Pregame: Illinois at Rutgers, Saturday, October 6th, 11:00am CT, BTN

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#51      

Deleted member 654622

D
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I think a big reason why our d line is performing poorly this year is lack of subs. Clearly the pressure they provide dips late in the game. Its likely not to get much better this year, but it's something we need to address. Losing Woods for whatever period of time hurts us so much.
I think this is a valid point. I also wonder how much the DL coaching change plays a part hear. I know a lot of people think that Bobby needs to make more flashes considering what he did last year. Even though he is still just a pup, I was hoping for more the first 3 weeks. I did think he had a very good game vs Penn State thought
 
#56      

Sal Iacuzzo

Yonkers, NY
Mike Francesa probably hasn't watched a minute of college football in years.

NJ.com has written tons of negative articles about RU athletics over the years.
 
#57      
Wow, this board is getting optimistic. It's gone from "WIU will be the last time we're favored" to "Rutgers will be the last time we're favored." Good on ya.

I say we win by 3 scores.

[Two safeties and a FG. Jajajaja /s]
 
#58      

BZuppke

Plainfield
So their D isn’t much but they can throw the ball some. Do we blitz their young QB.
 
#59      
So their D isn’t much but they can throw the ball some. Do we blitz their young QB.

I don't see that happening unless we have a new head coach prior to the game.
 
#60      
We lack depth on the D Line, as has been noted in this thread, so blitzing them a ton would probably be counter-productive unless we want to have our guys gassed by halftime.
 
#63      
We lack depth on the D Line, as has been noted in this thread, so blitzing them a ton would probably be counter-productive unless we want to have our guys gassed by halftime.
Blitzing comes from the line backers and/or secondary, not the D-line.
 
#64      
Blitzing comes from the line backers and/or secondary, not the D-line.

It also usually involves a bit of selling out on the linemans' part. Depth is still needed, otherwise you get no pressure.

But your point is valid - our defense isn't strong enough to cover the zone of any additional rushers brought in.
 
#65      

BZuppke

Plainfield
But the qb is young. I think you need to take a few chances that you rattle him.
 
#66      

Soxfreak64

Bloomington
That's one of the things that kills me about Lovie/Hardy's defense. They play with two REALLY high safeties at almost all times, which means there should be a guy to prevent the big play even if the blitz doesn't hit in time.
 
#67      
I'll guess Illinois -6

That's a good call to what it might open at. I think the Sharps will quickly bet it down to 4.5/3.5 territory. Buffalo was -6 at Rutgers and they are a significantly better team than us according to advanced stats
 
#68      
That's a good call to what it might open at. I think the Sharps will quickly bet it down to 4.5/3.5 territory. Buffalo was -6 at Rutgers and they are a significantly better team than us according to advanced stats

But Buffalo hammered Rutgers by 30. Not sure why sharps would be all over Rutgers at +6. I think it opens around there and stays. My official prediction is 27-20 Illini so will avoid any money on this one.
 
#69      
But Buffalo hammered Rutgers by 30. Not sure why sharps would be all over Rutgers at +6. I think it opens around there and stays. My official prediction is 27-20 Illini so will avoid any money on this one.

Because they only lost by 7 to Indiana. Illinois hasn't been a significantly better team than Rutgers this year
 
#71      
Illinois -1.5 is the opening line. Vegas must not think as highly of the Illini as some of us (shocker there;))
 
#72      
There's still so much to play for this year.
Rutgers, Purdue, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern are down.
Maryland looks like it is going to be going through some sort of scandal all year now.
 
#73      

Deleted member 29907

D
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Illinois -1.5 is the opening line. Vegas must not think as highly of the Illini as some of us (shocker there;))

First out of state away game, the lull after a bye week, rust on AJ are the things that concern me but I think we can do this in the second half. Can we all agree not to panic and jump out windows in the first half if we start slow? I think we can do this with our run game.
 
#74      
It may not be fair to AJ Bush but they need to be ready with a quick hook on him, if he isn't moving the ball right away Saturday.
With no prep, MJ Rivers almost beat USF and he hung with PSU deep into the 3rd quarter and to my eyeballs it seemed like our offense moved better against USF and PSU than it did against Kent St. and WIU.
This game is too important to stick with AJ Bush if he's not moving us on the first few series.
 
#75      
Can we blitz a little?

Yep. I've watched a couple of their games, and Rutgers frosh QB cannot handle pressure. He stands in one spot in the pocket, locks in on WRs, and gets happy feet when pass rushers are coming.

You rush 4 and sit back with 2 safeties high and he'll be okay. Get some pressure on him, play zone behind and it will be like he did vs OSU, Buffalo and Kansas.
 
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