Rutgers 20, Illinois 14 Postgame

#54      
I honestly didn't know if the play calling was poor because of the skillset the OC had to work with or if the players looked worse than they were because of the poor play calling. Now I know there's no reason it can't be both. That three and out on our own 1 was BIZARRE, but then Rutgers leaves the door open after a great stand in the red zone by our D. We march down to mid field and our last offensive play of the game is a total brain fart. Ask the OC how many games he expects to win with 10 points on the board. The only bright side I can see is that the game was close and it was somewhat entertaining to watch.
 
#55      
It was pretty evident early on when the ref ignored the fumble by Rutgers during the review why the betting had shifted to Rutgers during the week. Mm hmm.
 
#58      

Big Jack

Decatur
Confused Liam Neeson GIF
 
#59      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
Well ,Illini fans , the trilogy is complete.....Today we witnessed the third act in the continuing saga of "" 2021 : What Could Have Been ""............................

The Maryland and Purdont games have been discussed ad nauseum and now we have the latest installment to comb through with a wire brush.........With Brandon Peters finally showing a pulse , literally , we actually take a lead into halftime.......Were we so overwhelmed with surprise that we thought the game was over ???????............Or was this another example of playing not to lose ????????

The TD pass to I. Williams was a work of art..........The TD pass to D. Barker was a reprise of the called back TD pass in the last game and it worked to perfection today......Fast forward to the final drive , 4th and 1 .......The QB sneak has worked and the formation looked like it would work today......If the play had been a pitchout to the right side it would have been successful , but the pitchout went to the left side , 5 yards backwards and guess what ??/ .there was an untouched defender waiting ...Chase B. had no chance without him sprouting wings...

Very possible the Illini COULD be 6-3 instead of being 3-6........But hey, it's BB's first year....we don't have the right players.....Our schedule is to difficult after the Lovie 5 year fiasco.....etc etc

If we get the right players will they be put into a position to win or play to lose ????

Sorry , I'm just a 70 year old obnoxious man with passion for the Illini teams to NOT lose and play to win......
Sorry that I won't sugarcoat a loss today like other losses this year.....I didn't expect to have a winning season , but I expected to try to play to win , not the opposite....The series on the one yard line and Chase almost getting tackled for a safety showed me a lack of belief in the offense by the OC , therefore let's not screw up and he almost did screw up.....

I am recharged after my snuggling nap and now will prepare for the BLUES vs. the winless blackhawks hockey game @ 7 pm.........

Thanks for your indulgence in this semi manifesto of complete nonsense and anger....I'm just tired of losing FB games that we should be winning and the false hope generated by beating the # 7 team on the road in our last game before today...........

Putting my soapbox back in storage now .......
 
#60      

SKane

Tennessee
It is very disappointing.

However, having been an ILL fan since 1966, I am very used to this sort of game. Sort of like the annual Charlie Brown football cartoon.

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#61      
Whew. Glad Peterson reminded us of his shrewd coaching ability. Almost had us fooled after Penn State. What a idiotic couple of last plays.
Exactamundo. I was only able to catch the last 2 minutes of the game on radio and thought the same thing. I took it upon myself for the team by shooting myself in the foot.
 
#62      
I agree, may be controversial, but imo we have the worst offense in the big10.

Our offense is 0-9 when it comes to being prepared for games. Just look at every 1st qtr of every game.
It's not so much our offense as it is when we have the ball.
 
#63      
Not to say Petersen is great, as I agree some of the play-calling and personnel usage are mind boggling. (Hopefully BB isn’t getting so involved it’s actually CAUSING this)

But, do y’all remember the drive coming out of the half against Nebraska and again against UVA? Incredible, multi-play drives that ended in a score and had the D guessing the whole time. Just textbook execution.

We may see a change and we may not, but putting a proper drive together exists within this team (players and coaches) and I wouldn’t be surprised to see that ability get better as BB recruits more for the system they are trying to create…even with Petersen at the wheel.
 
#64      
The endgame play calling has been abysmal. I think the most damning thing was the stunned silence of the naked pitch out on 4th and 1 with your season on the line.

