pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Pregame: Illinois at Nebraska, Saturday, October 29th, 2:30pm CT, ABC
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Pile drive the QB a couple times early in the game. Against Purdue, he stood like a statue with no pressure and lofted it downfield.
Nebraska is giving up almost 32 points per game and is by far the worst defense we’ve played this year. In fact, most of the defenses we’ve played have been in the top half of FBS (and Chattanooga hasn’t given up more than 21 outside of our game). First half will be balanced but ultimately we’ll run the ball 40+ times to control possession. With McCray coming back and the work over the break, we execute in the red zone. Similar to the Wisconsin game, I could see Nebraska coming out with a big pass play to score, but otherwise, they can’t run the ball and we can sell out a bit and shut down their pass attack. All in all, comfortable win with 3+ turnovers.
1st half:
Illinois - 24
Nebraska - 7
2nd half:
Illinois - 17
Nebraska - 3
Final:
Illinois - 41
Nebraska - 10
1st half:
Illinois - 24
Nebraska - 7
2nd half:
Illinois - 17
Nebraska - 3
Final:
Illinois - 41
Nebraska - 10
That goal line possession could (not will) keep us from a one loss season. I sure hope we don't screw another one up like that.
That was the one moment this season that I wondered about our offensive coordinator.
Rushing the QB will not be a problem. We are extremely strong up front.
DC knows how to mix in a blitz. he will go down and he will go down hard.
If we don't turn it over multiple times we win by 10 or more. (don't bet on
this please!)
ILl INI. Shuck the corn.
Remember on bye week Saturdays we used to say "the illini wont lose today". I sure don't miss those days.
This year we went up in the rankings.
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
viking6888
Greeley, Colorado
Thanks first to the Illini's incredible AD... Coach Bielema and Brad Underwood have (all three of them) turned the Illini into an aspirational place to be for Coaches.
No more 'Stepping Stone'. Illini are THE Gem Stone.
Love this. I say do whatever you have to do to lock in Bielema, Underwood, and Whitman for years to come. This is a 3 headed monster with huge goals.
Hopefully that's against the 4th string LOL
Nebraska claim to fame this season is beating Indiana and Rutgers
Yes they scored 37 points against Purdue. Trey Palmer ran 60 yds for TD and caught 7 passes for 237 yards and 2 more TDs against the 44th ranked defense. We have the #1 ranked defense. I think our DC will either blitz the heck out the Nebraska QB or double team Palmer. Either should do the trick.
I think Coach keeps bringing up Indiana to the team and media to keep the guys minds focused. There has been much fanfare from national and local media that, lets face it, no one on this team has ever had to deal with. If you keep bringing up the 1 blemish that still hurts and reminds them that they are beatable on any day that is great motivational head game for every positional coach on that staff.
This is their big bowl game being on the national stage playing a ranked team who they feel they match up well with.
They are 17-22 scoring TD's in the red zone so they are effective there. They've only attempted 7 FG's on the year but are only 1-4 on 4th down for the year. I think they go for it more on 4th down in this game than they have combined all season. Some work, most won't.
Illinois 31
Nebraska 17
This is their big bowl game being on the national stage playing a ranked team who they feel they match up well with.
They are 17-22 scoring TD's in the red zone so they are effective there. They've only attempted 7 FG's on the year but are only 1-4 on 4th down for the year. I think they go for it more on 4th down in this game than they have combined all season. Some work, most won't.
Illinois 31
Nebraska 17
Call me crazy, I have a feeling a play like that would lead to a roughing the passer penalty.
Perhaps it’s the Orange Koolaid speaking, but I expect our defense to outperform Rutgers’. I would want to be in the Nebraska QB’s cleats. Our defensive backfield isn’t going to give him anyone to throw to, and our pass rush is not going to give him time to find out.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
29 ILLINI
17 Huskers
Concerns:
- A massive sea of red.
- A tough and intimidating Big 10 venue.
- Explosive Husker offense.
- 1st place in the Big10 West up for grabs
Fortunately, BB has plenty of experience in this type of environment AND we seem to be healthy/well-rested going into the game. Our defense is the difference-maker. Take the under in this one.
17 Huskers
Concerns:
- A massive sea of red.
- A tough and intimidating Big 10 venue.
- Explosive Husker offense.
- 1st place in the Big10 West up for grabs
Fortunately, BB has plenty of experience in this type of environment AND we seem to be healthy/well-rested going into the game. Our defense is the difference-maker. Take the under in this one.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
Not to quibble and I like your sentiment but the Illini have never really been a stepping stone. In our history we’ve only really had about 2 coaches leave for ‘greener pastures’. Mackovic to Texas and Self to Kansas. Self to Kansas was rather unique because that was his dream school. Most of our coaches simply failed unfortunately.
RockyMtnIllini81
- Golden, Colorado
Gene Bartow to UCLA in the seventies. Although he was probably hired at UCLA for his work at Memphis. He only had one (losing) season at Illinois.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Kruger to the NBA.
KBLEE
- Montgomery, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Yep, Kruger-Self emotionally scarred this fan base, but we should expect to lose coaches to absolutely no one … and if the money is there - which it now seems to be and that will only increase with wins - we should be able to do that.
Syracuse, Michigan or Arizona for hoops and Texas A&M, Wisconsin and Tennessee for football are not the elite of the elite in their sports, but I’m sure none expect to lose a coach to another job, even if it’s a “better” job by some metric or another. There are always special circumstances, but Illinois should largely view itself the same. The (20)20s belong to the Illini!!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Kentucky loses coaches to the NBA, though. That’s not a fair metric for “stepping stone.” Self leaving us for Louisville or something - not his dream job at KU - would be a sign we are a stepping stone.
Conversely, in the past 30 years we have handpicked coaches from Power Five programs with plenty of history of their own - Florida and Oklahoma State.
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