Saw some good improvement from last season...This goes in the W side, so at the end of the year you add up the W's, regardless of how ya got em., or whom ya beat. The second half dumbo plays with the spearing and 3 penalties called on one play remind me of the season last year....when BONEHEAD football showed up, usually late in the game......Not good.
Illinois 42, Akron 3 POSTGAME
We all need to give the breaks a HUGE pump right now. This performance does not make us a bowl team guys. Thunderwear said it in relation to the defense but it’s applicable everywhere, there just isn’t enough to judge today in terms of our overall team outlook. We’ve got a long way to go and a game at home against Akron is not an indicator of how this season will play out. That said, we covered some good ground today. Mike Epstein going down is horrible, the injury doesn’t sound good but overall this is the type of week one we needed.
Best player today? Call me crazy, Oluwole Betiku. He did some “That kid is playing at the next level” stuff today. Color me thoroughly impressed. On to UConn.
Best player today? Call me crazy, Oluwole Betiku. He did some “That kid is playing at the next level” stuff today. Color me thoroughly impressed. On to UConn.
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Seeing some slow Illini defenses over the years, this group is athletic.
Deleted member 649710
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Great start. Way, way, way better hands than last year from the receiving corps. Still not great at getting separation. Both lines played very well. QB play solid. Hope Epstein injury isn’t serious; it looked like such a nothing play. Team HAS to take care of business in non-conf, and hopefully stay healthy, because there is not a lot of depth anywhere except RB.
Deleted member 656517
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It looked like he was worried about throwing an int because some qb’s waiting in the wind
Deleted member 656517
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It’s amazing what this team can accomplish when they’re not dropping passes
Illini_1979
- Oregon
Nice win. According to the announcers, that makes 22 consecutive home opener wins -- the longest streak in the country. Who would have thunk it?
Feel so bad for Epstein. And an unfortunate (but correct) targeting call on Joseph.
Feel so bad for Epstein. And an unfortunate (but correct) targeting call on Joseph.
peters played great! made all the easy and a few of the hard throws, when someone wasn’t open he threw the ball either in a place only his guy could get it or he threw it away. Maybe one over throw in the end zone, but guess what, it can’t get intercepted back there. Best Illini QB game on many years. Get off his a...
FT35
- Naperville
I don't care about the final score as much the fact that we controlled the LOS. This is something that I expected to see in the first two games last year which didn't really happen. Getting 12 TFLs and 6 Sacks is big.
Betiku looks like a monster and Eifler looked very good as well.
After Akron's first drive it looked like it was going to be a shoot out but the defense did it's job for the most part against an inferior team.
Peters had a LONG time to throw when he dropped back so I think we can put to rest the concerns about the pass blocking ability of this OL. Really great job by them.
It's nice to finally see us look like a B1G team.
On to UConn. We should win that game fairly easily. They struggled with a bad FCS team.
Betiku looks like a monster and Eifler looked very good as well.
After Akron's first drive it looked like it was going to be a shoot out but the defense did it's job for the most part against an inferior team.
Peters had a LONG time to throw when he dropped back so I think we can put to rest the concerns about the pass blocking ability of this OL. Really great job by them.
It's nice to finally see us look like a B1G team.
On to UConn. We should win that game fairly easily. They struggled with a bad FCS team.
Oh, man, I forgot how much I love that channel.
illini80
- Forgottonia
I agree there isn’t really a huge amount to take away from this game or others played today. We did everything we hoped for and that is great. That’s all we could do today. We have 2 more opportunities to get any kinks worked out before things get real. I can’t wait to see what we look like against B10 competition. If we stay healthy I think we can compete and that’s what I want to see more than anything.
I think there's a fair amount to take away from this game. Safeties need to improve tackling in open field. Linebackers need a lot of work in pass coverage but played the run well enough today. D-line looked good against Akron. QB play was solid but missed some wide open receivers and sailed some throws high. RB's were studs. Who didn't love the play action fake to a wide open TE (that was like Christmas). Our WR's, all of them, looked much improved and they really didn't drop any gimme's which is huge. O-line play was solid and some things need cleaned up. Punting was great. Field goal kicking... I hope Epstein is okay but I'm afraid blown ACL. Opening drive was like a breath of fresh air (and how nice was the freakin weather today at the stadium?) Defense really looks susceptible to the pass, but I was happy to see an honest to by god pass rush and the occassional blitz was fun to see and successful to boot. +2 on takeaways and balanced O. Grad transfers got involved and contributed. We have work to do but look much improved to my eyes. We looked like a football team winning a game we were supposed to win and easily covered. What's not to like? The big questions - how bad is Epstein hurt and can our D show any marked improvement in week two? I am a happy camper.
Deleted member 656517
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It’s a breath of fresh air that we have to put on the binoculars to find the mistakes. If that’s not a sign of improvement idk what is! Defense was filling their gaps, only problem I had was Harding not getting depth on his pass drops. That’ll expos us in BIG play if not cleaned up
Martin O’Donnell on radio seemed to think Rod Smith was calling random plays he’d rarely, if ever, call just to put them on tape and make defenses prepare for them
Illinir1
- Camdenton, MO
I think the reverse in the red zone might have been one of those random plays.
I’ve made good money on first week games in the past. Even on parlays. Some of the spreads are just way too low. Look for teams that are willing to run it up, and are actually good, and boom.
Anyone know the attendance?
I’m quite unfamiliar with sports betting, so did this guy make money? And what actually did he bet on relative to what happened?
FTFMI like the TD distribution: 2RB, 1WR, 2TE and 1 QB. Dear DC's, plan for that.
There were six bets placed around Vegas about $55k each, that the Illini would win by more than 17 or 18 points. They all won, earning a total payout of $300k. It's probably all the same bettor, spreading his bets around so the bookies can afford the payoff, (are they called bookies when it's legal?).
Just books.