Literally no one in my section said a word, they just stood up and left.

Somehow the spirit of Matt Nagy's dead head coaching career inhabited Tony Peterson's body and called that play.

Starting 1st and 25 and 1st and 15 and at our own 1 really put us in a hole in the second half. We couldn't get anything going between the tackles.

I don't think our receivers have had that much space to catch and run all season. BP was hitting them, but better accuracy could have lead them to more yards. The pass to IW was as perfect as you could make it. Brilliant catch too.
 
#66      
Rutgers really rubbed our noses in it when they threw in the 18 yo qb to get a critical conversion
 
#67      
You can either find your new OC this offseason with credibility and a plan or next offseason with the stink of desperation all over you.

It's 2-10 next year with Petersen, not even worth watching the games, over before it starts.

And that would be a real shame, because there's some stuff going right here.
I was pretty pleased with every assistant hiring except the OC. Nothing in his resume seemed impressive. Our offense is not impressive. Change needs to be made.
 
#69      

jmwillini

Tolono, IL
Pruman is correct! I would rather lose playing to win, than lose playing not to lose. So bleeping frustrating!

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#71      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A week earlier, Illinois was celebrating it’s dramatic 20-18 victory over No. 7 Penn State, a game that last an NCAA-record nine overtimes.
But the Illini could not follow though, falling 20-14 Saturday to Rutgers. Noah Vedral threw for 138 yards and rushed for a touchdown to lead the Scarlet Knights.
Illinois was unable to muster much on offense after leading 14-10 at the half.
“It’s very discouraging,” Illinois coach Bret Bielema said. “We can’t seem to play a four-quarter game at home for some reason. And that’s 100% my responsibility. We came out in the second half and laid an egg. My fault.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------


No s**t Sherlock..........................even a blind fan saw that fiasco of a second half turd................The rest of the article gives up quotes and superficial reasons for the loss , but the bottom line is it was a loss AFTER what should have been a jolt in confidence and enthusiasm for the team.......To win ON THE ROAD against the # 7 ranked team in 9 overtimes should have been the impetus to rise our level of play to easily defeat a Rutgers team, in the midst of a 3 game losing streak, at our house .....

I have already posted my concerns about the mentality of the big difference of "" playing to win and playing NOT to lose "" , but this loss has the scent of a major deficiency in the playing to win mindset......................Leading 14-10 at half with all the mojo going our way and getting the ball to start the second half ended up in another loss and backward step in the evolution of this team from Lovie to BB..............................

JMHO
 
#73      
Why couldn’t we push the pile against Rutgers like we could against PSU?
Exactly. We won the line of scrimmage all day against Penn State, and Rutgers won it all day against us. How can that be?
 
#74      
We are clearly not 20 points better than any team in our conference. We have scored more than 20 points in one conference game. We haven't won a game by 20 points this year, but have lost a couple.

At least we didn't punt on 4th and short. Should have had some sort of option out on the play call given on free defender on that side of the field.

GO ILLINI!
 
#75      

illini80

Forgottonia
I don’t know what to say other than it just seemed like a very typical Illinois loss. Peters had a better day, but as the announcer mentioned a number of times, most of the completions didn’t give the receiver any chance to make a play after the catch. 2 really nice balls obviously for the TD’s. Watching Rutgers downfield blocking vs ours was night and day. Where ever we were trying to run, someone would miss a block that negated the play. Barker had 2 nice catches and the TD, but missed several critical blocks that could have sustained drives and was involved in a critical penalty. Those second half offensive penalties doomed us. I can’t blame all that on Peterson, but he deserves his share. I’d love to hear what was supposed to happen on that 4th down play. Was it a missed read by us? Brown breaks those tackles sometimes, but he didn’t look like he was 100% the whole game or maybe he was just tired without McCray to help carry the load. The defense played mostly ok, but couldn’t make a play or get a stop when we needed it.

All season we’ve needed someone to step up and make a play in the moment. We are lacking that kind of player on both sides of the ball. I have faith in the staff, but I thought we would be better than this. I thought they would get more out of these players.