Pregame: Illinois vs Louisiana Tech, Saturday, September 22nd, 7:00pm CT, BTN

[Dan]

After his big game yesterday, #Illini QB @ReillyOT4 leads the #B1G and ranks 8th in #NCAA in passing efficiency (181.03).

As a team, #Illini are in top-25 nationally in rush defense (20th-94.0 ypg), net punting (20th-40.29) & total defense (25th-298.0 ypg). #B1G

Next week's #Illini opponent La Tech ranks 3rd in nation in scoring (56.0 ppg), 5th in total off. (603.5 ypg) & 9th in rushing off. (289.0)

On flip side, La Tech is 120th nationally (out of 120) in total def. (585.0 ypg), 120th in pass def. (392.5) & 118th in scoring def. (43.0)

http://twitter.com/IlliniFootball

[Dan]

Illinois opens up as a 1-pt favorite over Louisiana Tech

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-...2-12/time/2000

[Groundhogday]

Houston scored 13 points against Texas State and 6 points against UCLA (with 5 INTs). That puts the 49 points Houston scored against Louisiana Tech in perspective. The Bulldogs gave up 693 yards in the Houston game. This will be the worst defense we see all year outside of Charleston Southern. It will be disappointing to score less than 30 points.

[Dan]

Btw - The Penn State game time & TV should be announced tomorrow.

[GilThorpe]

Originally Posted by quhawks12

EXTREMELY WORRIED THIS WEEK! This game will dictate therest of the season.

agree

this game will tough, LaTech gonna give us fits. They will be throwing the ball all over the place, more so than ASU did

[GilThorpe]

Originally Posted by Groundhogday

Houston scored 13 points against Texas State and 6 points against UCLA (with 5 INTs). That puts the 49 points Houston scored against Louisiana Tech in perspective. The Bulldogs gave up 693 yards in the Houston game. This will be the worst defense we see all year outside of Charleston Southern. It will be disappointing to score less than 30 points.

agree, but I think we are gonna need 38 to have a real chance of beating these guys

[NnannasBananas11]

Originally Posted by Dan

Btw - The Penn State game time & TV should be announced tomorrow.

My fingers are crossed for a 2:30 start. Just curious, would we ever have more than one night game in a year? It can't just be based on how good the matchup is because Indiana seems to consistently have multiple nightgames every year.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by NnannasBananas11

Just curious, would we ever have more than one night game in a year?

It's certainly possible. This season it's unlikely, I think because all night games have already been announced ahead of time (I'm not 100% on that though).

[Groundhogday]

Originally Posted by GilThorpe

agree, but I think we are gonna need 38 to have a real chance of beating these guys

I sure hope not. Yes, the Bulldogs have scored a ton in their first three games. But against what kind of defenses?

• 56 points against a Rice defense that gave up 49 to UCLA and 24 to a miserable KU offense.
• 56 points against a Houston defense that gave up 30 points to Texas State and 37 points to UCLA.

Northwestern was the only team to score over 20 points against us last year (35) and that is the sort of defense we need this year. Even if LT has a very good offense, we need to hold them under 30.

Edit: OOps. Meant to say 30 points, but even that isn't correct as Michigan scored 31. Still, need to hold LT under 30.

[AHSIllini32]

Originally Posted by NnannasBananas11

My fingers are crossed for a 2:30 start. Just curious, would we ever have more than one night game in a year? It can't just be based on how good the matchup is because Indiana seems to consistently have multiple nightgames every year.

I'll be at that game so I'm hoping for a 2:30 start as well.

[RyanK]

Originally Posted by Dan

Illinois opens up as a 1-pt favorite over Louisiana Tech

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-...2-12/time/2000

Well...that's embarrassing..

[Illini2016]

Originally Posted by Groundhogday

Houston scored 13 points against Texas State and 6 points against UCLA (with 5 INTs). That puts the 49 points Houston scored against Louisiana Tech in perspective. The Bulldogs gave up 693 yards in the Houston game. This will be the worst defense we see all year outside of Charleston Southern. It will be disappointing to score less than 30 points.

Good thing because from what I hear, their offense has been pretty impressive. Let's not get too confident here.

[Ron Zooks Barber]

I predict IL shuts them down.

38-10

[Sure Shot]

Originally Posted by Dan

Illinois opens up as a 1-pt favorite over Louisiana Tech

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-...2-12/time/2000

Yeah, that's about what I guessed.

I would stay away from this one, I could see just about anything happening in this game.

[Groundhogday]

Originally Posted by Illini2016

Good thing because from what I hear, their offense has been pretty impressive. Let's not get too confident here.

Louisiana Tech didn't have a great offense last year: No. 51 in Total Offense, No. 70 in F/+ ranking (adjusted for strength of schedule, tempo and field position). They won with a terrific defense (No. 18 F/+) and good special teams (No. 31 F/+). Tech has an offensive reputation primarily because Dykes coached under Leach and employs a high tempo offense (more possessions).

Perhaps the Bulldogs are much better on offense this year, but given who they have played we don't really know for sure. What we CAN tell is that they are much weaker defensively. They lost their two best pass rushers (both DE) and top two tacklers from last season (LBs), and don't appear to have found adequate replacements.

This isn't a gimme game, but we need to score over 30 against what appears to be a very weak defense and hold even a good offense under 30 (we need to have that kinds of defense).

[PBLPanther]

LT - 17
IL - 13

Offense is going to put the defense in some bad spots.

[Sure Shot]

Originally Posted by RyanK

Well...that's embarrassing..

With Boise State rebuilding, and TCU and Utah off to the big boys table, La Tech is very possibly the best non-AQ school in the country. Just a hard luck bit of scheduling, that wasn't the case when the contract for this game was signed.

[Peoria Born]

If we want any chance of winning this game, our offense better put a ton of points on the board because LT will probably score in the 30's.

[illinoisfan]

I see no issue with us putting up 30-40+ since Tech's defense is nearly last overall. Question is will our defense give up less

[TooHot4Tots]

Illini 37
LT 17

[Ander1345]

I hope we shored up out defensive signaling or whatever the problem was, because LTU will attack us nearly exactly the same way except it will probably be a 5 foot 10 speedster catching it shallow instead of a tight end.

This game scares me more than the ASU game because it's so close to the key bulk of our schedule.

[Groundhogday]

Originally Posted by Sure Shot

With Boise State rebuilding, and TCU and Utah off to the big boys table, La Tech is very possibly the best non-AQ school in the country. Just a hard luck bit of scheduling, that wasn't the case when the contract for this game was signed.

Really? Based upon two wins over very bad teams?

[mattcoldagelli]

Can we get a roll call for this one? I feel like our season is at an early crossroads.

I'll be there.

[KJKobs]

I'll be there as well.

12-hour tailgate!

[IlliniSon]

LaTech has the WORST defense in Division 1 football.

Illini 42
LaTech 28