Nebraska 42, Illinois 38 POSTGAME

#126      
No. No no no.
When we ran between the tackles, we were NEVER stopped.
The only stopped drives were when we threw.

If Ohio State, or Wisconsin are running on you, and you can't stop it. THEY DONT STOP RUNNING.

We stopped... on 3 or 4 drives.

Throwing MORE is the last thing we needed. Running outside is not what we needed.

We owned them between the tackles.

Rod Smith has to prove they he could score in many ways. We didn't need it.

I don't care if we throw ZERO passes, if we win.

Awful
I think we passed on a few 3rd & less than 3. And ran Reggie on a few 3rd and 13's to come up 2 yards short. Makes no sense to me when your D is getting tired why we wouldn't stick with pounding b/t the tackles.
 
#127      
When you get 4 turnovers you should win the game, refs and our D are hard to overcome
Every Sunday the message boards at every losing school are full of posters blaming the refs. This week check out Michigan, aTm, Okie St and Utah for your viewing pleasure. Our defense, offense, and coaching staff lost the game. No one else involved.
 
#128      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
We are, I believe, the 3rd worst Power 5 team in the country in yards allowed per play. If you think offensive time of possession is the bigger issue (The phrase that keeps sticking with me here), then I believe you’re going to be highly disappointed when/if that starts to trend more positively for us but our defensive yards per play (Which does not correlate) remain the same, if not gets worse.

We have issues everywhere. Rod Smith is merely one of them. Fixing our offensive play calling won’t fix this defense or this team.

This is all fine and good for the long term....but the fact is if we had an OC that adjusted his play calling for what the game dictates...ball control and keep your suspect D off the field......we would be 4-0.
 
#129      
This is all fine and good for the long term....but the fact is if we had an OC that adjusted his play calling for what the game dictates...ball control and keep your suspect D off the field......we would be 4-0.

Fair, I wouldn’t disagree. I can’t say I definitively agree that we would be 4-0, as our two losses went much deeper than this but in general, you are correct. The play calling offensive has negatively impacted this defense and this team.

It’s also killing Brandon Peters, who I was highly critical of last week but as I begin to watch more of the tape am becoming more convinced that he’s not being set up for success.
 
#130      

skyIdub

Winged Warrior
It’s also killing Brandon Peters, who I was highly critical of last week but as I begin to watch more of the tape am becoming more convinced that he’s not being set up for success.

100%. He needs to be protected right now and we have the running back stable and OL to do just that if the play calling were adjusted. Rod is trying to force him into his go style...and he's just not making the reads.
 
#131      
100%. He needs to be protected right now and we have the running back stable and OL to do just that if the play calling were adjusted. Rod is trying to force him into his go style...and he's just not making the reads.

I agree, this jives with what I’m seeing on tape. So there’s no confusion, this is another equal blame situation where Brandon needs to own his role in these shaky performances. That ball to Barker in the 4th quarter last night is a ball a high end Big Ten QB needs to essentially put in there 100 times out of 100 and Brandon threw it at his feet. That’s on him. That said, Rod is asking him to do some things that are extremely difficult not just for Brandon but for a lot of college QBs (And a lot of college OLs but ours especially). We’re trying to drive the ball outside the hashes way too much. Those throws are so difficult and are rarely disguised well, Brandon has seen multiple DBs flip and jump his balls because they’re very easy to diagnose. It’s clear to me through 4 games that Rod has not figured out how to best utilize his signal caller. And that’s not good in a sport where the entire regular season is only 12 games long.
 
#133      
Every Sunday the message boards at every losing school are full of posters blaming the refs. This week check out Michigan, aTm, Okie St and Utah for your viewing pleasure. Our defense, offense, and coaching staff lost the game. No one else involved.
I agree the D let us down but the refs were not good, in a close game a call can mean everything
 
#134      

Deleted member 654622

D
Guest
After watching the D video, it is clear. Lovie's D scheme does work, when the D line gets pressure and/or somebody makes a play. But this roster isn't near talented enough to do that on a regular basis. So you actually need to coach them up and/or adapt and overcome the players deficiencies. Neither of which appear to be happening
 
#135      
After watching the D video, it is clear. Lovie's D scheme does work, when the D line gets pressure and/or somebody makes a play. But this roster isn't near talented enough to do that on a regular basis. So you actually need to coach them up and/or adapt and overcome the players deficiencies. Neither of which appear to be happening

Interesting trend was positives early in the film and negatives late. Also the defense one is 4 minutes longer than the offense one.
 
#136      
Every Sunday the message boards at every losing school are full of posters blaming the refs. This week check out Michigan, aTm, Okie St and Utah for your viewing pleasure. Our defense, offense, and coaching staff lost the game. No one else involved.
Refs missed some penalties both ways. One of our safeties should have been flagged for targeting. We dodged a bullet on that one.
 
#137      

Deleted member 654622

D
Guest
Interesting trend was positives early in the film and negatives late. Also the defense one is 4 minutes longer than the offense one.
lol yes the time difference was noticeable.
I think its clear those boys were tired. But as been mentioned, that is on the Offense and the Defense. Defense needs to make a stop (Hansen! Brown!) Offense needs to sustain a drive (Peters!)
 
