He leads the Big Ten in passing yards (269.2 per game) and total offense (326 ypg), and his 22 touchdown passes are as many as he threw in his first two seasons combined. In back-to-back weeks, he set single-game records for total offense at Michigan Stadium (431) and Memorial Stadium (503) .

But he also has thrown the most interceptions in the Big Ten (15), and Illinois will take a 5-6 record into its game Saturday at Northwestern, where it needs a victory to have a chance to salvage a trip to a minor bowl in what has been a disappointing season.

The Motor City Bowl might not be the Rose Bowl, but Williams would welcome it anyway.

''Whether it's in Detroit or anywhere else, it's still a bowl game,'' he said. ''It's a chance to play a month longer and to continue to try to get better.''

And getting better remains important to Williams.

''Juice wants to win as bad as the rest of us,'' Illini coach Ron Zook said. ''He does press a bit when he tries to make things happen, but things happen that are out of his control sometimes. He's done a lot of great things for us, and there have been some things that haven't been quite as good. But if you remember where he started as a freshman, he's made tremendous progress. And we have to do a better job of protecting him at times.

''A quarterback gets way too much credit and way too much blame. But that's part of being a quarterback in the Big Ten. And it gets exaggerated with a team that's expected to be more productive than we've been.''

It's easy to forget that Williams, who was coming from an unsophisticated high school offense at Vocational, was thrown into the Big Ten fire as a true freshman by a team that had won one Big Ten game in three seasons. As a sophomore, he led that team to Pasadena.

Now, amid the disappointments of his junior season, Williams is drawing strength from the three days he spent working out last summer with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, another South Sider whom he first met while still in high school.

They worked on technical things, such as footwork, seeing the field and timing with receivers. But as Illinois has seen a season of great expectations disintegrate, what McNabb told Williams about dealing with tough times has become an equally important lesson.

''Continue to lead and continue to try to be successful, even when adversity comes around,'' Williams said, recalling McNabb's advice. ''There are going to be ups and downs playing quarterback. He tried to instill in me to continue to play, no matter what the situation was.''

Williams has tried to focus on his next assignment, whether it's beating the Wildcats on Saturday or getting the Illini back on track next fall.

''It's hard to put a loss all on one person,'' he said. ''Anytime you don't win as many games as you expect, you see things that went wrong and try to learn from them. We'll get them fixed.''

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