lol I love the craziness. Can’t wait to be back next year.
Northwestern 45, Illinois 43 Postgame
Here’s a tiny morsel of consolation - P.J. ain’t bowlin either.
Is the former Wisky player/coach our next D Coordinator? (Leonard),, he seems like he would be the right guy to recruit and establish a smart and tough defense.
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
He has to do whats best for the team. He has to throw loyalty out the window. His job could be in trouble if he has more losing seasons. Try to put the best coaching staff out there possible to go along with players. Players don't want to play for a losing team.
Next year is a tougher schedule with less talent on the roster (currently). Changes to the staff won't cut it. They need a serious infusion of talent that can contribute right away.
How do you go from #1 defense in B10/nation last season to this mess. Near the bottom of B10 and one of largest declines defensively in the nation. So many mistakes and poor in-game decision making. Lunneys not the problem. Not sure how you bring Henry back. To save face-Bert will keep him and make him a co-coordinator, is my guess?!
While he is responsible as the HMFIC, he didn't fumble that punt return, nor give up 2 INT's, nor miss tackles, etc., etc., etc. He Has to improve our recruiting, and has to look hard and long at our coaching staff.
Adding USC, Oregon, Washington and UCLA to the Big Ten means we are the easy win. Remember this is entertainment and for Illinois to win these games we have to win them by 7 points to win by one point.
Unless this becomes a really well coached and disciplined team, next year will be another huge step back. Really didn’t expect this kind of year, really disappointing.
I’d get it if we were are some huge financial deficit to other teams, but that’s just not the case. No clue what it’ll take to turn things around anymore.
Another stinker Illini season in the books. Oh well.
this is really damning
Can we talk about the elephant in the room? I'm not saying Henry should be the DC next year but I have trouble forgetting what he did the previous year. If we let him go, we'd be letting go the coach who was directly responsible for coaching up the best secondary we've had in decades. What if he's the best DB coach we could get but just not the best DC? Keep in mind that the defense was defending a short field much of the season.
That is kind of the real root of the problem. We lose 3 dbs in the first 3 rounds to the NFL and others later. We had some good young DBs this year and other guys like Newton. But this is Illinois not Georgia. If they are out hurt or ejected and we lack the depth to fill those gaps right now unless we develop players. We don't get enough 4 and 5 stars likd the top schools do. I wish we did but that just not realistic right now.. I do think coach B can make the Illini better, that this year sucked, but we need to stick with coach B and have realistic expectations when we have guys going pro and being injured. I do think he has a good young core, is on the right path, and busting his !!! to get and develop the depth we need. We just gotta support him and realize he is trying to recruit and develop the best players he can. We can expect some top recruits in hoops but we need to be realistic in football. To me uts awesome to see guys from the Illini going pro and if that keeps up they will get better players. Its just tough to do that as often as some when the other programs stadiums are full. Some even when they struggle.
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TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
At least we might have helped save the NCAA's bacon with James Madison and Jacksonville St.
Don't allow offense to score,make some stops.
And yet again, going for two points killed us, just take the point and that last TD ties it up.
This game was a microcosm of the entire season with a perfect little bow attached.
Illini4Chief
- TENNESSEE
I just knew, I just knew it.....always gonna be disappointed......
The Lord Jesus?
The inability to fall on top of a football was a little bonus feature added for today
This has to be the most unique fanbase experience in all of college sports.
No other fanbase experiences the dumbest games of all time the way we do.
In the history of college and professional football there have been hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of kickoffs. How many of them do you suppose resulted in a TD for the kicking team? 100?
You turn the ball over 4 times, all of which are inside your own 30.
I was at the game so I don't know how it looked on TV, so I have to ask, did we recover that fumble on the goal line that they called a TD for NW?
P.S. Go spend some money and make someone the highest paid DC in the country.
No other fanbase experiences the dumbest games of all time the way we do.
In the history of college and professional football there have been hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of kickoffs. How many of them do you suppose resulted in a TD for the kicking team? 100?
You turn the ball over 4 times, all of which are inside your own 30.
I was at the game so I don't know how it looked on TV, so I have to ask, did we recover that fumble on the goal line that they called a TD for NW?
P.S. Go spend some money and make someone the highest paid DC in the country.
Its a team game. The defense was set up to fail time and time again by fumbles on our end of the field. Thats not just on them. They git better. Those turnovers on our end was the huge issue. They even held em today twice to fg attempts after turnovers on our end.
Good teams find ways to win. Bad teams find ways to lose. I've always believed this wholeheartedly. Sadly, we were a bad team in 2023.
That being said, Bret is not going anywhere, and will have a chance to clean up this mess. Jim Leohnard will be our Defensive Coordinator in 2024. And we will have a new Offensive Coordinator, just not sure who that will be. Bret made his share of mistakes also, and has to get more involved with stupid players that continually make stupid plays and commit stupid penalties.
This will take getting some transfers, JUCO players, etc. We have got to get more intelligence onto the field.
That being said, Bret is not going anywhere, and will have a chance to clean up this mess. Jim Leohnard will be our Defensive Coordinator in 2024. And we will have a new Offensive Coordinator, just not sure who that will be. Bret made his share of mistakes also, and has to get more involved with stupid players that continually make stupid plays and commit stupid penalties.
This will take getting some transfers, JUCO players, etc. We have got to get more intelligence onto the field.
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That Strain pick was the only play a DB made all year. Good things happen when you actually turn around and look for the ball.