#138      
No, you’re not understanding. You’re cherry pick one outlier (Iowa is a terrible example, Minnesota is fair) and saying “See? My conclusion is correct” when in reality it is merely identifying outliers. Case in point, the team you ignored, Penn State. Penn State is in the bottom 5 of the conference for plays against per game (1.67 less than Illinois), dead last in the conference in time of possession and yet they sit in the top 5 of the conference for yards allowed per play and 3rd in the conference in points allowed per game. This tells us that if outliers make our statements, your plays per game and TOP analysis as it correlates to overall defensive play is essentially invalidated. I don’t actually believe that 100% but I can clearly make the case that it’s accurate if I only pay attention to outliers.

This is an equal blame situation. If you give up a high number of yards per play, your number one priority should not be to limit your plays, your number one priority should be to give up less yards.
I think you are overly harsh. Of course we want to give up fewer yards per play. However, you would have to agree with our limited depth that we don't want to be on the field for 100 plays. That our guys are worse when they are tired.
 
#139      

Deleted member 654622

D
Guest
There are flaws with a heavy zone under scheme but the bashing of the defense as a whole is overblown. Anyone ever heard of Nick Saban or Kirby Smart? They run combination coverage the same way we run combination coverage. This isn’t a new concept and it’s not singular to Lovie Smith, even though we run it at higher percentages. Our issues here clearly lie predominantly with the talent of the players and the instruction they’re getting at the positional level. ChiefGritty has said this many times in other threads and he’s 100% correct. Overall, our coaching staff at the positional level is below par...at best.
Everyone is clearly in a foul mood after last night, and rightfully so. But I cant tell if you are disagreeing or agreeing with me here lol? Because I am taking it as you are disagreeing with my point of view while actually saying the same thing I just said
 
#140      
Corbin and Brown looked downright explosive last night. One thing that baffles me is when it's a clear pass the Nebraska defense just sat back and waited for those long outside the hash throws, why are we not passing to the RBs at all? Are Corbin and Brown straight up incapable of catching? If not then get the ball into your best playmakers hands quickly and let them work.
 
#141      
Everyone is clearly in a foul mood after last night, and rightfully so. But I cant tell if you are disagreeing or agreeing with me here lol? Because I am taking it as you are disagreeing with my point of view while actually saying the same thing I just said

No, I agree. The defensive scheme can, has and still is currently working with other defense’s in other programs. Again, we use it at higher percentages than others and that leaves Lovie susceptible to good offensive coaches who understand how to adjust in-game but in general, Lovie’s big failure is not the Tampa 2. Never has been, never will be. His failures lie in recruiting and assembling of a competent coaching staff down to the positional level.

Keynodo Hudson better be one amazing recruiter because his work as a positional coach is not showing up on the field.
 
#142      

Illinir1

Camdenton, MO
That had to be the most Illinois way to lose...
  • start the game with a long TD run,
  • force 4 turnovers,
  • be gifted 100+ yards of penalties by the opponent,
  • have them miss a pat
  • and a point blank Field goal,
  • and still have the ball with 2 minutes left to try to take the lead,
  • Only to have our last play be an obvious penalty that isn't called
Only Illinois could've pulled this off. smh
You forgot:
  • mismanage the clock at the end of the 1st half
 
#143      
Every Sunday the message boards at every losing school are full of posters blaming the refs. This week check out Michigan, aTm, Okie St and Utah for your viewing pleasure. Our defense, offense, and coaching staff lost the game. No one else involved.

If a few of those bad (non)calls had gone our way, maybe we have a chance to win the game. But our overall performance was bad regardless.
 
#144      

Deleted member 649710

D
Guest
Last 10 BIG games:
591 yds to PSU
386 to Rutg
611 to Pur
545 to Wis
712 to MD
438 to MN
606 to Neb
400 to Iowa
371 to NW
671 to Neb

Sorry, but this ain’t on the offense.
 
#145      
If a few of those bad (non)calls had gone our way, maybe we have a chance to win the game. But our overall performance was bad regardless.
Last pass interference was blatant. Lovie should have blown a gasket. Whoever missed it should do high school games
 
#146      

the national

the Front Range
I’m going to keep it thorough. We played well at times. And are very much improved. The thing is our defense is good in spurts. So that means the offense must score and create positive drives. Rod Smith the last 3 weeks has called a very mediocre game. Reggie Corbin is a weapon we have underutilized greatly. Not just running but passing letting him get into space. I’m upset but atleast we didn’t get blown out. We will win atleast 3 games this year
This captures my feelings as well. The defense did all they could and were gassed. They are our weakest unit but created turnovers and did a good job tackling early. The offense as inexcusable. Rod has to get better calling the game. Peters must throw the ball better. But overall, I didn’t expect to play a pretty clean game and tackle with conviction (at the beginning at least before they got tired)
 
#148      

the national

the Front Range
The offense wasn’t very good, but still scored 38. The defense gave up 700 yards, which is just godawful.
Don’t get me wrong, the defense isn’t great but yesterday they played their best. Their best is mediocre but they created turnovers and gave the offense short fields a crazy number times. The offense needs to return the favor and give the defense a breather and they did not do that....ALL Game!!! It’s ridiculous to think our mediocre D can carry that much load.
 
#149      
Not sure if gameday ops reads here but thank you security for removing the drunken Nebraska idiot in 114. It improved the experience for everyone around him immensely.
 
#150      
Early on, the announcer said our punter was no Ray Guy. Did Ray Guy ever have a performance that great? I suspect Hayes' average was around 45 yards per punt, most inside the twenty, and (unless l'm forgetting something) not a single positive return. Special teams (especially Hayes) are, indeed, special.