. Today we saw zero. And we lost. No punts. Lost.

And it wasn't because of turnovers. Well, one turnover, obviously, but for the most part.... let me just show you how our drives ended: