Pregame: Illinois vs Western Kentucky, Saturday, September 9th, 7:00pm CT, BTN

[Dan]

Video: Hear from coordinators @GarrickMcGee & @hardynickerson with the #Illini prepping for WKU on Saturday
http://www.news-gazette.com/video/2017-09-04/mcgee-bottom-line-youve-got-play-good.html


[YOUTUBE]_CtsMMDTLyA[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Illiswag]

I really like J Leman up in the booth he is fun to listen too and adds great analysis.

 

[FiveStar]

I really like J Leman up in the booth he is fun to listen too and adds great analysis.

I feel like we love him and everyone else probably hates him. Kinda like Hawk Harrelson.

 

[Illiswag]

I feel like we love him and everyone else probably hates him. Kinda like Hawk Harrelson.

True. His voice was on an ESPN promo i saw today tho, so hopefully we aren't alone.

 

[Illinisteve25]

Wku 24 Illini 30.... Should be a lively crowd and hope to continue turnovers. Feed the Mike's on offense and that should keep the sticks moving. All said as long as its a close game I'll be happy.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

Per usual, the optimist in me will shine through: I think week one was a get-out-the-jitters moment, and the way we finished will actually give us some momentum and confidence heading into a week two night game. I don't think we're a very good team or anything, but I think we WILL improve throughout the year, and I think we're much better than week one showed. At least I hope so. I'll say that the Illini win a hard-earned victory by the score of 28-23 in front of a nice 54,000 in Memorial Stadium. :thumb:

 

[KrushCow31]

Gonna be tailgating the Notre Dame v Georgia game all day and then plop myself on a couch and watch Illinois. Should be great fun.

 

[redwingillini11]

My head and my heart are going to be battling all week. On one hand we looked terrible last week. On the other hand, maybe our boys can find some momentum from winning and piece things together. I am going to hold out hope we can squeeze out a win.

 

[mhuml32]

WKU - 27
UI - 13

 

[Deleted member 533939]

My head and my heart are going to be battling all week. On one hand we looked terrible last week. On the other hand, maybe our boys can find some momentum from winning and piece things together. I am going to hold out hope we can squeeze out a win.

But WKU won too, so how does this momentum work? Hint: It's made up. Game to game momentum isn't a thing.

 

[Rojogrande]

Numbers may have been inflated by late 4th qrt a bit. Westerns D was not good in the 2nd half, put little to no pressure on EKU. That should be an area of concern for Western, Western was missing two of their top RBs both of whom should be back this week. The two they had last week were more of your "thunder guys" great in short yard situations. The two they could get back this week (Baker and Allen) are quicker so we will see if that adds to their attack.

WKU fan here. Not trying to come on here and start an issue or anything. But if you were truly a WKU fan you would know that Allen is not coming back this week and no one knows when or if he will even play this season. Add to that the fact that he is no longer even considered a top 3 back at WKU.

Baker is a speed back and an option the Tops lacked against EKU last Saturday. Ferby is the best back on the roster though. However, it was his first game back from injury since his first carry in the 1st game of last season.

WKU had a few other key play makers suspended againt EKU as well. Including r-FR WR Xavier Lane who is fast and tall at 6'4" and will most definitely be starting out wide this Saturday in Champaigne.

Also keep in mind that WKU played an extremely vanilla game from a play calling perspective against EKU. Sanford didn't want to give anything away vs a FCS opponent we should be able to beat regardless. WKU only blitzed the EKU quarterback 1 time the entire game. That blitz play resulted in a sack. Couple of starting defenders did not play vs the Colonels last Saturday either. So things will look different next week both schematically and from a personnel perspective.

 

[CARPET]

Welcome HillTopper Fan.

I agree with your review. The way our Offensive Line played last week it sounds like Sanford will Blitz at will all game.

Which could create some gaps for Illinois to play in. I suspect the over/under for turnovers to be 3.5 for this game

 

[LFOD]

Rojogrande, thanks for posting. It should be a fun game.

What's your favorite WKU forum site? I'd like to read more about your team.

 

[Dan]

[YOUTUBE]u7zZd5lriUg[/YOUTUBE]

 

[ILLWKU]

WKU fan here. Not trying to come on here and start an issue or anything. But if you were truly a WKU fan you would know that Allen is not coming back this week and no one knows when or if he will even play this season. Add to that the fact that he is no longer even considered a top 3 back at WKU.

Baker is a speed back and an option the Tops lacked against EKU last Saturday. Ferby is the best back on the roster though. However, it was his first game back from injury since his first carry in the 1st game of last season.

WKU had a few other key play makers suspended againt EKU as well. Including r-FR WR Xavier Lane who is fast and tall at 6'4" and will most definitely be starting out wide this Saturday in Champaigne.

