Bloomington improved to 2-1 overall and in the conference while Urbana fell to 0-3, 0-3.

"I have to preface this," said Raiders coach Rigo Schmelzer. "Going back over the last five years, we've lost two regular season games. So looking at it from that angle, I'd like to be 3-0. But with playing a good Normal team, 2-1 isn't that bad. Still, there's room for improvement."

Special teams got the Raiders off to a good start when Chris Jameson returned a blocked punt five yards for a touchdown with 10:03 to play in the opening quarter for a 7-0 Bloomington lead.

A 63-yard run by senior running back David Simmons set up the Raiders second score, a one yard run by quarterback Stephen Esch, and a 40-yard touchdown pass from Esch to Josh Mitchell on the first play of the second quarter gave the Raiders a 20-0 lead.

Valshun Powe added a five yard touchdown run and Bloomington enjoyed a 26-0 halftime advantage.

"Our special teams were good," Schmelzer added. "The blocked kick was big and our kickoff coverage was good."

After a scoreless third quarter, the Raiders added three fourth-quarter scores for the final.

Brent Holtz ran nine yards for a touchdown before Powe added his second rushing touchdown of the evening, this one coming from 27 yards out. An Erik Wilson 8-yard touchdown run capped the scoring for Bloomington.

The Raiders finished with 289 yards rushing for the game and limited Urbana to just 48 yards on 30 carries. Bloomington had a whopping 357 yards total offense compared to just 82 for the home team.

Simmons finished with 137 yards rushing on 14 carries while Powe added 111 yards on the ground on eight carries. Esch completed 4 of 10 passes for 68 yards.

"Overall, our offense is still a concern," Schmelzer added. "We have five linemen that have to play all the time. We need to develop some depth there. Someone has to step up and challenge for those positions. Quarterback is still an issue. We need to see who is going to step up and be the leader of this team."