Nebraska 20, Illinois 7 Postgame

#52      
Not looking good for Bret. Another failure at OC. There's also no excuse for the OL being this poor when it's supposed to be his calling card. We still have way too many MAC level players (at best) in our two-deep.

Lance Leipold has been at Kansas for the same amount of time and doesn't have these talent + discipline + team organization issues.

If we don't make wholesale changes in the offseason, I really doubt whether he can turn this thing around now that the schedule is about to get a whole lot tougher year in year out.
 
#53      
Honest truth you have reanalyze everything. This has been a 30 year problem and let's be honest this team hasn't won a Rose Bowl since Dick Butkus was on the team

 
#54      
Lunney needs to go ASAP. And Bart too. Can't play this poorly and not see some movement in the staff.

Bret better hope he can hire some guys who can actually coach fundamentals and run decent schemes. I'd give him one chance to fix it, then fire him too, and Whitman as well. No way he gets a third try.
 
#56      
Another humiliating defeat to a substandard opponent who we make look like national championship contenders. No excuses!
 
#58      
This is the beginning of the end for Bielema. I don't see any way he recovers from this.
I just don't understand how we went from last year to here. Yes we lost NFL talent, but we've gone from a well coached extremely solid team to one that looks so overmatched at every single level that it just makes no sense. The O-line has 3 upperclassmen, 2 of which were being talked about as possible draft picks. How do you go from that to looking like first day cuts from the high school varsity team?

How did the unbelievably promising Jacas and Coleman last year just disappear?

What even happened with special teams today? That was one of our few bright spots this season. What happened today looked like they haven't been coached.

I just really have no idea what is going on and why it gets worse week after week. In one year after a tremendous season we suddenly and drastically become the worst P5 team in the country? I just don't get it. Doesn't add up.
 
#59      
And who will come fix this mess next?

He absolutely needs time, and yes I know this year is a disaster. But things can get worse, much worse.
I think they will get worse, that's the thing. there's not one Bert player that I feel good about going forward. the only players on this team with a pulse are Lovie guys, and those guys will be gone next year. I'm not saying he should be fired now, but I would just be shocked if he salvages this going forward.
 
#61      
Just back from the game. Gorgeous evening. Nebraska had great fans. Nebraska certainly looks like they've improved a lot from their opening week. Illinois... Illinois football is not fun to watch. We had one good drive that fizzled. And then I don't have much to say. It's horribly not fun to watch. It's like watching a team on life support. We didn't get excited, we didn't get angry. It was just kind of... nothing. We have a block of 14 seats and two parking passes so we'll tailgate as a group, have fun outside, and enjoy one another's company but I don't really feel compelled to walk inside and watch the game anymore. That's just brutal.
 
#62      
This is the beginning of the end for Bielema. I don't see any way he recovers from this.
Pretty sure the beginning of the end for an Illini football coach is the introductory press conference...

Joking aside, Bret is going to get time to try to work this thing out. With the B1G expansion and the depths of this program, no good coach will want this job next year. We will continue to get retreads trying to resurrect their career if Bret is gone at end of year. We are better off letting Bret try to rebuild this program. Last year gave some real false hope about the speed of the rebuild. Truth is that it will take some time (and of course some better coordinators).
 
#64      
I'll be honest I am so gobsmacked I don't know what to do. Stuff like this drove me away from Illini sports for a long time. However whatever the next move is, you better be dang sure about it.

Also Illini there two P5 programs that were around as bad as you this century in Kansas and Colorado that just leapfrogged you and that Nebraska team just beaten you have worse than you for quite a while before today.
 
#65      
Holy balls. Yes, let's start contemplating firing Bret because we are such an absolute unit of a powerhouse that we are attractive to all of the coaches out there.

That's game thread stuff.
Yeah, Illinois fans need to chill with the idea of firing a head coach every time we have a bad year. It’s only his 3rd year and he did very well in his second year. Best season for us in YEARS.

We are not Ohio State. We can’t and shouldn’t expect a consistent upward trajectory year to year. There will be some down years like this one. All we can hope for is that there will be more good years than bad years. It’s just the reality at Illinois. Nonetheless, Bret definitely needs to make some staff changes.
 
