Juice Williams: Purveyor of Pain

Illinois fans will tell you that when you put the ball in Juice's hands, somebody is gonna die. There's a good chance that Juice will line up that defense staring at him and rifle down each member in different, awesomely soul-crushing ways. There's an equal chance that in an attempt to do just that, he'll get the business end of the rifle all twisted around and end up massacring his own team, cheerleaders, and half of those in attendance. Somebody's gonna die indeed.

This Saturday, Juice got it right.

That may be an enormous understatement. Juice got it more right than any player ever has in the history of players playing football against Michigan at Michigan Stadium. Player.

That's surprising to me, almost stunning in the wake of two performances last year that left my jaw hanging on the floor. Armani Edwards and Dennis Dixon eviscerated, re-viscerated, then eviscerated one more time good measure, the Wolverines last year. And Juice Williams holds the record for most beat-down given by a single player? Yes. Yes he does. He played the role of Running Back, Quarterback, and Executioner.

And that's something to remember as Illinois rolls through this season. Every once in awhile, Juice points that rifle at you and mows you down. It happened to Ohio State last year - who managed to contain the explosion just enough not to get blown out. It happened to Michigan this year. My guess is that the next team to take Juice and the Illini offense as lightly as Michigan did will be the next victim. They're probably not the best team in the Big Ten, but Illinois can make noise - and the rest of their schedule had better be ready for it.

Kiillllllllllll!!