Illinois 38, Rutgers 17 POSTGAME

#7      

Jester87

Austin, TX
I'm starting to believe! Just ordered more orange koolaid!!!
 
#11      
The Good:

Rushing Offense and Defense
AJ's return
Hitting and tackling was mostly good.
Turnovers again!. I think we can say it isn't the turnover fairy now

The so so:

Little pass rush and vanilla D
Passing game is still a bit rough and AJ holds the ball a little too long but he's not turning it over either.
Special Teams wasn't great. Missed FG and a couple of good kick returns for Rutgers. Thought Sandy missed a couple of opportunities as well
 
#17      

SampsonRelpenk

Edwardsville, IL
We only outgained them 419-386. It's nice to get a win, but that's not the performance we were hoping for, the performance they were openly willing to hand us.
Definitely left some points and yards on the field today. But, I've come to the conclusion that Lovieball, by its nature, doesn't often mean dominating yardage, even in comfortable victories.
 
#19      
Good job by O-line. Over 200 on the ground, decent pass protection and no holding penalties on big runs. Bush, threw ball better than numbers indicated. Green, did not have a good day.
 
#20      
We only outgained them 419-386. It's nice to get a win, but that's not the performance we were hoping for, the performance they were openly willing to hand us.

Okay question...isn’t this sort of what Lovie’s D does? I always thought that was the underlying theme of the bend don’t break D. So for example Indiana had 100+ more yards than Rutgers and won by 7. We nearly tied and won by 21 by forcing more turnovers among other things. Am I wrong in this thought? I truly don’t know.
 
#21      

lstewart53x3

Scottsdale, Arizona
Yep. I was gonna say -8, based on current Sagarin Ratings. https://www.usatoday.com/sports/ncaaf/sagarin/

The cluster of Purdue (56), Northwestern(55), Minnesota(61), and Nebraska(83), will define the season for Illinois(100). Win Three of these four and we go bowling. All would be upsets.
I'm still gonna guess 4-8 for the season, unfortunately.

For reference, USF is currently ranked #58. A team we competed with, but ultimately felt short against.

Rutgers is currently ranked #141. So they aren’t in the same world as our upcoming oponents.
 
#23      

Illinir1

Camdenton, MO
Nice win Illini!!! Defense wins it with turnovers. Tooting my own horn from game week post. We won by 21 and yardage was 419 for Illinois vs 386 for Rutgers. My post:

"When you look at team scoring stats, the Illini score 10.6 ppg more (27.0 vs. 16.4) and are giving up 7.3 ppg (31.5 vs. 38.8) less than Rutgers. Net advantage +17.9 points Illinois.

But when you look at total yardage stats matching our offense against their defense, and vice versa, you get: Illini offense 409 ypg vs. Rutgers defense 438 ypg = 424 yards expected Illini offense. Rutgers offense 281 ypg vs. Illini defense 508 ypg = 395 yards expected Rutgers offense. A difference of 29 yards favoring the Illini, which wouldn't cover the usual +3 points for home field advantage."
 
#24      
Man, Rutbutt is probably one of the worst teams i’ve seen in a college football game this year. Great to see this young team get a conference win, no matter how bad the competition was. These coaches and players have been working way harder than we give them credit for sometimes. I see a bright future, if the system progresses the way it has been. Beat Purduke next week and we can actually talk bowl games. 🍽
 
#25      
I dig AJ Bush's game . He was effortlessly fast on that one TD run . We CAN beat Purdue. Just can't turn it over & force them into TOs . Feeling good about this season (3-2 and should be 4-1 if we had Bush for the SF game imo)