Pregame: Illinois vs Penn State, Saturday, September 16th, 11:00am CT, FOX

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#101      

Illini2010-11

I
Sugar Grove
Illini2010-11
IlliniCaboose said:
It's not like CU is playing USC or something, they're playing CSU, do they expect that game to be any closer than the Illinois game?
Angry Season 2 GIF by The Lonely Island
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They don't care about that actual game at all. It is all about ratings that they are searching for. It sucks to lose the show to Boulder, and it is a bad look for Fox in eyes of Illini fans, but it is what it is at this point. I do agree that Fox made a bad call in publishing they were coming to Champaign so far in advance. Nobody thought Colorado would be 2-0 at this point, so all these shows want to cash in on the hype train of Colorado before it crashes.

Illini fans need to still pack Grange Grove and the team needs to put up a respectable effort against Penn State. The national stigma of our fan base needs to change, and we need to do our part by packing Memorial Stadium week after week.
 
#105      

PrideOfGreenSt

PrideOfGreenSt
PrideOfGreenSt
What has happened to the defense? Looking for some information on personnel, schemes etc. I believe that the gap control scheme of the first two weeks took away aggressiveness and the fantastic secondary of last year covered up a lot of existing holes in other places? Thoughts?
 
#107      

Coop70

C
Coop70
OskieWowWow said:
I hope you know something the rest of us don't because if our run defense plays like it has, Penn State will have 400 yards rushing on us
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Extra day of rest, prayer and meditation coupled with Pure S*** Uni fatigue from scoring excessive points perhaps?
 
#108      

cookie86

C
cookie86
I think the simpleist way to fix the line is to move Adams to tackle and play chrisler and slaughter at guard- it won't be a great offensive line but it won't be horrible- I hope the staff doesn't over think this
 
#109      

Chief1976

C
Chief1976
PrideOfGreenSt said:
What has happened to the defense? Looking for some information on personnel, schemes etc. I believe that the gap control scheme of the first two weeks took away aggressiveness and the fantastic secondary of last year covered up a lot of existing holes in other places? Thoughts?
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I think too much time over the summer and camp making videos instead of investing every moment to understanding schemes. Henry also has his attention on his newborns. Not a great time to have twins just tbh. His total focus SHOULD be on his family, but a D1 DC job is crazy enough without newborns.
 
#110      

Captain 14

C
The Last Best Place
Captain 14
Illini2010-11 said:
I am fine with Big Noon going to Boulder. I can honestly say that I have never watched the show anyway. College Gameday is my preferred show on Saturday mornings. Until Illini win more regularly, things like this will happen. We still have the national stigma of low student turnout and poor overall attendance. Fox made the strategically wise, though very late decision to go to Boulder (i think Gameday had already announced their decision late in their show).

I hope the team will see this move as disrespect and play with a chip on their
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#111      

Captain 14

C
The Last Best Place
Captain 14
Hopefully we have more to motivate us than that! Fox to Boulder- no matter who the opponent - is a no brainer.
 
#114      

IlliniInBuckeyeState

I
IlliniInBuckeyeState
Welp, this exercise is way less fun now that the excitement and good vibes are zapped, but here is the updated Memorial Stadium Sellout Watch ticket tracker (hint: not gonna be a sellout) for Penn State:

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A few thoughts:
1. Yeah, I bet there are more no shows. How many is anybody's guess.
2. Along with last night's performance dampening expectations and week-of ticket sales, the ticket prices for this game are also going to have an effect - they are about 3x more expensive than for Toledo. $65 gets you a ticket in the midfield sections of the East Balcony. $37 for the ends and the horseshoe. The fan that's on the fence about going isn't going to be persuaded by a cheap ticket this week.
3. While the ticket tracker currently shows 1,365 tickets sold for Section 109. Currently the ticket website shows seats available in rows 51-58. I'm making a slight adjustment in my approach this week by assuming that 100% seats in rows 1-50 are sold. This is a change from last week where I assumed they were 100% unsold since they never had shown as available on the website. I think this change is appropriate since it's likely the majority of the seats allocated to Penn State fans have been sold.
4. At this point, I think we'll be lucky to have announced attendance match what we had for Toledo (48,898). We're basically trailing where we were one week out from the Toledo game, and I just don't see there being a ton of sales this week. That's a shame.
 
