Illinois 27, Maryland 24 Postgame

#126      
Election 2016 So The Question Is Who Are These Guys GIF by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert


Certainly not the same team we've watched for the past six weeks.

Nice gut check road W by Bielema's boys.
Fixed it For You.......

I think we've played poorly in every game so far this season, until today that is.
 
#135      
Not saying the offense was a juggernaut today but I was curious if todays game changed anyone’s mind on Lunney Jr? It seemed having the O line healthy again might have helped a little.
Hard to judge an OC without a healthy OL. There still are questionable play calls. Also the qb needs to not take so many sacks

Having a RB who gains 4-5 yards and Wrs who don’t drop the ball make the OC job easy

The first drive was well scripted and executed
 
#136      
First of all, I'm so pleased for the players and coaches. Maryland was #26 in Sagarin this week, in a clump with Wazzu, Miami, Duke and Iowa. The Illini beat a solid team today. They bore down on both sides of the ball for 4Q and got it done. Second, it was a thrill to see this win in person. I haven't been able to see two Illini football games in a season since 1990. Now in the span of two weeks I've seen the boys twice. The improvement from what we saw in Ross-Ade in the second half was substantial.

- Luke had time to throw. He's going to be really good for us once the line can protect him reliably. The dime he dropped to Casey was just sick, as was CW's catch. The throw to Isaiah at the goal line that was almost a TD was excellent, too. Fantastic Maryland DB play to break it up. Luke overthrew some wide open receivers but he'll get there on the timing. He and Casey are absolutely in sync at crunch time, however.

- Luke's scrambling and running ability is valuable in someone who can throw well. He got Caleb G a huge 10 extra yards to the 20 at the end by escaping the collapsing pocket (then, well, gave up five getting the ball to the middle of the field on the next play.)

- Feagin's arrival on the scene is truly a big deal. I had to check: yes, he really is a true freshman. Wouldn't know it to watch him. He's a bull.

- Play of the game IMO (edging out Luke's scramble to the 20) was Rosiek's lateral pursuit and open-field tackle of Taulia Tagovailoa on 2nd & 9 on MD's final drive. If Dylan hadn't nabbed him, he would have had a first down easily inside the 20 and MD's TD chances would have looked pretty good as they'd been gashing us intermittently that drive with the run. D's tackle, and the line's stuffing the run on 3rd down, forced the FG. Dylan impresses me every game. He's active and effective.

As @Retro62 noted, we felt badly for Maryland. It was its homecoming game and attendance was dismal. This for a 5-1 team that hung right with OSU for 3Q last week on the road. Granted, it was a grey, misty day and they were playing a 2 TD+ underdog. But I can't imagine that even if we'd had this weather at Purdue two weeks ago when we played them on their homecoming day that Ross-Ade wouldn't still have been packed. The only Big Ten comparison I can find to MD football support is Northwestern, and MD makes NW support look rabid. It was kind of embarrassing. We literally could have walked all the way down to field level on the visitors' side and sat at the 40 if we wanted. The stadium seats 52k. Couldn't have been more than 25k there today.

Two Saturdays ago it was sunny, 80 degrees and we had as perfect a football weekend road trip as we could possibly have hoped for. And the Illini face planted in the second half at Purdue. Today the weather was grim (though it actually didn't rain at all until after the game), the environment was depressing (it's not one of the better college football stadium experiences), and yet we saw the team grow and pull off a big upset.

Idyllic weekend... brutal, embarrassing loss. Hideous day, grim environment... stellar win. Can't have everything, right? I'm a finance guy so immediately am reminded of the power of asset diversification. ;) :illinois:
 
#138      
First of all, I'm so pleased for the players and coaches. Maryland was #26 in Sagarin this week, in a clump with Wazzu, Miami, Duke and Iowa. The Illini beat a solid team today. They bore down on both sides of the ball for 4Q and got it done. Second, it was a thrill to see this win in person. I haven't been able to see two Illini football games in a season since 1990. Now in the span of two weeks I've seen the boys twice. The improvement from what we saw in Ross-Ade in the second half was substantial.

- Luke had time to throw. He's going to be really good for us once the line can protect him reliably. The dime he dropped to Casey was just sick, as was CW's catch. The throw to Isaiah at the goal line that was almost a TD was excellent, too. Fantastic Maryland DB play to break it up. Luke overthrew some wide open receivers but he'll get there on the timing. He and Casey are absolutely in sync at crunch time, however.

- Luke's scrambling and running ability is valuable in someone who can throw well. He got Caleb G a huge 10 extra yards to the 20 at the end by escaping the collapsing pocket (then, well, gave up five getting the ball to the middle of the field on the next play.)

