Minnesota 40, Illinois 17 POSTGAME

#126      
Eifler not panning out at a position of need? MyMy.
 
#128      
While I’m fairly “eh” on their ability to break down what is happening defensively, their offensive analysis is pretty spot on, especially as it relates to Brandon Peters. Those balls are all coming out WWWAAAYYY too late. I don't know if he’s struggling to diagnose what’s happening or if he lacks confidence in what he’s seeing but nearly every throw they point out as being late out of his hand is exactly that.

He’s name number one on my list of players who need to exit the starting lineup. But not this week....and not next week.
 
#130      

illini80

Forgottonia
While I’m fairly “eh” on their ability to break down what is happening defensively, their offensive analysis is pretty spot on, especially as it relates to Brandon Peters. Those balls are all coming out WWWAAAYYY too late. I don't know if he’s struggling to diagnose what’s happening or if he lacks confidence in what he’s seeing but nearly every throw they point out as being late out of his hand is exactly that.

He’s name number one on my list of players who need to exit the starting lineup. But not this week....and not next week.
Seemed worth a shot, but somethings wrong with his decision making. IW doesn’t have a history of being injured that I know of, yet he can’t seem to stay on the practice field. Anyone know the nature of his injuries this season? Robinson is likely to struggle too, but it doesn’t appear we will be giving up anything by giving him the reps.
 
#131      

Deleted member 654622

D
Guest
Seemed worth a shot, but somethings wrong with his decision making. IW doesn’t have a history of being injured that I know of, yet he can’t seem to stay on the practice field. Anyone know the nature of his injuries this season? Robinson is likely to struggle too, but it doesn’t appear we will be giving up anything by giving him the reps.
I think it is as simple as a very undersized QB going up against B1G athletes now. They hurt a lot more than most the high schoolers he went up against. Gotta add weight
 
#132      
Seemed worth a shot, but somethings wrong with his decision making. IW doesn’t have a history of being injured that I know of, yet he can’t seem to stay on the practice field. Anyone know the nature of his injuries this season? Robinson is likely to struggle too, but it doesn’t appear we will be giving up anything by giving him the reps.
Robinson appears too short and lacks arm strength. Not sure why we didn't try to run him more. If you don't have the Qb run on the option semi frequently, they just attack the rb.
 
#133      
1:07 mark - Nate Hobbs literally looks like he smacks him on the arse instead of attempting a tackle
1:23 mark - Dele isn't getting depth, just kind of hopping around - TD Min
2:31 mark - Wole with.....i don't freeking know what that was

Did not realize the tackling was quite as bad as it was.
 
#134      
Robinson appears too short and lacks arm strength. Not sure why we didn't try to run him more. If you don't have the Qb run on the option semi frequently, they just attack the rb.
Robinson takes the ball and is instantly dancing. He acts like he doesnt have a clean pocket for even .0001 seconds. If he settled down a little, I think he'd be ok. I get he got thrown into the game, but a QB can't move his body as much as he does and be successful.
 
#135      
The problem isn't talent, it's attitude, discipline, technique, fundamentals (catching and tackling) and knowing keys and assignments. In short, coaching, In their fourth year in the program, I'm seeing sloppy tackling from Adams, Hobbs, Hansen and Harding, let alone Martin, Eifler, Brown, Ware and Joseph. They are perhaps the SLOWEST players in the B1G in reading plays, and they don't have the speed to make up for it. Good LBs rarely get caught in the inside while runners scoot through the gap they should be covering. You see that at least six times per game.

IF you see any improvement in coverage by our DBs who blew their redshirts playing as freshman, I sure missed it. Our LB drops on passing plays is perhaps the worst in the B1G. It takes them too long to read the play and figure out who they're supposed to covering. That's what happens when the coach hires his inexperienced son instead of an experienced, cracker jack LB coach.

