Yes. It felt to me like an incoming loss before kickoff. MSU was given no chance in this game. And when that happens against a team with decent talent, watch out.My thoughts exactly.
Yes. It felt to me like an incoming loss before kickoff. MSU was given no chance in this game. And when that happens against a team with decent talent, watch out.My thoughts exactly.
One of the most inexplicable spreads I can recall. Sparty isn't great but they aren't bad and it was obvious the suspensions were gonna have a minimal impact, plus the weather was going to randomize, tamp down offense, and hurt Illinois more if anything.MSU was given no chance in this game.
I mean, they have played pretty bad and I’m pretty sure this is by far their best win of the season.One of the most inexplicable spreads I can recall. Sparty isn't great but they aren't bad and it was obvious the suspensions were gonna have a minimal impact, plus the weather was going to randomize, tamp down offense, and hurt Illinois more if anything.
10 would have seemed a bit ambitious, but you could justify it. 17 was insanity.
I mean obviously we're a comfortable favorite.I mean, they have played pretty bad and I’m pretty sure this is by far their best win of the season.
Not sure Illini will ever have a better QB, RB, and receiver than DeVito, Brown, and Williams...but you are right that they need some more quality depth. One great player at a position cannot carry a team at the elite level.Need more horses on O moving forward. Great effort till the end though.
That being said, Mel Tucker is disgusting, and I'm sad that he's the face of a Big Ten program. His immediate comments following the game last week showed a complete lack of intelligence. And the gamesmanship on defense today with players taking a knee and coming right back in the game......there's no place in our game for this. #lackofinstitutionalcontrol
I agree, unless of course MSU has a terrible conditioning program...Everyone made jokes about this during the game including me. But the more I think about it afterwards it doesn't sit well. Of course defensive players will sometimes flop on the field to get the injury timeout. But when it happens, it is usually an isolated and spontaneous thing and tends to happen only during two-minute drill type situations. But MSU was doing it over and over, consistently, all four quarters, predictably every time that you could see they were gassed. Just blatant in-your-face cheating throughout the entire game and absolutely nothing was done about it. Did all those fake injury breaks make a difference in the final outcome? It was a one-score game, so yeah, maybe. I mean, can eight extra timeouts translate into a ten-point swing? It's not inconceivable that we might have gotten a TD and field goal out of drives where we had them on their heels until they pulled that garbage and slowed our momentum. And the worst part to me is that it seemed pretty clearly to be a premeditated strategy that they worked out beforehand as part of their game plan.
This bears repeating. I have confidence in Bielema. He’s very good at what he does. Battles are sometimes won or lost but he’s a veteran of this sort of war. He knows what to do.The media overhyped them. They just aren’t ready for it yet. Still a good team though. We just saw a different team today than we saw the last 6 weeks. I have confidence in Bielema.
7. We've been so damn lucky this year across so many dimensions. It's been coming.
be safe weary traveler....................having you back home safe is an Illini Nation priority...............Had to turn off my phone this afternoon while sitting in a plane taxiing for takeoff in Seattle after Isaiah’s 60 yd TD reception on our second drive. Turned it back on when the plane landed in Tokyo 12 hrs later and felt sick when I read the game account.
TOs aside, offensive production has been challenging this season excepting Wisconsin. That will make beating Michigan tough, even without turnovers. Can’t take Purdue for granted either.
A 7-1 start. No one would ever have projected that. What an accomplishment for these guys. I have faith in our coaches. The boys will be ready for Purdue.
I was supposed to arrive home in DC from this Asia trip around 5 next Saturday. Moved my flight up a day and am skipping meetings Friday so I can get home to watch the Purdue game.
Priorities.
They had five punts, averaging 50 yards per punt. We had 3, averaging 21 yards per punt. That's a difference of 180-190 yards in field position. [Robert beat me to the point in his article.]Coaches and players, eat your humble pie, learn from this and move on.
MSU's punter was the MVP of the game.
7-2 is still pretty good.
The play calling was horrendous for us…. We do have more than just telegraphing Chase Brown run after run. A little imagination would help sometimes. I could see a tough game coming when we get first down at their 3 yard line and can’t get it across in 4 attempts. No imagination at all yesterday. Looked totally predictable and lathargic.I know the wind was a factor but MSU could throw. Chase did his part