Also keep in mind that WKU played an extremely vanilla game from a play calling perspective against EKU. Sanford didn't want to give anything away vs a FCS opponent we should be able to beat regardless. WKU only blitzed the EKU quarterback 1 time the entire game. That blitz play resulted in a sack. Couple of starting defenders did not play vs the Colonels last Saturday either. So things will look different next week both schematically and from a personnel perspective.

:huh: Muh bad. Not the place for me to go through my WKU resume, thought i had read that somewhere I was wrong. You could have just said that...
You maybe right on the play calling by Sanford in game one. Still I was concerned of secondary play in 2nd half against EKU. Though Illinois offense is definitely not something to be afraid of yet. (Though Dudek could be in store for a nice game)

Go Tops
Go Illini (next week)

 

[ILLWKU]

Rojogrande, thanks for posting. It should be a fun game.

What's your favorite WKU forum site? I'd like to read more about your team.

Hilltopper Haven
WKU Rivals

 

[KingKowski94]

I have to say that McGee's offensive strategy was a bit odd. I just don't think it matched the strengths of the team. I thought the playbook this season would have consisted of getting a mobile qb in crouch outside the pocket, running a heavy variety of option plays, and getting the ball to Dudek in the open field. Also, a bit concerning that Kendrick Foster did not perform well. Considering he is our senior leader

 

[Illiini]

Oh, God, no. Saints preserve us. This is why we don't want a mascot: Big Red

 

[Illinisteve25]

WKU fan here. Not trying to come on here and start an issue or anything. But if you were truly a WKU fan you would know that Allen is not coming back this week and no one knows when or if he will even play this season. Add to that the fact that he is no longer even considered a top 3 back at WKU.

Baker is a speed back and an option the Tops lacked against EKU last Saturday. Ferby is the best back on the roster though. However, it was his first game back from injury since his first carry in the 1st game of last season.

WKU had a few other key play makers suspended againt EKU as well. Including r-FR WR Xavier Lane who is fast and tall at 6'4" and will most definitely be starting out wide this Saturday in Champaigne.

Also keep in mind that WKU played an extremely vanilla game from a play calling perspective against EKU. Sanford didn't want to give anything away vs a FCS opponent we should be able to beat regardless. WKU only blitzed the EKU quarterback 1 time the entire game. That blitz play resulted in a sack. Couple of starting defenders did not play vs the Colonels last Saturday either. So things will look different next week both schematically and from a personnel perspective.

Champaign... This is the only thing wrong with your statement...

 

[Deleted member 29907]

I have to say that McGee's offensive strategy was a bit odd. I just don't think it matched the strengths of the team. I thought the playbook this season would have consisted of getting a mobile qb in crouch outside the pocket, running a heavy variety of option plays, and getting the ball to Dudek in the open field. Also, a bit concerning that Kendrick Foster did not perform well. Considering he is our senior leader

Its pretty usual for a new group (e.g. most of our offense) to play with a restricted playbook the first week - cuts down on the mistakes, and subsequent weeks adding more while holding back some looks for league play and more experience. Pretty much what the WKU poster mentioned applies to many teams making their way to cohesion. Teams that have alot of seniors who have at the very least been in the system for many years are much further along and you can open the play book wider much earlier.

 

[FiveStar]

Its pretty usual for a new group (e.g. most of our offense) to play with a restricted playbook the first week - cuts down on the mistakes, and subsequent weeks adding more while holding back some looks for league play and more experience. Pretty much what the WKU poster mentioned applies to many teams making their way to cohesion. Teams that have alot of seniors who have at the very least been in the system for many years are much further along you can open the play book wider much earlier.

On the flip side, there's also usually some expiramentation. Find out what your team is comfortable with and what's not gonna work. I think the next game we will see a much more focused play set to play to our guys strengths. I also feel like having the o line practice together the whole week with no last minute changes will be beneficial for the playbook as well. I don't remember hearing Mcgee ever say anything about scripting plays like cubit, but maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea with this group.

 

[Deleted member 29907]

On the flip side, there's also usually some expiramentation. Find out what your team is comfortable with and what's not gonna work. I think the next game we will see a much more focused play set to play to our guys strengths. I also feel like having the o line practice together the whole week with no last minute changes will be beneficial for the playbook as well. I don't remember hearing Mcgee ever say anything about scripting plays like cubit, but maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea with this group.

Makes sense - I am waiting anxiously for the DudeK jet sweep / pass option to show itself again

 

[BWBW]

Ball State successfully used a rub route (pick play) at least once against us. Didn't notice us run that, but I may have missed it. Maybe we'll employ our version this weekend?

 

[Rojogrande]

Thank for the welcome guys....

WKU Fan forums are as followed:

WKU Scout
WKU Rivals (not very active on the message boards but will have good game previews this week)
HilltopperHaven.com/boards

 

[Rojogrande]

Champaign... This is the only thing wrong with your statement...

Haha my bad. And I corrected myself on it about 3 times too :thumb: . I knew it was spelled different than Champagne. Should have used google.