Why not go for it?

[CalFan]

Illinois played a great road game today. Nice ball control offense with a lot of deception. I think Zook got to conservative though. They should of tried a couple more deep passes in the second half. That is how you beat Cal. You have to "take your shots" to put pressure on the defense. Also, I could not believe the decision to punt on the Cal 48 4th and 9 with 4:34 left down 15 points. You really need to score on that drive to have a realistic chance to come back. I would think they had a 1/5 shot to convert easy. Even if it's 1/10 you have to go for it there. If you go for it and miss, you still leave Cal on their side of the field. Down 1 score you can punt. Down 2 scores that was a BIG mistake. You risk losing by more points for a better chance of winning, but a loss is a loss right? What do you guys think? Good luck in Big Ten play. You are going to upset some people I think.

[Dan]

Thanks for the post.Also, I could not believe the decision to punt on the Cal 48 4th and 9 with 4:34 left down 15 points.I only listened to the last part of the 4th quarter so didn't have the best feel for the game. But yeah under that situation it's very dissapointing (strange really) not to go for it, for all the reasons you describe. Punting was a concession of the outcome.

Good luck the rest of the way.

[nut game browser]

I think Zook got to conservative though. They should of tried a couple more deep passes in the second half. That is how you beat Cal. You have to "take your shots" to put pressure on the defense. Also, I could not believe the decision to punt on the Cal 48 4th and 9 with 4:34 left down 15 points. You really need to score on that drive to have a realistic chance to come back.

No kidding, being an Illini fan forever, I had to log in to complain. And my gosh, a Cal fan no less is telling us this. He is right, right on the money. Zook is toooooo conservative. They ran him out of Florida which should tell you something. He interviews well and seems well liked. God, the ESPN people give him a verbal BJ everytime they mention his name, but come on, this was elementary football decision making 101, hell, Bob "footbah" Davey could have figured you needed to go on 4th there. When are AD's, like our's, going to finally recognize that a head coach needs to know x's and o's, but also have excellent decision-making skills? We are headed for a good season, but it won't be a BCS type season because Zook can't think. He needs some no-limit poker training, he needs to start using the nut game browser!!! Google it guys, if you play at party poker, you will love it! If we as fans know you should go for it there, why the hell can't a career football coach know that?????!!!!!! Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[illini4everjp]

Though I wasn't there and didn't see the game; I would have say that it sounds like everyone thinks that we should have went for it. Oh well, I still trust Zook and his staff to make the best decisions possible for this team. We lost one game to the #15 team in the country, now is not to team to start ragging on Zook. If it was a wrong call, then fine but we have to start looking forward to Michigan State, as I'm sure the team is. Memorial Stadium better be full next Saturday.

[nut game browser]

Though I wasn't there and didn't see the game; I would have say that it sounds like everyone thinks that we should have went for it. Oh well, I still trust Zook and his staff to make the best decisions possible for this team. We lost one game to the #15 team in the country, now is not to team to start ragging on Zook. If it was a wrong call, then fine but we have to start looking forward to Michigan State, as I'm sure the team is. Memorial Stadium better be full next Saturday.

I totally understand your position and you may be right, but as Lee Corso says, "not so fast my friend", that was a fundamental error by someone entrusted with a big responsibility. Zook and his staff had plenty of time and available game film to fully figure out that Cal's defense is weakest over the top, every team that has taken shots down the field has been successful. For Pete's sake, Texas Tech through all day on them in that nationally televised bowl game - where were you Zooker? To miss that is inexcusable IMO. Maybe reduce Zook's pay down to about 40K versus whatever he makes. He is overpriced. All that said, I hope I am wrong and we rise up to the challenge next week, maybe MSU will be fat and happy with their recent win. Go Orange!

[illini4everjp]

I completely see what you are saying about prepping and calling the right plays against a defense that you can throw over. I didn't see it so I really can't speak to it but like I said before, obviously it was a blown opportunity. The thing I don't understand is where all the negativity came from after one loss. All you seem to hear is "Well, maybe Florida was right", "Whats the problem with Zook", etc. It was one loss against the #15 team in the nation!!! And if it was one missed call that lost it, even better because hopefully next time we make that call and we win a game like that. My only point is that no coach in any game gets 100% of the calls right, and Illinois this year (and next year, and the year after that) probably won't go 11-0 so if we are going to jump on Zook after every loss to the Cal's of the world, then its going to be a long season because Cal is no Ohio State.

[felix]

The decision to punt certainly is up for second guessing. I have no problem with the decison because I don't think we were going to comeback to win at that point without a big break. That big break was probably just as likely to be a muffed punt than anything else.

Also we had a tired defense at that point which would need as much help as possible to stop CAL. Failing to convert on 4th down and giving the Bears the ball in the middle of the field, which was the most likely result of going for it, would have been an emotional let down and possibly open the flood gates turning a decent performance into a rout.

As far as passing deep, that requires time to pass, a QB w/a strong arm and speedy WRs. We don't usually have a great deal of time to pass, our QB's arm strength is not his strong point and our WRs aren't known as the speediest group. I'm pretty sure Zook and the staff know what they can execute against other teams. It's more likely that we have talent issues involved than a staff that can't recognize weaknesses in opposing defenses.

[nut game browser]

I completely see what you are saying about prepping and calling the right plays against a defense that you can throw over. I didn't see it so I really can't speak to it but like I said before, obviously it was a blown opportunity. The thing I don't understand is where all the negativity came from after one loss. All you seem to hear is "Well, maybe Florida was right", "Whats the problem with Zook", etc. It was one loss against the #15 team in the nation!!! And if it was one missed call that lost it, even better because hopefully next time we make that call and we win a game like that. My only point is that no coach in any game gets 100% of the calls right, and Illinois this year (and next year, and the year after that) probably won't go 11-0 so if we are going to jump on Zook after every loss to the Cal's of the world, then its going to be a long season because Cal is no Ohio State.

I am not sure what you mean by that, Cal is a heck of a lot better than Ohio St. Ohio St. made a huge coaching error by not letting Texas score, their defense let Texas run the clock out. They needed to let Texas score, so I have not much respect for that coach either. Ohio St. has problems on offense, their D is good. I think we can beat OSU easier than a Cal team that has more offense. You must not have watched much college football if you don't know that Zook was run out of Florida. His coaching is suspect. And you are making all these comments and you didn't even see the game. Dude, watch your team and then make some accurate comments. :eek: