UTSA 37, Illinois 30 Postgame

[skyIdub]

A B1G line simply cannot get pushed around like that by a CUSA team. Period. Full stop. BB has a monumental task ahead. I think he's up to it....but it ain't gonna be soon.

I can live with the mistakes, flukes, accuracy, and play calling...that can all get cleaned up fairly quick.

When you are completely out physical'ed by a team like that....ooof.

The Smith Center weight room has to be the epicenter of this program for the next 5 years.

 

[ILL_INI]

If this is Maryland, Iowa, etc. any big ten team he’s got 2 picks and at most 200 yards. There were multiple bad throws, yes there were drops, but there wasn’t a single time he put his target into a good spot. Don’t let anything fool you to thinking Art is still the solution like many did last week. We need Brandon to have any hope.

Oh, please. This is a ridiculous comment.

You act like Peters throws nothing but darts. They both have problems with accuracy.

 

[Deep]

Illinois football can never ride any positive momentum

 

[texillwek]

 

[WeWillWhen]

Defense gave up 500 yards/37 points, our OL couldn’t generate a consistent running game … at home … to a CUSA team … and people are pointing fingers at our backup QB? Bruh.

 

[Dan]

 

[IlliniTaffy]

I'm always negative when it comes to Illinois Football but BB needs some time. Lovie did a number on this program while people were defending him. The talent just isn't there yet.

 

[IntolerantFuzzyFlameMiser]

After watching the last two games I can't help but think two things:

1) we won't win many games this year.

-We just aren't executing a game plan very well.

-We have 2 QBs that are good enough to keep us in games but won't carry the team on their back when needed.

-Our receivers show flashes of their potential but are young and inconsistent.

-our O line should be a big strength for us but they just haven't dominated the LOS like I expected.

-Our defense looks improved from the lovie era but it's going to take some time to get the right players to fit the new scheme and develop them.

2) we won't get blown out of many games this year

-This is a B1G roster with solid talent all over the place. The cupboard is not bare this season like many people like to think. While we have a few positions that get thin fast, we have talented players at every position unlike some years in the not so distant past. Unfortunately we have a roster that has no real stars that we can lean on when we really need a big play.

-We have a coaching staff that actually makes adjustments (even if it was too little too late this time). I hate shitting on the past coaching staff because that era is over but I can't help but think this game wouldn't have been close if lovie was on the sidelines.

-We aren't beating ourselves. Yes we had a few plays that we would like back but we lost because we didn't make plays when we needed too on both sides of the ball while UTSA mostly executed well.

While this loss is extremely frustrating, I walk away from this game feeling cautiously optimistic about the future.

 

[Ramrod2010]

A B1G line simply cannot get pushed around like that by a CUSA team. Period. Full stop. BB has a monumental task ahead. I think he's up to it....but it ain't gonna be soon.

I can live with the mistakes, flukes, accuracy, and play calling...that can all get cleaned up fairly quick.

When you are completely out physical'ed by a team like that....ooof.

The Smith Center weight room has to be the epicenter of this program for the next 5 years.

This cannot be overstated. Our offensive line specifically was supposed to a strong point. It's looked like a liability the first two games.

 

[RockfordIllini]

Of course would have liked to win, but feel okay about this one. We are a team hoping to make a bowl and that’s what we looked like. I think anyone thinking we were winning 8 games this year was probably drinking too much koolaid. And UTSA looks quite good. Not surprising with a 7 win team that returns everyone. Guessing they win 8-9 games this year and this won’t be looked at as too bad a loss.

I think their skill positions were simply better than ours, and that shows up on the box score. Total plays were relatively even. TOP was relatively even. But they had about 70 more total yards, ie more chunk plays. Their receivers were simply able to gain more separation than ours and their QB was able to connect with them.

All that said, we were about a foot from tying the game on the last play. This game felt like the ND game where Trent’s shot to tie/win rimmed out, or any number of excruciating close losses in the early BU era. It will take more time for BB to rebuild (football rebuilds always do), but I think we are clearly headed in the right direction.

I think we will continue to improve this year and may win 1-2 games we shouldn’t.

 

[phats22]

I'm always negative when it comes to Illinois Football but BB needs some time. Lovie Beckman did a number on this program. The talent just isn't there yet.

Fify

 

[JoeJ]

Defense stunk and virtually no running game. A couple of our TDs had no defenders in the area. Art got them the ball and like to think the wide open receivers were at least partly due to the coaching staff. Thought our OL would at least make for some solid drives. Peters is likely > Art, but don't think he is >>>.

GO ILLINI!

 

[SouthFLILLINI]

The weaknesses of this team (talent, physicality and mentally) were really brought to light last night. They can't just show up and think they will win.

 

[skyIdub]

This cannot be overstated. Our offensive line specifically was supposed to a strong point. It's looked like a liability the first two games.

I mean, I genuinely thought our OL was going to lean on teams this year. B1G teams! Did we have a single run over 15 yards last night?

We are in B1G trouble unless UTSA is a closet P5 program, which honestly I thought from a few others comments this week is a possibility?

