Pregame: Illinois at USF, Friday, September 15th, 6:00pm CT, ESPN

Status
Not open for further replies.
#78      

james81

J
North Carolina
james81
In their own way, the first two games were both surprises: the first one how poorly we played, yet still won; the second one how we outperformed expectations and dominated the game defensively. USF is a perfect game for the next step. The question is not so much if we win (I expect most of us think it's possible, but unlikely), but how we compete. I hate watching us lose, but this is a game I can stand to lose if we play all four quarters and continue to show improvement. We have to give the defense some slack. We can't stop USF, but can we make some stops and come up with a few big plays? Can we get the ball to Dudek and Turner? Can Epstein continue to gain yardage? Can Crouch improve his decision making and accuracy?
 
#79      

FeelYourPaign

FeelYourPaign
So Cal
FeelYourPaign
ILL_INI said:
"It's all about us giving back," said USF head coach Charlie Strong.

"It's about not having an empty stadium on national television," said the cynic in me.
Click to expand...

I think hear both of those thoughts pretty clearly.
Wouldn't want to have to go to Will Call window Friday night.
Could be bad.
 
#82      

EfremWinters84

E
S. Carolina
EfremWinters84
Based upon recent history, I typically get too pumped up for these premiere non-conference games (i.e. UNC the past two years). So allow me to learn from past mistakes and predict.....

USF 31
ILL 17

If we happen continue with our steep improvement curve and pull-off something like a surprising 31-3 victory, I think we start to get some Top 25 votes. I'll be in the stands behind our bench, proudly wearing the orange.

Go ILLINI!
 
#84      

HR217

H
HR217
USF is a ranked team. If we win, it probably would get us votes. Good enough or not.
 
#86      

3DegreeIllini

3
Chicago,IL
3DegreeIllini
icengineer said:
Just because I choose to be an optimist!
Click to expand...

Yeahhhh in a game where we need balls to bounce our way in so many ways, the #FloridaStrong rallying cry coupled with the first responders and high schoolers in the crowd is going to be a thumb on the scale for USF that will be difficult for us
 
#88      

JDHalfrack

J
Springfield, IL
JDHalfrack
If we beat a 19th ranked team to start out 3-0, we most certainly will receive votes. Maybe 1. But we'll receive votes.

But we're getting WAAAAAAAAY ahead of ourselves here....
 
#89      

StateFarmCenter

StateFarmCenter
StateFarmCenter
jrichisamazing said:
That's not how college football rankings work. If we win, everyone would assume USF is way overrated. Beating a 22-ranked non-power 5 team early in the year on a short week after a hurricane is going to do nothing to bring us into a national spotlight. We haven't been even close to relevant in 6 years.

We'd probably have to go 4-0 just to receive votes and 6-0 to actually crack the top 25.
Click to expand...
I'm aware how they work. I'm saying they absolutely have a top 25 resume if they win. Of the 3-0 teams, they would have beaten the teams with the best records combined from last year, with opponents averaging nearly 9 wins.

They will absolutely get votes.
 
#90      

illiniguy24

illiniguy24
illiniguy24
I think we would have to start 5-0 to crack the top 25 personally


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#91      

Illini_1979

Illini_1979
Oregon
Illini_1979
james81 said:
In their own way, the first two games were both surprises: the first one how poorly we played, yet still won; the second one how we outperformed expectations and dominated the game defensively. USF is a perfect game for the next step. The question is not so much if we win (I expect most of us think it's possible, but unlikely), but how we compete. I hate watching us lose, but this is a game I can stand to lose if we play all four quarters and continue to show improvement. We have to give the defense some slack. We can't stop USF, but can we make some stops and come up with a few big plays? Can we get the ball to Dudek and Turner? Can Epstein continue to gain yardage? Can Crouch improve his decision making and accuracy?
Click to expand...

Excellent summation. :thumb:
 
#92      

1LL1N1

1LL1N1
1LL1N1
mdonsbach said:
I did not realize that we can give high school teams free tickets to games. How much do we do that?
Click to expand...

That's the part that seems odd about his statement. I can understand the general public or all students, but to isolate high school football players seems like a thinly veiled recruiting tactic.
 
#93      

jrichisamazing

J
jrichisamazing
Ok so now that we know the game is on....what is the scouting report? I've heard they are good, but that's it. Strengths? Weaknesses? Any stud future draft picks? Don't really know anything about this team and I've never watched them.
 
#94      

FiveStar

F
FiveStar
mdonsbach said:
I did not realize that we can give high school teams free tickets to games. How much do we do that?
Click to expand...

