Brian Bennett, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Illini look to add their 'signature'

Illinois is 2-0, though its close-shave victories over Youngstown State and Western Kentucky at home aren't going to impress too many people.

So I asked head coach Tim Beckman this week how important it would be for his team to get a so-called signature victory this week at Washington.

"Every win for us as we're building this program is signature," Beckman said.

That's true, considering Beckman is just 8-18 in Champaign with only one Big Ten win, coming last year over 1-11 Purdue. The Illini's biggest victory to date in the Beckman era is last year's unexpected blowout of Cincinnati.

So, yeah, even though Washington is unranked and has had trouble getting by both Hawaii and Eastern Washington the past two weeks, claiming a road win over a Pac-12 team would register as something of a milestone.

"We feel like we can set an identity in this conference as well as the nation, to show we're a good football team regardless of how we played in previous years," tight end Jon Davis told ESPN.com. "I feel like this is our time to show what we can do."

Beckman's motto this week to his team is "Fight for five." He pointed out to the players that they could be just the fifth Illini team in the past 25 years to start a season 3-0.

That fight will not be an easy one, as Beckman compared the Huskies' massive offensive line to Wisconsin, a team that has bulldozed through his team's wobbly run defense. But Washington ranked 120th in the FBS in pass defense after giving up 475 passing yards and seven touchdowns to Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. last week. Those numbers have to make Wes Lunt and an improving group of Illinois receivers excited.

Illinois played Washington last year at Soldier Field in Chicago, getting within a touchdown in the fourth quarter after falling behind by 21 points. The Huskies went on to win 34-24.

"We started out a little slow in that game," Davis said. "I think we didn't understand we were capable of winning it. Going into this year, though we have some younger guys, it's up to the older guys to instill that confidence that we can get it done."

And if they do accomplish it, Illinois will have its first signature win under Beckman.

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