Is Illinois' Rebuilding Plan Still on Track?

Illinois completed one of college football's all-time great turnarounds last season. After finishing 2-10 in 2006 - after going 2-9 in 2005, 3-8 in 2004 and 1-11 in 2003 - the Illini stormed out of nowhere to claim a Rose Bowl berth.

It was vindication for Ron Zook, who was unceremoniously booted out of Florida after three seasons of at least four losses. The Zooker came to Champaign with the reputation of being a spectacular recruiter, and a miserable in-game coach.

Last season's Rose Bowl run quieted those criticism for a bit, particularly because Illinois marched into Columbus and knocked off previously-unbeated Ohio State.

One year later, the Illini need a win at Northwestern on Saturday simply to gain bowl eligibility - and all those questions about Zook are popping up again.

Because of Zook's knack for recruiting, which is in sharp contrast to Turner, there's no reason to believe the Illini will tumble as far after last January's Rose Bowl as they did after Turner's Sugar Bowl.

Why, though, does a Rose Bowl team that returned so many key players find itself needing a pair of wins to reach the seemingly modest goal of a winning season?

Those around the Illinois program claim that this is just a slip-up on the road to rebuilding, instead of indication of larger problems. And there are reasons to believe that is true: The Illini lost a couple of incredibly key contributors from last year's Rose Bowl team - namely running back Rashard Mendenhall and linebacker J Leman, the best players on their respective sides of the ball.

No one has replaced either of those players effectively. There are also 17 guys who are juniors or younger listed on Illinois' current depth chart, so youth is a factor. Quarterback Juice Williams also continues to struggle with turnovers and inconsistency.

So there were hints that a letdown was coming this season. Zook himself was aware of such a possibility:

But now, the expectations that Rose Bowl trip created are coming back to haunt Zook. All along, he has been saying, ''We'll be a better team. That doesn't mean the record will be better. But the players are going to be better.''

Considering all those young guys should be back next year, and Illinois is closing in on a Top 25 recruiting class, better days seem to be coming again.

Still, it's hard for Zook to shake the assessment that he's much better with the off-the-field coaching responsibilities than the on-the-field ones. His 23-14 record at Florida (and 16-8 SEC record) opened the door for those concerns, and even the 2007 success hasn't closed it.

Even with the 9-4 overall mark last year, Zook is just 18-28 (and 10-20 in the Big Ten) since coming to Illinois. That's not a huge surprise given the rebuilding challenge Zook faced when taking this job, but failing to make a bowl game in 2008 would certainly raise some eyebrows. As it is, Illinois would need a win at Northwestern, plus Penn State and Ohio State making BCS games to be assured of a bowl.

Deservedly, the Rose Bowl run earned Zook at least a couple more years to get the Illini built up as a consistent Big Ten challenger. A holiday season spent home, though, would make Zook's need to succeed in 2009 that much higher.