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#66      
I just don't understand how we went from last year to here. Yes we lost NFL talent, but we've gone from a well coached extremely solid team to one that looks so overmatched at every single level that it just makes no sense. The O-line has 3 upperclassmen, 2 of which were being talked about as possible draft picks. How do you go from that to looking like first day cuts from the high school varsity team?

How did the unbelievably promising Jacas and Coleman last year just disappear?

What even happened with special teams today? That was one of our few bright spots this season. What happened today looked like they haven't been coached.

I just really have no idea what is going on and why it gets worse week after week. In one year after a tremendous season we suddenly and drastically become the worst P5 team in the country? I just don't get it. Doesn't add up.
The defense is doing fine…it’s the offense and the offensive line that’s the issue. They aren’t giving the defense any breaks. Playcalling sucks and the OL is downright brutal. I noticed tonight that the ball was being snapped below Altmyer’s ankles quite a bit. Lol
 
#69      
The final week of October 2022, we were 7-1, ranked #14, first place in the west, and had arguably the best defense in college football.

To go from that height to this low in less than one year is a collapse on a scale and at a speed I never imagined was possible in my worst nightmares.
You either haven't been watching Illini football long enough or have a small imagination lol The 6-0 then 0-6 season would like a word with you... But I hear you. There was going to be an inevitable drop off on D with the studs we lost, but that side of the ball is holding their own all things considered. The offense on the other hand is in total shambles with the second O coordinator in 3 years. Will we have a third in 4 years after this season? That may be unprecedented.
 
#70      
The only thing I can think of... there is ZERO point in the university making this an uphill battle. Drop athletic academic requirements to NCAA minimums for all sports. We're not the Harvard of the Midwest anymore, and we do not need to make this any more difficult than necessary. I'd say maybe boycott it until the administration comes to their sense, but honestly nobody is going to attend at this rate anyway. Meh. Even Nebraska is managing to crawl out of the basement (and good for them... I thought they looked much improved this evening). Illinois. I know it's just one year, but this team is starting to look a bit dumpster'ish and I think I smell smoke.
 
#72      
I can see a new coach not choosing the best coordinators under him, but Bret is a seasoned coach with supposedly a large Rolodex of coaching contacts and has an AD that seems to give him the $ to hire. But when you see continual poor play in all phases (offense, defence, special teams) and sub par recruiting you have to question what really is the problem.
 
#73      
I watched the game for the painful entirety mainly to the fact there was nothing else on. I see the same lack of in game adjustments from Bielema as at ark. Theres a lot of up and comers and we both need one and now
 
#74      
The only thing I can think of... there is ZERO point in the university making this an uphill battle. Drop athletic academic requirements to NCAA minimums for all sports. We're not the Harvard of the Midwest anymore, and we do not need to make this any more difficult than necessary. I'd say maybe boycott it until the administration comes to their sense, but honestly nobody is going to attend at this rate anyway. Meh. Even Nebraska is managing to crawl out of the basement (and good for them... I thought they looked much improved this evening). Illinois. I know it's just one year, but this team is starting to look a bit dumpster'ish and I think I smell smoke.
That's just the residue of the fire earlier this week...
 
#75      
Past time to fire Lunney (and possibly Bart Miller as well). And Josh W should not be too comfortable in his seat; but I have no confidence anyone in the administration cares enough about the athletic programs for him to be in jeopardy. This season has been absolute trash on the field. Youth, inexperience, injuries, there are no excuses that justify it being this bad in BB's third year. All of his coordinator hires - excepting Walters and Henry (the jury is still out) - have been abject failures. I fear this season relegates IL to bottom feeder status in the B10 for good after gaining some momentum in the first half of last season. How is this program going to look against Oregon or USC?

The fans deserve more. The 10,000 folks who ponied up for new season tickets, the students, deserve more. Personally, I have been following since the early 80's, graduated from U of I and have two kids that graduated from there. We all deserve much, much more than we have gotten for the support of the program we have provided over the years. Nobody cares, I know, but just getting it off my chest. It's frustrating to suck this bad year after year.
You are absolutely right!!!
 
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