I'm trying real hard not to shrug my shoulders and emotionally walk over to Ubben now.

 

[EyeoftheIllini]

Definitely disappointing, but can’t say I’m totally surprised. Last week secondary had plenty of missed assignments that Martinez failed to capitalize on. UTSA didn’t have that problem. I hoped that a week of practicing as the starter and it being his second game would help propel Art to a good game. How he didn’t end the game with at least a couple of interceptions is in me. Overall the D wasn’t very good. I think there is some talent in front 7, but evidently not enough and not playing consistently well. But like many, I’ve been most disappointed with O-line. Really needed them to own the line of scrimmage to get the running game moving early and often.

I’m interested in seeing how the team responds. Can this new staff get this team to clean up some areas of concern from UTSA game? Hoping first loss plus first road game brings team together. And if not we can hope Virginia follows up their opener in which they recorded a safety as well as Illini did.

 

[skyIdub]

Not to be all doom and gloom either......we were literally 3-4 plays a side from winning this game.

 

[pruman91]

I'm glad I started to wait before posting after an Illini loss in BB and FB.........It seems to work for me and the sting of the defeat is less apt to lead me to post stupidly after said wait......

Looked to me like the loss of Hart # 5 was a bigger loss than imagined....he was a beast in the nebby game and will be sorely missed the rest of this season....

Can we stop a slant pass before it happening a dozen times ???????.....too much cushion was given to wide receivers and too many yards after the catch also.............

We had zero pressure on their QB most of the game.....Loss of Hart was a major factor , but we also blitzed less last night than against nebby.........Time of possession in the first half seemed to be all them and if not for Hayes we might have been out of the game at halftime ....

Seems a waste to have such a superior special teams unit and lacking in a lot of other areas....

The last TD run was the backbreaker by them ....IF....IF we had held them there we would have had McCourt kicking the game winning FG there at the end......But , I won't play the Beckman what if game any more....

We lost..... to a very good team.....We should have won....yes, we should have .....JMHO

 

[derrick6]

Tough loss. A Lovie Smith led team gets their doors blown off.

Poor play calling at times. Forcing to one player. Lot goes to this staff. Blaming last one is a waste of time/post space.

 

[ILL_INI]

Simply outcoached tonight.

UTSA kept throwing slants when the corners were playing back. Adjustment wasn't made until we were down 14.

The more I think about this, the more ticked off I get. We all saw this. What was the delay? This was a very winnable game.

On offense, UTSA kept blitzing the outside LB and would come in untouched. They dared Sitkowski to beat them and we kept trying to assert the running game.

I don't know if the coaches think Illinois' offensive line is better than they are, but they could not assert themselves for that type of run game against a C-USA opponent.

 

[KnoxIllini2]

Gave ourselves a chance there. The missed wide open slant for a touchdown on the field goal drive at the end was the key play.

I know I’m in the minority, but I’m putting that more on IW than Sitkowski. It was in his hands, gotta have that play to move the chains and setup 1st and goal.

And it isn’t like IW can’t catch. He made some really difficult catches on our final drive.

 

[Double ACL]

To be expected. I am willing to give coach a lot of leeway this season and next. I enjoyed them mounting a comeback as opposed to laying down.

ILL

 

[The Sprouting Divot]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1434356467109302272

 

[phats22]

It seemed like zone coverage worked well when we used it, any thoughts as to why we didn't use it more?

 

[Illini_05]

Anyone who thought we were winning 7+ games was drinking far too much Kool-Aid. This team simply doesn’t have enough talent to win 7 games. Thankfully, UTSA is better than Nebraska, and I’m very confident this won’t end up being a bad loss at the end of the year(dang it really shows the state of the program when we’re trying to defend a loss to UTSA) they could very well end up winning the C-USA and be ranked in the Top 25, they’re a very good team. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet, and it’s gonna take a while for us to get where we want to be. I’m not going to say 6 wins is out of the equation, but the easy part of our schedule is coming up, and to make a bowl game, we’re going to have to beat UVA, who’s not a very good team, and I think we have a better chance than people think to pull that one off. The Secondary is just flat out bad, no other way around it, but man do I love Devon Witherspoon, and Isaiah Williams is truly a special player. He deserves better with how good he is. Got to get him the ball as much as we possibly can. Very disappointing we couldn’t pull off this win for Jim Cotter. Oh well, at least we have Basketball to look forward to.

 

[Ramrod2010]

I mean, I genuinely thought our OL was going to lean on teams this year. B1G teams! Did we have a single run over 15 yards last night?

We are in B1G trouble unless UTSA is a closet P5 program, which honestly I thought from a few others comments this week is a possibility?

I'm trying real hard not to shrug my shoulders and emotionally walk over to Ubben now.

I do believe that UTSA might be the toughest team out of the first six this year so I'm not moving on just yet.

Still, it's disappointing to look that outclassed in the trenches. Ohio State does that, sure naturally. Wisconsin, yeah makes sense. But given the experience there shouldn't be many teams that just move us out of the way like what's happened the first two games.