Gonna be tough to do with the worst defense in the big 10
Pregame: Illinois at Rutgers, Saturday, November 14th, 12:00pm CT, BTN
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I love that people took this post seriously. Well done. The rationale should have been the give away. But my sarcasm meter was broken once, too, so I've been there.
I think you somehow forgot the part of the scenario where every team in front of us loses out and after we beat the Hoosiers for the B1G Championship, we also find ourselves playing for the national championship. I won't call that game until I see the matchup.
That can’t be true...defense is Lovie Smith’s specialty.
Predicting Rutgers by 10+. Our offense is inept, the defense is even worse, and Schiano is a much better defensive coach as well as leader at this stage of his career than Lovie is.
My bad bro, its my meter thats broken.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
Why? Another overhyped savior. He’ll never be a B1G QB.
For me it’s win-win, if he plays and lights things on fire, well maybe we can win some games!
If not, maybe he realizes he isn’t a P5 QB and (hopefully) accepts a transition to WR.
Maybe, but a pretty harsh comment for a 19 year old who has not yet been given a chance.
I can rationalize how bad the offense has been. Played most of the season so far with the 4th string qb. A lot of teams are going to look rough when that happens.
What I can’t get over is how bad the defense - particularly the pass defense - has been. Teams are completing 79% of their passes against the Illini, worst in the country. It looks like the opponent is running a non-contact walkthrough of their playbook during passing plays. It’s just unacceptable.
What I can’t get over is how bad the defense - particularly the pass defense - has been. Teams are completing 79% of their passes against the Illini, worst in the country. It looks like the opponent is running a non-contact walkthrough of their playbook during passing plays. It’s just unacceptable.
RedRocksIllini
- Morrison, CO
My only "why" is that I am hard-pressed to find a reason to watch this game. Savior? Yeah, no. My expectations have been sufficiently lowered. I'll happily settle for fun to watch.
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
I think is what all of us are still in disbelief about. You would think that the defense would click at some point. I think college defenses need to attack and confuse, since the QBs are always going to be inexperienced (compared to the veteran NFL guys). I just don't know what logic exists in Lovie's mind to not be doing that. Especially with pretty athletic LBs, too.
Seriously, do college teams complete 80% of their passes in no contact 7 on 7 drills? We certainly didn’t when I played high school football (mumble, mumble) years ago.
Just with drops, misreads, deflections and occasional bad throws, there’s going to be some incompletions. How is Illinois not forcing any negative plays in the passing game?
Just with drops, misreads, deflections and occasional bad throws, there’s going to be some incompletions. How is Illinois not forcing any negative plays in the passing game?
I'm not an expert, but I think it has everything to do with our defensive line doesn't put pressure on the QB, the fact that our cornerbacks either play 10 yards off of the line or consistently get beat, and then our safeties are usually out of position. And let's not forget poor tackling technique thrown in there somewhere.
"Other than that Mrs. Lincoln how did you like the play".
Illinir1
- Camdenton, MO
Hmmm......last year every appearance he made was a known-to-the-defense wildcat run. If he could throw Rod Smith would have dialed that up.
Cook
- Richmond, VA
That's a lot of rationalizing. O was abysmal with Peters too.
altenberger22
- South Carolina
Tough game for me to call. I really, really like Schiano (and wanted him to come to Champaign 5 years ago). If we had QB1, I still might predict a win. But we don't.......
Rutgers 41
Illini 23
Thus leading Josh Whitman to make some type of formal statement about Lovie in the week that follows.
Rutgers 41
Illini 23
Thus leading Josh Whitman to make some type of formal statement about Lovie in the week that follows.
Not for a couple of plays per game that he played. Smith doesn't like to throw even with Peters in the game. Peters got to throw a lot when we were down in the 2nd half. I don't know if the lack of throwing is because of Lovie or not.
The Dave
- CA
How many of those 23 are scored by the offense and how many by the defense/special teams?
He also had the most rushing yards for that game for ILL. If not, he was very close.
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
That's 7 McCourt 50+ yard field goals and a safety where the other team takes a knee in the endzone in solidarity for the BLM movement. A thrilling 60-23 loss.
But, why??? Ugh.
Deleted member 747671
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Being underdogs to Rutgers is such a tough pill to swallow. It's still hard for me to believe and I chalked this up to a win, maybe not a "comfortable" win, but still a win none the less. But so far this year, I have seen nothing to make me think we will win this game. Sure hope I'm wrong. I think it's going to be an ugly 27-20 loss, where both teams play sloppy and we're in it, but can just never really get a lead or any sort of control of the game.
Also, because this season is so weird and the timeline is so off, I would almost prefer Whitman to fire Lovie next week, if we actually do lose at Rutgers. This clearly isn't working, and the start of the season, when added on to the rest of the Lovie era, is plenty of evidence.
Also, because this season is so weird and the timeline is so off, I would almost prefer Whitman to fire Lovie next week, if we actually do lose at Rutgers. This clearly isn't working, and the start of the season, when added on to the rest of the Lovie era, is plenty of evidence.
If its a lopsided loss that statement may be different than what you think.
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