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

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#76      
220Illini
We are #23 in the country in Rushing YPG. Rutgers is #115 in the country is rush defense. I like that matchup to keep the defense off the field.
 
#77      
BZuppke
Well you know we’ll want to rush the ball. We should be able to. 45-10 Illini in this one.
 
#78      
ktal
ILL2010MJ said:
...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.
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These are exactly the characteristics I like in an opposing QB. We should be able to jump routes and get picks if he's staring down receivers. And as BZuppke says above, we should definitely be able to run the ball.

I would love for this to be a dominant win, and for it to give our guys confidence going into the Purdue game. Robert has said a couple of times that the sideline is completely different this year, (i.e. much more confident and engaged). Rutgers is the kind of game where that can really make a difference on the field. 38-17 Illini.
 
#79      
Second and Chalmers
220Illini said:
Illinois -1.5 is the opening line. Vegas must not think as highly of the Illini as some of us (shocker there;))
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Is Indiana good?

I'm having trouble squaring that line with the rest of Rutgers' spreads this year.

Anyway, this basically guarantees we'll be an underdog next week against Purdue.
 
#80      
Peoria Pipeline
We should run all over them. I hope Bush is back, i think he gives us the better chance for a victory. Whats the over/under on zone reads called....20??
 
#81      
Illinisteve25
Illini 38 Rutty 21 we dominate by running all over them early they get a late score or 2 to make it look closer...
 
#83      
BWBW
I hope we get the ball first and get 7 on the board. Then I hope we surprise them with stunts/blitzing and get a takeaway on their first possession, perhaps even a defensive touchdown.

Reality may be settling for a field goal on the first drive, getting behind 7-3 when Rutgers executes a well-designed first drive (that may include making a 4th down conversion), thus giving Rutgers the belief it may win the game.
 
#84      
220Illini
Second and Chalmers said:
Is Indiana good?

I'm having trouble squaring that line with the rest of Rutgers' spreads this year.

Anyway, this basically guarantees we'll be an underdog next week against Purdue.
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I also believed the line should be bigger. Could be a case of Vegas thinking Indiana is a quality team or maybe a little recency bias. Looks like we are getting a huge majority of the bets right now though.
 
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#86      
Deleted member 29907
BWBW said:
I hope we get the ball first and get 7 on the board. Then I hope we surprise them with stunts/blitzing and get a takeaway on their first possession, perhaps even a defensive touchdown.

Reality may be settling for a field goal on the first drive, getting behind 7-3 when Rutgers executes a well-designed first drive (that may include making a 4th down conversion), thus giving Rutgers the belief it may win the game.
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;)
 
#87      
Dan
Game Notes

BTN: Lisa Byington and J Leman

https://fightingillini.com/news/2018/10/1/football-game-week-illinois-at-rutgers.aspx
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Lovie: Hope to get some injured players back. Not going to talk about those guys yet though.

Lovie: Rutgers I'm sure is excited to play us. They beat us last year. We're excited to play them.

Lovie: We talk about getting better. But the way you do that is getting over the hump. We don't have a Big Ten win and we need one in the worst way."

Lovie: "Jamal Woods was playing good football. ...He's a player who really improved from spring to fall."

If he can't go, it'll be about the next guy. Jamal Milan should be back at some point. Lere Oladipo too.

Deon Pate is back. Calvin Avery, those guys need to step up

Lovie: We understand the challenge ahead of us this week. It's always tough to go on the road. Two teams who feel like they have to have this game. All our thoughts are going into Rutgers.

Lovie: The one thing that can help our program is to get a win against a Big Ten program.

Lovie: Once the suspended guys got back in god gracious, they're embraced back. They all got a few reps vs. PSU. We'll continue to evaluate them to see if they'll get a bigger role.

Lovie: Good things happening. Running the ball. Turnover ratio. But being able to put everything together, that's what it's about. Need to play a game start to finish.

Lovie: Gotta stop the run better on defense. We have to get that corrected as a team. Have to play better run defense to take another step.

Lovie: Too many missed tackles allowing explosive plays

Lovie: Bye week "helps an awful lot" with AJ Bush.

Lovie on Kievan Myers: He missed an awful lot. We're just getting him acclimated into how we do things: practice, class, all the first-time freshmen things. But that process is started.

https://twitter.com/JWerner247
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#90      
Deleted member 29907
Dan said:
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If you look at the game notes, we've racked up some very nice rankings in some key stats. If we had AJ healthy, we'd be 3-1 right now and in pretty good shape.

Although Trenard is throwing at 100% completion rate and with all those passes going for TDs, so maybe ....
 
#91      
Fighter of the Nightman
We really need this one. Imagine what it would do for the team's confidence to win by two scores or more on the road and go into next week's game with a record of 3-2 (1-1) for a 2:30 Homecoming matchup against a competitive but beatable Purdue team. Baby steps and all, but we need to prove to OURSELVES that we are capable of taking advantage of a weak Big Ten West and getting to six wins (or seriously fighting for it, at least). Beat Purdue, and we are in a (relatively) great position. Looking at our remaining schedule, it is hard not to let a little bit of optimism creep into my mind:

at Rutgers (they're 1-4, we REALLY need this one)
vs. Purdue (lost at home to EMU ... we certainly CAN beat them)
at Wisconsin (probably a loss for sure)
at Maryland (this is probably a tall order on the road, but Temple did it, right?)
vs. Minnesota (this one will be tough, but it's at home and they're beatable)
at Nebraska (they haven't won yet and look awful)
vs. Iowa (I honestly think that if the ship hasn't sunk by then, this is an upset opportunity)
at Northwestern (lost at home to Akron, and we might be playing for our lives ... I have hope here, too)

There is really only one game (at Wisconsin) and POSSIBLY two (vs. Iowa) that should be chalked up as certain losses. A lot of those games could really go either way, but if we can get to 4 wins over these next two weeks and maintain a bit of confidence and momentum going into our trip to Madison, you shoot for the stars that week trying to get the big upset, and then you move on to a string of winnable games, of which you really only need to win two. I think this weekend's game is a HUGE one for the program, and - given that I am an Illini football fan - count me as QUITE nervous. :(
 
#92      
ChiefIllini
My issue is, the USF and PSU games both felt like we were going to lose them the entire time. By that, I mean I felt like everything that could've gone right for us did, and vice versa.

Now, I'm not sure if thats just learned behavior based on past results, or if it's actually the case, but the fact that we had very up and down games vs Kent St and Western makes me believe mostly the latter.

Winning the next two would go a long way to helping me believe this team has a legitimate chance.
 
#93      
BZuppke
We’ll beat Rutgers. I don’t think Purdue is that good if you look at the stats of the Nebraska game.
 
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