- Feagin's arrival on the scene is truly a big deal. I had to check: yes, he really is a true freshman. Wouldn't know it to watch him. He's a bull.

- Play of the game IMO (edging out Luke's scramble to the 20) was Rosiek's lateral pursuit and open-field tackle of Taulia Tagovailoa on 2nd & 9 on MD's final drive. If Dylan hadn't nabbed him, he would have had a first down easily inside the 20 and MD's TD chances would have looked pretty good as they'd been gashing us intermittently that drive with the run. D's tackle, and the line's stuffing the run on 3rd down, forced the FG. Dylan impresses me every game. He's active and effective.

As @Retro62 noted, we felt badly for Maryland. It was its homecoming game and attendance was dismal. This for a 5-1 team that hung right with OSU for 3Q last week on the road. Granted, it was a grey, misty day and they were playing a 2 TD+ underdog. But I can't imagine that even if we'd had this weather at Purdue two weeks ago when we played them on their homecoming day that Ross-Ade wouldn't still have been packed. The only Big Ten comparison I can find to MD football support is Northwestern, and MD makes NW support look rabid. It was kind of embarrassing. We literally could have walked all the way down to field level on the visitors' side and sat at the 40 if we wanted. The stadium seats 52k. Couldn't have been more than 25k there today.

Two Saturdays ago it was sunny, 80 degrees and we had as perfect a football weekend road trip as we could possibly have hoped for. And the Illini face planted in the second half at Purdue. Today the weather was grim (though it actually didn't rain at all until after the game), the environment was depressing (it's not one of the better college football stadium experiences), and yet we saw the team grow and pull off a big upset.

Idyllic weekend... brutal, embarrassing loss. Hideous day, grim environment... stellar win. Can't have everything, right? I'm a finance guy so immediately am reminded of the power of asset diversification. ;) :illinois:
Great post. I agree with everything except for feeling bad for Maryland 👺. That tackle on Maryland's last drive was awesome. I’m still so pumped about coach Bielema’s willingness to go for the td, and Feagin and OL making it happen. The defense, as gassed and depleted as they were, was huge
 
#142      
Not saying the offense was a juggernaut today but I was curious if todays game changed anyone’s mind on Lunney Jr? It seemed having the O line healthy again might have helped a little.
Not really for me

Last 15 games the most points scored by offense has been 27 points twice.....today is the second time and most this season.

Impressed by win, offense was functional but the norm should be this more days than not.
 
#144      
Not saying the offense was a juggernaut today but I was curious if todays game changed anyone’s mind on Lunney Jr? It seemed having the O line healthy again might have helped a little.
Not when Bielema had to take more control of the offense because it was so bad. Just makes me think Bielema told Lunney what to do. The thing is the, a high school football player could have seen where our offensive problems lie. Moving the pocket was something a peewee coach could have seen was necessary.

I also wonder if they almost got "lucky" our starting RBs were both hurt. Love is probably better than Feagin at this point, but our line can't consistently open holes. When they got to come down hill a bit with consistent runs today, they did better, but still not great. When there's not a ton of running room, a 250 lb guy that can drag defenders for 3 years is great for keeping us out of 3rd and long.
 
#145      
I wasn’t keeping track, but it seemed like we rushed 4 or more most of the game and played a lot more man coverage than past weeks. I hate the 3 man rush. I may be right or wrong, but whatever it was we were a lot more effective today. Whiteknack played most of the game today it seemed. Thought he was very solid and I hope that is a sign of things to come. Feagan was especially impressive. He turned a lot of no gains into 2-3 yard gains and that makes a huge difference. Sure hope he’s ok. I like Reggie, but his job is in jeopardy after today’s freshman performances. Despite taking too many sacks, Luke was impressive today with how he handled the situation. Never flustered even when he missed a receiver or took a few hits. It felt like the DB’s grew up a bit today as well. More aggressive coverage (mostly). Rosiek is playing like an all B10 LB. Griffin was golden when it counted at the end.

My rambling thoughts.
 
#146      
Some more afternoons like this and it won't be a horrible nightmare season any more.

As the field goal ball lifted its way skyward up into the darkening Skies... thus lifted all the spirits of Illini Nation all over the Planet. The health and welfare of countless souls everywhere resting upon a single ball flying between two Eastern Shore posts.

And a stunned Maryland crowd ready to party instead watched in agony as they were powerless to stop the kicker born in Danville... I-L-L...
Not Eastern Shore. Eastern Shore is on the other end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
 
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