Quote from another big 10 coach.....Illinois is the laughing stock of college football...
Illini Football 2019
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foby
- Bonnaroo Land
I bet our Football Performance Center can beat up his Football Performance Center.
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
Fitz? I can't imagine anyone on the east side of the conference to even care enough to make the comment.
Lol wasn't fitzy....wasn't even a head coach.
Deleted member 654622
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In the words of an Illinois Boy, keep my name outcha mouth. Who cares what those people think. Punch em in the mouth and move on
Derrek Smith is going to play LB. Interesting
Derrek Smith is going to play LB. Interesting
That ends this year.
Whoever it is, I hope we beat his team.
I'm guessing an Iowa coach.
Deleted member 29907
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And we care what some low class coach from another team says because.....? Clearly we all know where we are but comments from 'anonymous' coaches like these are just kinda 'so what?' Some guys will do whatever they can to disparage to increase their odds of recruiting success.
This league has had head coaches that supported child molesters and wife beaters in this sport alone. Perhaps some of these teams/comments should cast their gaze on addressing what is really important.
I know this coach and he said it to my face after asking him how the rest of the conference viewed Illinois.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
And if that hasn't changed by Thanksgiving, it's time to bring in some new organizational leadership that can have this program operating along industry standards.
There has been a lot of reinventing the wheel by Lovie which is great if you're winning, but when the results look like this are just foolish hubris.
I'm optimistic, but have see how the games play out starting this week. I'm not ready for another rebuild, hope this one works out.
I would love nothing more than to do just that.....however, it's difficult to beat a good heavyweight when you're fighting as a flyweight. 5 wins might look like progress to some people but we are not going to attract the type of talent we need to punch people in the mouth if we don't get to a bowl game. We have got to do more than show progress if we want to attract prime, high end talent.
Deleted member 649710
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I took a look at the details underlying that talent composite. Seems clear that the Illini’s number is significantly bolstered by the incoming transfers. Looks like 24/7 used those players’ HS ratings, which none of them have lived up to yet. Here’s hoping most of them play up to their rating potential this season; they all will get the opportunity (except Ford). If they do, the Illini will have a good season.
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Deleted member 631370
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Michigan fans are talking national title this year (as they do every year it seems), but they'd be the first champion in a long time to do so with a less-than-50% blue chip percentage. Only OSU and PSU are above 50%.
But yeah, the difference between those three and the rest of the conference is pretty enormous. And Ohio State really is up at Alabama, Georgia, and Clemson's level for talent.
Deleted member 654622
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I don't disagree with you. But I also don't expect some miracle this year. I do expect progress. I just read/hear outsiders call Lovie a joke (essentially that is what they are saying). It may not be pretty or enjoyable, but this roster is getting more and more talented. We may not end up with Mookie or AJ. But I also don't think there is a heavy weight in this division. The dudes we have started brining in are good enough to win.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
How does he know? Has he polled ‘the rest of the conference’? People say all sorts of stupid things and this is one of them. Tells more about him than us.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I'd been waiting for this to come out, and holy cow! 37th nationally, up from 61st last year.
11 of the top 12 of our players per that ranking have never played a snap for us before! (Calvin Avery is the only one)
2 of those 12 will not see the field this year of course (Beason and Ford)
But that's 9 really physically gifted guys that we have never seen before that we now have access to, in a 22 player sport. 6 of them are upperclassmen.
The point that these transfer guys were disappointments at their previous schools and shouldn't be considered elite the way they were as freshmen is true, full stop, I do not dispute that point.
Even so, I have a hard time squaring this roster with some of the national pessimism we've been seeing, not just that we'll miss a bowl, but that we'll be the clear doormat of the West. I do not foresee that, that should not be our expectation level, and we should be extremely disappointed and dismayed if that happens, IMO.
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Deleted member 631370
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Time will tell.
But regarding your last point......people base their judgments on results. You don't see anybody giving Maryland a shot this year, do you? They're #5 in the Big Ten. But people know that Locksley cannot coach to save his life. Just the same, Iowa is #9 but they're preseason top-20. People recognize that Ferentz gets a good return-on-investment given their talent level.
Living far away from the Midwest these days, my anecdotal encounters with football fans that want to talk about Lovie -- upon discovering my Illinois roots -- generally have less-than-stellar things to say about him. Most like the guy personally, but don't believe he's a particularly good option for Illinois going forward.
The broader perception is one that doesn't really believe Lovie is going to get it done. Let's hope it's wrong.
What a lamebrain coach. I wouldn't even say it if I believed it. Coaches like that never go very far unless they cheat(ala Pearl) And I don't have much respect for coaches that say those things. I'll be there Saturday and I hope it's the start of a respectable year. 5 minimum 7 tops wins.
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The infusion of higher talent is real
Deleted member 654622
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But that is based off basically the win loss record. And rightfully so. But outsiders do not pay attention to the signs that this team is going to be better.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
And what I'm really counting on is that those guys, combined with the age and experience of the rest of our roster, means we've reached the end of having guys out there that just have no business on a Big Ten field. Any snap where you have a couple guys like that out there is begging for disaster.
That has been a constant feature of the last two seasons. If that stops, we're playing a different ballgame.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
It will stop as long as we remain healthy. That's the key to this season. We are absolutely a B1G caliber team on our first string at pretty much all position groups. It's after that where it gets dicey very quickly at certain positions (OL, CB, LB, QB mostly). To really become legit we need depth at every position to back up those quality starters. We can be good this year if we can be healthy, but it's next year when we'll finally have depth as even our backups will have the benefit of age and maturity (and some experience) while we also get some of our top talented transfers eligible. I honestly think next year we'll have a good chance to win the B1G West if we can hold it together.
Deleted member 649710
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Counterpoint: Only three of the "really physically gifted guys" play on the defensive side of the ball (Betiku, Eifler, Cooper), and maybe only one of them is a starter, and we already lost the best returning player from what was the school's worst defense of the modern era.
The success or failure of this season hinges mostly on whether the defense can improve from absolute garbage to mediocre, and most of that improvement has to come from the players already on the roster, the "new" defensive coordinator, and only one assistant coach (out of four) with more than two seasons of coaching experience. [Gulp]
Joel Goodson
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