I agree with this 100%. We have taken a greater than average hit on injuries, though. Three starting receivers and starting QB. A number of teams have lost QBs (Purdue, NW, Indiana) but our backups are a big step down. We have to have a second QB ready next year. We must build depth all around. We must upgrade coaching staff. We have been competitive except for Minnesota and NW though. Not ideal I agree, but progress.I’m not advocating for firing him, the bar was 6-6 and he got there. I fully expect him to be retained and understand why.
That said, I do think we had some mid year fools gold. I think when you peel back the layers there are more questions/doubts than answers.
Keep in mind we also averaged 150 ypg less than our opponents. I think the only opponent we outgained straight away was Rutgers. That’s concerning. It speaks to the importance of takeaways. Just doesn’t seem like a sound way to build the foundation of a program. JMHO.
I will be the first to admit that I did not expect a 7 win regular season. So going into today's game with 6 wins was playing with house money. But that doesn't change the expectation of a win today, and the disappointment of a bad loss to an 0-8 conference team, that we were favored over by 7+pts., at home, on Senior day, with Bobby Roundtree in the house. Expecting a win today is not moving the goal posts. And injuries are not an acceptable excuse......see Northwestern for how to deal with that one. I was one of the maybe 10,000(?) at the game today, there to support the Seniors. Wish they could have finished their Memorial Stadium careers with a win.I see some people trying to move the goal posts. I'd say mission accomplished this season, beating northwestern would have been a big bonus. Let's recalibrate our expectations and set new goals for next season
Okay? If Coran Taylor had started for us, the offense couldn't have been much worse.Let’s be honest - the injury card doesn’t fly because NU had just as many out as we did. They are on their fourth string QB. Both teams were banged up.
Time of possession: 4:52. IncredibleFirst half. One yard rushing. One pass completion.
This is on point. We lost on both sides of the line today and had no chance because of that. O-line has been up and down this year. Today they got outplayed badly. D-line got pushed around more than I expected. NW with one punt for the day. With Robinson at QB maybe it didn’t matter, but I thought the weather conditions favored NW more than us.This is a big boy league that requires legit big boys in the trenches. Something Illinois hasn’t had in ages. Both sides of ball were completely dominated by the Kitties. Not sure that I see this issue getting any better in the foreseeable future.
That would be a terrible decision. Next year's team has a very solid chance of being the best this century. Anybody who has ever thought about season tickets, and lives within traveling distance of CU, should definitely buy tickets for next season. Definitely!They saved me several hundred today cause I was debating whether to keep tickets next year. The win streak got me going but today told me it was fools gold. Been down this road too many times with Illinois football.
Agree...both were big factors...I know the QB was a big dude...but their yardage after first hit was ridiculous...they were either stronger, better motivated, or better coached
I'm going to piggy-back on your comment. I get it that injuries are part of football, and you can have a stretch of games or even a season where you seem to have an inordinate number of players hurt. But under Smith it's been almost every game and all four years where we have a ton of guys hurt, at important positions too. Don't you have to re-evaluate your training/strength & conditioning programs at this point?Who’s responsible for ensuring our players stay healthy? We all know why Peters wasn’t ready to go, but what happened to Imatorbhebhe? What happened to Hansen that took him out for a month? What happened to Williams that made him unavailable earlier in the season? Not having half of our team available is a huge disadvantage and today it showed.
Yes, a lot to learn. I'm just wondering if we have the proper staff to provide the instruction.If people would leave their wild emotion at the door and stop completely misdiagnosing what is happening on the field, there is actually a lot to learn from this game that can help us in the future.
Yes, a lot to learn. I'm just wondering if we have the proper staff to provide the instruction.
I wish it weren't so, but those are my sentiments also.I'm going to piggy-back on your comment. I get it that injuries are part of football, and you can have a stretch of games or even a season where you seem to have an inordinate number of players hurt. But under Smith it's been almost every game and all four years where we have a ton of guys hurt, at important positions too. Don't you have to re-evaluate your training/strength & conditioning programs at this point?
Also, when you look at the big picture we have a nice four-game winning streak in four years under Smith. A four game stretch out of 48 games that was good. Tenuous at best to think he's actually righted the ship. He basically did the minimum to save his job this season. I really don't have much confidence that next year will be any better.
We got our arse kicked by the last place team in the division and not just in the first half. We can make all the excuses you want but the truth is our coaches did a poor job as did our playersFirst half. One yard rushing. One pass completion.