#117      

Sedino

Sedino
Sedino
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Blows my mind anyone is defending this. If FOX didn’t want to “owe” this to Champaign, then don’t f#%£cking announce it months in advance. Announce it weekly like Gameday. Now it’s just cruel.

Our own fans rationalizing this because our defense has disappointed and KU smoked us?! Good God, how psychologically broken are we?! This isn’t an AP voter deciding we aren’t worthy of being ranked … it’s a giant spit in our face, and if it doesn’t make you mad, I question your pride in the Illini. Nobody can hide behind being a “realist” here … this is embarrassing, and if you’re excusing it, you’re coping to (pathetically) save face.

Three straight weeks of CU, and we have ONE fan defending the decision?! Screw FOX.
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No one is coping my man. You can be as angry as you want, doesn’t change the fact that they’re a media company and media companies make their money from better ratings. The Illini and CU don’t have the wow factor that Boulder and Prime have. YES, partly because we have been a disappointment. Is it still insulting because they announced it months ago? Yes. Is it surprising after how the first two weeks have gone? No.
 
#118      

TentakilRex

TentakilRex
Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
TentakilRex
GrayGhost77 said:
Yep. CSU is terrible and are going to get absolutely throttled. Not sure how this game is really better for anyone.
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Especially with the two games on Colorado's schedule being at Oregon and then home vs USC.
 
#119      

Sedino

Sedino
Sedino
jrichisamazing said:
The decision probably has a lot to do with the fact that Colorado actually didn't look that good against a bad Nebraska team. They ran up the score in the 4th.

I think both networks are banking on Oregon and USC beatdowns coming up, so they want to cash in now before the hype fades.
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What? The scored 6 more points than Nebraska did in the 4th.
 
#120      

FlyNavy

FlyNavy
Los Angeles
FlyNavy
I think Fox just tried to beat Gameday to the punch, then Gameday jumped in anyway. Very odd move considering the game is on ESPN, curious if they both go to Eugene the following week.
 
#121      

Chief1976

C
Chief1976
Ramrod2010 said:
Well, we had a good year last year.
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For our standards it was, yet we still finished last year losing 4 of our last 5 and now looking at more than likely a 1-2 start? Mostly a downward spiral. It sucks, but it’s reality for Illini. Iowa is going to win the West more than likely or maybe Wisky.
 
#122      

Dkayak

D
Dkayak
FlyNavy said:
I think Fox just tried to beat Gameday to the punch, then Gameday jumped in anyway. Very odd move considering the game is on ESPN, curious if they both go to Eugene the following week.
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Great strategy for each to cut their viewership in half. It’s not like total viewers are going to double. The pie is only so big. Or is this a game of chicken?
 
#123      

Vinegarben

V
Vinegarben
Porous defense and a one man offense in Luke spells big trouble. Just hoping Luke doesn't get killed! PSU-56-ILLINI 6
 
#124      

blackdog

blackdog
Champaign
blackdog
PrideOfGreenSt said:
What has happened to the defense? Looking for some information on personnel, schemes etc. I believe that the gap control scheme of the first two weeks took away aggressiveness and the fantastic secondary of last year covered up a lot of existing holes in other places? Thoughts?
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The defense lost a lot of impact players and it seems the guys behind them haven't been ready for the role. Sydney Brown was all over the field in the run and the pass game, same with Quan Martin. Darkangelo was really solid at LB and seems a bigger loss than expected considering how that unit has struggled. Obviously Witherspoon goes without saying but also Kendall Smith was really solid at deep safety and prevented a lot of the types of big plays we have seen already.
 
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