Troubles continued for the young Illini as they dropped a tough game to the Syracuse Orange 31-21 in Champaign at Memorial Stadium. Illinois (1-2) was plagued by penalty yards and a shaky defense but some positives were found from the loss.

Freshman quarterback Juice Williams threw for 227 yards after replacing Tim Brasic. Williams had two long tosses of note, a 76 yard bomb to Rashard Mendenhall and a 69 gem to Kyle Hudson.

The difference in the game was Illinois' two turnovers and 12 penalties for 106 yards. The victory for the Orange (1-2) was their first since beating Buffalo in the second game of last season.

Syracuse led early on a 41 yard fumble return by Taj Smith and had a commanding lead, 31-7 in the third quarter before Illinois began to make some headway.

Williams completed his two long touchdown passes late in the third quarter after replacing Brasic, but as the old saying goes, too little too late. Illinois put up 398 total yards on offense, but could not keep Syracuse from scoring and gave the ball away two many times early.

With time winding down Illinois attempted an onside kick that was recovered by Syracuse and sealed the deal for the Orange.

Illinois starts Big Ten conference play next Saturday with a tough game at home against Iowa.

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