Illini Football 2022

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#101      

Bleedorangeandblue44

B
Bleedorangeandblue44
Was just watching Daily Wager on ESPN2 and Stanford Steve (who usually is pretty money from the shows I've seen), had the Illini as one of his best bets to hit their over.

Unfortunately, the over was only 4.5 wins. But still, had some nice comments about Bielema and the direction of the program and thinks they could go bowling.

Had Wisconsin under 9 wins, Kentucky under 8 and Florida under 7. Besides the Illini, his overs were LSU, Washington State and South Carolina.
 
#104      

Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs
southeast DuPage
Mr. Tibbs
to each his own is right
but to me . betting on the Illini to not go over on wins for the year is just bad karma

but if the Illini were given a high spread, I could bet that they didnt cover that . but I could never bet against the Illini to win on a straight money line
 
#107      

GILL-INOIS

G
GILL-INOIS
Clngpl94 said:
Coach actually mentioned Reggie today after the scrimmage!!
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I just got done listening to it actually. Good stuff!

He mentioned Love, Laughery and Hayden real quick.

I love Brown and McCray but injuries, fatigue, Covid and different play formations just happen. Love got more publicity last season and had half his carries in those first 2 games. If his game has grown all the better (y)

Lunney loves getting the ball out of the QBs hands quick. Love to see some formation with McCray being the wrecking ball and having Williams and Chase Brown as options receiving randomly.
 
#108      

touper

T
'burbs
touper
jjniner said:
Shammond Cooper getting zero pub
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No Luke Ford mentions either. Not sure what to make of either. One highly regarded, one extremely highly regarded and yet haven't seemed to develop. Very disappointing and would be nice for the "stay home" recruiting pitch if they were successful. Still time for Shammond but this is Luke Ford's last hoorah. Anyone have any insight on these two?
 
#110      

GILL-INOIS

G
GILL-INOIS
If you go by recruiting ranking only, than Ford hasn't lived up to the hype. That being said I don't have one bad thing to say about the kid. He actually gave Illinois some publicity just for transferring here from Georgia. He is an Illinois young man who loves the program and will do whatever the coaching staff asks of him. Barker leaving makes him that much more important this year. Ford still gets a ton of publicity...NIL contract with WWE and on the Mackey Award Watch List this year. The young man really has not played that much college football. Look at a number of games last year and he was another blocker for majority of the games. He can definitely block and has real good size and hands. Wish him nothing but health this season so we can see what he can do.....
 
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#112      

Ander1345

A
Ander1345
GILL-INOIS said:
If you go by recruiting ranking only, than Ford hasn't lived up to the hype. That being said I don't have one bad thing to say about the kid. He actually gave Illinois some publicity just for transferring here from Georgia. He is an Illinois young man who loves the program and will do whatever the coaching staff asks of him. Barker leaving makes him that much more important this year. Ford still gets a ton of publicity...NIL contract with WWE and on the Mackey Award Watch List this year. The young man really has not played that much college football. Look at a number of games last year and he was another blocker for majority of the games. He can definitely block and has real good size and hands. Wish him nothing but health this season so we can see what he can do.....
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Yeah and just want to add that as a player you won't see the field on a Bret Bielema roster if you can't run or run block.

Just watch the Penn State game again, there are multiple plays where at the very least he takes his defender assignment out of the play.

Could definitely improve athletically but he is out there on nearly every down for a reason, whether he's targeted or not.
 
#113      

Illiniguy74

I
Illiniguy74
FloridaMan said:
Great work, Fighter! I'm actually surprised ND met or exceeded expectations as often as they have. I fully agree the media is all about them being elite, when the results just have not justified that in the recent past.
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It's not just ND. How many times have we heard the national sports media say that football is better when Michigan is good, when USC is good, etc. It makes their job easier (knowledge of programs and players) when the traditional powers dominate. It makes building a program like Illinois that much more difficult as it is a zero sum game. For every gainer, there must be a loser.
 
#114      

Illini in Italy

Illini in Italy
Illini in Italy
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Also ... not sure where to put this, but have any insiders heard updates on a future Memorial Stadium expansion? I thought the renderings for the SEZ were an absolute homerun last time, and I would think that if we optimistically bank on another momentum-building year for Bret (as we kind of have to, right??), it's time to start thinking about that again. It's astonishing how much WORSE the horse shoe looks than the rest of the stadium, and I am SO ready for this!