Idk but I was on the receiving end of that a couple years ago when #1 Oklahoma went in to play Baylor (for basketball). We picked up tickets from the "recruits" area. There were a ton of other kids in that line (looked like full teams too), so it may not be uncommon.
 
#95      

drwillini

D
drwillini
james81 said:
In their own way, the first two games were both surprises: the first one how poorly we played, yet still won; the second one how we outperformed expectations and dominated the game defensively. USF is a perfect game for the next step. The question is not so much if we win (I expect most of us think it's possible, but unlikely), but how we compete. I hate watching us lose, but this is a game I can stand to lose if we play all four quarters and continue to show improvement. We have to give the defense some slack. We can't stop USF, but can we make some stops and come up with a few big plays? Can we get the ball to Dudek and Turner? Can Epstein continue to gain yardage? Can Crouch improve his decision making and accuracy?
Click to expand...

At the risk of blowing my own horn, I said after the first game the young defense would be fine, but the Oline worried me, and I really wanted Luke Butkus to succeed here. The football gods seem to have answered, complete retool and they looked great. So here is another one. We won't beat a good team w/o a great game from Dudek or Turner, and probably both. I think this is the game McGee earns his paycheck. He gets these guys involved. Crouch is just good enough that with the right play calling and scheming, these guys get premium touches, and we are competitive on national TV. What the heck, I'll say we win. Crouch throws for 250+, with Turner and Dudek getting 150+ of that. Epstein tops 100 again in his homestate, and Kendrick and Bonner combine for another 100. Most significantly, we continue to win the turnover battle (boy is football more fun when your team does that). Hayes remains undefeated in his career.

What I love about winning, is that when you do each game becomes bigger. Imagine Nebraska next week if we can pull this one off.
 
#96      

james81

J
North Carolina
james81
drwillini said:
At the risk of blowing my own horn, I said after the first game the young defense would be fine, but the Oline worried me, and I really wanted Luke Butkus to succeed here. The football gods seem to have answered, complete retool and they looked great. So here is another one. We won't beat a good team w/o a great game from Dudek or Turner, and probably both. I think this is the game McGee earns his paycheck. He gets these guys involved. Crouch is just good enough that with the right play calling and scheming, these guys get premium touches, and we are competitive on national TV. What the heck, I'll say we win. Crouch throws for 250+, with Turner and Dudek getting 150+ of that. Epstein tops 100 again in his homestate, and Kendrick and Bonner combine for another 100. Most significantly, we continue to win the turnover battle (boy is football more fun when your team does that). Hayes remains undefeated in his career.

What I love about winning, is that when you do each game becomes bigger. Imagine Nebraska next week if we can pull this one off.
Click to expand...

Personally, I think we have a better chance of beating Nebraska than USF, although I'm not expecting to win either one. However, after last week's turn around, I'm suspending judgment on how competitive we might be. We need to see a few more games to get a feel for the potential of this team. USF and Nebraska are perfect games to do that--two solid opponents with one game away and one at home.
 
#97      

breadman

B
Herndon, VA
breadman
mossimo142 said:
So say we end up pulling out a W...think that will be enough to start getting some top 25 votes? Maybe crack it ourselves?
Click to expand...

I see your comment got a lot of traction. I would say in do time. This past week I actually caught the some of the BTN Live show where J Leman was one of the panelists. At the end of the show, they did the top 5 power wins of this past weekend. We were not in that top 5. So, when we start appearing in that local BTN conversation, national recognition should not be far behind. Patience, grasshopper(s)...
 
#98      

Illiini

Illiini
In the land of the Nittany Lion
Illiini
james81 said:
Personally, I think we have a better chance of beating Nebraska than USF, although I'm not expecting to win either one. However, after last week's turn around, I'm suspending judgment on how competitive we might be. We need to see a few more games to get a feel for the potential of this team. USF and Nebraska are perfect games to do that--two solid opponents with one game away and one at home.
Click to expand...

I don't think we have any idea what happens. Because we thought we knew what was going to happen with WKU...and I don't think anyone expected anything like what did happen. And the Vegas line? Yeah, they had it right about WKU. (Insert sarcasm sign here).

Let's talk strengths and weaknesses, and please, some background on USF, but take off the Negative Norbert jacket. Let's see how the Whiz Kids do.
 
#100      

ivwilsoniv

I
Aurora, IL
ivwilsoniv
How weird is it going to be for Lovie to coach in Raymond James Stadium again?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.