DL? The talent is there, as well as the depth. The problem is that we have a DL coach who was never a college position coach, let alone a P5 coach, leading the group. This group sorely needs motivation and fundamental coaching, and if we had a top teacher there, even with a decade of NFL experience, I believe we'd be FAR better there, and that would make everything on D easier. "On the job training" just isn't acceptable at this level.

Anyone else notice the steep dropoff in intensity of the OL this year? They're getting handled WAY more than last year's OL when if you made mistakes and didn't sustain blocks, there was a firey sideline from coach Butkus.

AT OC, it's pretty clear that Coach Rod Smith can't coach passing attacks or develop passing QBs. Peters has all the tools, adequate arm, decent legs and good touch. His problems are that he hasn't developed his poriferal vision to "feel" the rush and quickly go through his progressions. It takes him too long to release and read the D. He hasn't been taught to read count the rushers to detect the blitz and get rid of the ball to his safety valve when rushers outnumber blockers. I suspect that if Coach White or Coach Mack were his QB coach, we wouldn't see those problems.

Bottom line here is if we can bring in a competent staff next year, it may actually HELP recruiting and with the returning players we'll have on both sides of the ball, any decent coach would be bowl bound.
 
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#136      
Devon Witherspoon is gonna be special. He and Marquez is gonna be something to watch.
Devon is 160 lbs dripping wet. He'll get killed in the B1G running game. What's telling is that he seems to know his reads as well as our DBs that've been in the program for years. He must have learned that elsewhere. Our DB coaching of reads and fundamentals is perhaps the worst I've seen in decades of Illini fandom. I've seen players who were physically outmatched get beat, but I;ve never seen as much confusion and poor technique and angles form the secondary as I have under Lovie. He can't recruit, he can't outcoach anyone in the B1G, he can't hire competent staff, and his program can't teach sound fundamentals.

Will someone remind me again why he's still here? I know, there are about 8 million reasons....
 
#137      
The problem isn't talent, it's attitude, discipline, technique, fundamentals (catching and tackling) and knowing keys and assignments. In short, coaching, In their fourth year in the program, I'm seeing sloppy tackling from Adams, Hobbs, Hansen and Harding, let alone Martin, Eifler, Brown, Ware and Joseph. They are perhaps the SLOWEST players in the B1G in reading plays, and they don't have the speed to make up for it. Good LBs rarely get caught in the inside while runners scoot through the gap they should be covering. You see that at least six times per game.

IF you see any improvement in coverage by our DBs who blew their redshirts playing as freshman, I sure missed it. Our LB drops on passing plays is perhaps the worst in the B1G. It takes them too long to read the play and figure out who they're supposed to covering. That's what happens when the coach hires his inexperienced son instead of an experienced, cracker jack LB coach.

DL? The talent is there, as well as the depth. The problem is that we have a DL coach who was never a college position coach, let alone a P5 coach, leading the group. This group sorely needs motivation and fundamental coaching, and if we had a top teacher there, even with a decade of NFL experience, I believe we'd be FAR better there, and that would make everything on D easier. "On the job training" just isn't acceptable at this level.

Anyone else notice the steep dropoff in intensity of the OL this year? They're getting handled WAY more than last year's OL when if you made mistakes and didn't sustain blocks, there was a firey sideline from coach Butkus.

AT OC, it's pretty clear that Coach Rod Smith can't coach passing attacks or develop passing QBs. Peters has all the tools, adequate arm, decent legs and good touch. His problems are that he hasn't developed his poriferal vision to "feel" the rush and quickly go through his progressions. It takes him too long to release and read the D. He hasn't been taught to read count the rushers to detect the blitz and get rid of the ball to his safety valve when rushers outnumber blockers. I suspect that if Coach White or Coach Mack were his QB coach, we wouldn't see those problems.

Bottom line here is if we can bring in a competent staff next year, it may actually HELP recruiting and with the returning players we'll have on both sides of the ball, any decent coach would be bowl bound.

Does not sound like one should expect much improvement over the next six games??????