View attachment 19167

If we need to reduce capacity to justify that big of a structure where the horse shoe currently is, then we simply have to remove all seats underneath the upper deck overhang on the east side so that it matches the west ... those are pointless, wasted seats that no modern stadium has anymore.
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Last year I was able to attend my first home game since 1984 (I graduated in ‘85). The one thing I’d ask for in terms of change would be to get rid of those freakin’ aluminum benches with their 12” allocation for my 24” behind! The most uncomfortable stadium seating experience I‘ve EVER had! (Yeah, I’m a little bit wider today than 38 years ago, but even back then for my 6’4” skinny behind the seats sucked! )
 
#116      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Also ... not sure where to put this, but have any insiders heard updates on a future Memorial Stadium expansion?
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Given the attendance situation, any renovation is almost certainly going to reduce seating, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Donor money is going to continue to be diverted ever more toward NIL, but this new TV contract is going to be a heck of a windfall and you'd think some work with MS is on the docket somewhere.

If you look at it on Google Maps, there's tons of available space between Kirby and the South goalpost. The world is your oyster in terms of what shape and form you'd want something down there to take.
 
#117      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
Bleedorangeandblue44 said:
Was just watching Daily Wager on ESPN2 and Stanford Steve (who usually is pretty money from the shows I've seen), had the Illini as one of his best bets to hit their over.

Unfortunately, the over was only 4.5 wins. But still, had some nice comments about Bielema and the direction of the program and thinks they could go bowling.

Had Wisconsin under 9 wins, Kentucky under 8 and Florida under 7. Besides the Illini, his overs were LSU, Washington State and South Carolina.
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Considering our over/under was 3 last year (which seemed way too low and was), 4.5 already demonstrates an uptick in expectations.

I'd feel better about over 4.5 if there weren't this idea of a genuine QB competition in which Art Sitkowski has a meaningful chance hanging in the air.
 
#118      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
ChiefGritty said:
Considering our over/under was 3 last year (which seemed way too low and was), 4.5 already demonstrates an uptick in expectations.

I'd feel better about over 4.5 if there weren't this idea of a genuine QB competition in which Art Sitkowski has a meaningful chance hanging in the air.
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Art’s chances of winning the starting job are very low. His chances of playing an important role on this team are high given our QB injuries in recent years. I think it makes sense to let him feel like he has a shot at least since he’s almost certainly the number 2.
 
#119      

GForce

GForce
GForce
illini80 said:
Art’s chances of winning the starting job are very low. His chances of playing an important role on this team are high given our QB injuries in recent years. I think it makes sense to let him feel like he has a shot at least since he’s almost certainly the number 2.
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Is Devito that much better than Brandon Peters? Serious ask, since Art actually won the starting job from BP during last season for a game or two (until he got hurt).
 
#122      

bluemountain

B
bluemountain
ChiefGritty said:
Considering our over/under was 3 last year (which seemed way too low and was), 4.5 already demonstrates an uptick in expectations.

I'd feel better about over 4.5 if there weren't this idea of a genuine QB competition in which Art Sitkowski has a meaningful chance hanging in the air.
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Barring injury, there is no chance Art sees the field other than in mop up time
 
#123      

illini80

illini80
Forgottonia
illini80
GForce said:
Is Devito that much better than Brandon Peters? Serious ask, since Art actually won the starting job from BP during last season for a game or two (until he got hurt).
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He’s been described as a better version of Brandon Peters by Werner. Good Brandon was actually a pretty solid QB. Unfortunately, early season he was bad Brandon much of the time. I guess we will find out in a couple weeks!
 
#124      

Ander1345

A
Ander1345
illini80 said:
He’s been described as a better version of Brandon Peters by Werner. Good Brandon was actually a pretty solid QB. Unfortunately, early season he was bad Brandon much of the time. I guess we will find out in a couple weeks!
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Peters' career with San Diego in the pre-season will be interesting if he makes the roster. I fully believe most of his lack of production is a result of some pretty hard injuries. Injured at Michigan, concussed in 2019, shoulder in 2021, etc.

Everything is there physically for him to succeed, but he's had a pretty rough stretch.
 
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