ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
This is news
It's an easy joke, but it is. We don't get to play Kent State every week.
This is news
Ron Zook was a superior recruiter, put many more players in the league, and (a low bar to be sure) easily an equal to Smith as an in-game tactician.Zook was horrible. He put up the same record as Turner minus the Big 10 championship.
Zook was horrible. He put up the same record as Turner minus the Big 10 championship.
Thing is, perhaps that's an even greater challenge, but I think it's a pretty *different* challenge.
Illinois is big time football, big time facilities, big time attention, and indeed quite a number of big time players. Sure we've got a losing culture baked into the roster and bad brand on the recruiting trail, but is Creighton's distinctly small-time background and affect the way to change that?
I'm not saying the answer is definitively no. But like, Creighton's a career lower division guy, he's got his coaches wearing mock work shirts with name tags, putting diamondplate accents on the uniforms, there's a gym-teachery whiff about him that I'm not sure fits in the Big Ten in the same way it does with a dead little program at a dead little school in a dead little town.
Makes it very doubtful that he will be let go after this year.
I am an Illini supporter but am always amazed that our fan base thinks we are going to get a top notch coach. 20,000 fans at games and a history of continually firing coaches. Would you come?May as well get the coaching carousel thread started!
I’m not convinced that a 3 or 4 win season gets Lovie fired this year unless the team obviously quits on him. Besides, we all know we will be better next year, amirite?!
That history is one of the main reasons I wanted Lovie to succeed and build something stable even if not great. But when you are willing to shell out top 12 money in the entire country for a coach, there should be some pretty good candidates willing to cash that check.I am an Illini supporter but am always amazed that our fan base thinks we are going to get a top notch coach. 20,000 fans at games and a history of continually firing coaches. Would you come?
It’s possible to rationalize a 34-31 loss to a quality MAC team in year four of a coaching regime. It’s not going to be easy to rationalize the 52-3 beatdowns at the hands of our upcoming ranked conference opponents that this loss (and struggles at UCONN) foreshadow.
Having watched this staff for better than three years this was exactly my expectation.The way I see it:
EM played up to their expectations.
ILL did not meet their expectations.
I've heard this for so, so , so long.....what good is " talent" if it does not translate into play on the field.?Honestly the talent is there. Imagine if we didn't commit those penalties....
Zook= Texas Bowl, Rose bowl......I'll take that kinda bad over what we got todayZook was horrible. He put up the same record as Turner minus the Big 10 championship.
Eh. Not entirely true. We didn’t do anything schematically that EMU didn’t do if you watch the plays back, which I am now. Simply put, EMU did a better job of picking up the pressure up front than we did. Our OL didn’t do their jobs today.
They also had a lot of WRs running wide open, especially down the middle of the hashes. Their secondary outplayed ours, by a mile.
Agreed, also penalties are killing us. I hope the team doesn't give up as easily as some...fans.Agree. The last thing Illinois needs right now is another rebuild. Continue to build off the transfers and recruiting class. All transfers have elgibility minus Petibone next year. We at minimum have D1 players and experience at all positions.
We haven't had talent and athletes in years, we also don't know how to win. EMU has bowled the last two years. We are a collection of talented transfers who didn't have success at their last program and a bunch of developing players who all they know is losing.
The key injuries have hurt us.
34k, but that is much inflated. Today was Band Day, Scout Day and Teacher Day. There were 2000 high school band members and an entire section of scouts in the west stands. Any local teacher or student could get free tickets.They were sending 6 and 7 guys. We should have been gashing them for huge gains on those plays. Either the wrong plays were being called or Peters couldn’t make the read.
TV really never showed the crowd. I assume that means it was bad. Was it Akron bad?
Every secondary that we face will outplay ours by a mile.
Sad. I honestly wonder if they gave away free tickets to everyone if we could fill the place for these early games. Should be a big Nebraska contingent next week if they win tonight.34k, but that is much inflated. Today was Band Day, Scout Day and Teacher Day. There were 2000 high school band members and an entire section of scouts in the west stands. Any local teacher or student could get free tickets.
I don’t even feel confident against Rutgers if we play like today. I agree Hobbs and Martin were bad today against mediocre at best receivers.Very likely, aside from Rutgers. We’ve set a low bar.
So much optimism about Hobbs and Martin. Neither has been up to the task.