Pregame: Illinois vs Michigan, Saturday, October 19th, 2:30pm CT, CBS

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#76      
HensonHall71
LvilleILL said:
They lost to Washington who just let up 40 to Iowa. Also barely beat Minnesota at home.
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Agreed- Michigan is not a good football team this year but styles make fights and they can run the ball really well and we can’t stop the run

If we get an early 2 score lead and force them to throw - I like our chances, I just don’t know if we can stop them enough
 
#77      
Fly Illini Fly!
HensonHall71 said:
Agreed- Michigan is not a good football team this year but styles make fights and they can run the ball really well and we can’t stop the run

If we get an early 2 score lead and force them to throw - I like our chances, I just don’t know if we can stop them enough
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Agreed. If you want to claim this game is a bad matchup (which it might be), it's more of a case of weaknesses perfectly matching up with strengths imo rather than them just being good.
 
#78      
Brosky
Second place is 1st loser said:
The problem there is that we've shown absolutely no ability to keep contain on the QB. Our LBs are incredibly slow. Michigan can pound the ball between the tackles and their QB is superior athletically. This isn't a good situation for our defense.

I didn't love Henry's second half yesterday, but we have significant personnel problems that won't be able to be addressed until Signing Day 2025.
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You make good points. We have demonstrated we can't run the ball or stop the run. That does not bode well for the Michigan game.
 
#79      
CaptainCrutch
Good news: my preseason predictions had their first miss this weekend! Really thought we were gonna take the L here.

Bad news: lack of depth showed. Missing X and Feagin really put us in a bind.

Interesting news: we have 2 ranked wins this year and I believe both teams dropped from the rankings never to return after. Michigan, if we were to beat them, would almost certainly drop out as well. What’s the odds of that, man? The AP Killers.

Illinois 33 - Michigan 27. My grandpa cries.
 
#84      
Illini2010-11
CaptainCrutch said:
Good news: my preseason predictions had their first miss this weekend! Really thought we were gonna take the L here.

Bad news: lack of depth showed. Missing X and Feagin really put us in a bind.

Interesting news: we have 2 ranked wins this year and I believe both teams dropped from the rankings never to return after. Michigan, if we were to beat them, would almost certainly drop out as well. What’s the odds of that, man? The AP Killers.

Illinois 33 - Michigan 27. My grandpa cries.
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Nebraska is actually back in the top 25 coaches polls. If they wining Bloomington Saturday, expect them to be ranked in both polls comfortably.
 
#85      
PepeSilvia
Going to need to figure out how to stop the run if they're going to have any chance. If the Illini don't make some adjustments on defense this could get ugly.

The offense can score enough to get a win if the defense can hold up a bit but at this point Michigan's game plan should probably just be to run on every play.

If Penn State was coached better and just kept running that game probably would have been a blowout.
 
#86      
ChiefGritty
LvilleILL said:
They lost to Washington who just let up 40 to Iowa. Also barely beat Minnesota at home.
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I understand the Michigan skepticism. They're 1-5 ATS and Vegas is tired of it.

I just don't understand how you square us being 19.5 point dogs at PSU, missing a cover by over 20 points against Purdue, and now we're only +1 against Michigan.

You can talk me out of Michigan -10. But anything less than about Michigan -6 I just cannot make fit with what we've seen.

I guess we'll see what public money does to the line.

Illinijoe said:
Then bet your life savings on the game!
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Can't bet in-state college games.
 
#87      
Illiniam1984
ChiefGritty said:
I understand the Michigan skepticism. They're 1-5 ATS and Vegas is tired of it.

I just don't understand how you square us being 19.5 point dogs at PSU, missing a cover by over 20 points against Purdue, and now we're only +1 against Michigan.

You can talk me out of Michigan -10. But anything less than about Michigan -6 I just cannot make fit with what we've seen.

I guess we'll see what public money does to the line.


Can't bet in-state college games.
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Michigan barely beat USC. USC has a worse record than Northwestern so far. 😉
 
#88      
SampsonRelpenk
Michigan hasn't been invulnerable to the pass so far this year. Maybe this ends up as a shootout.
 
#91      
EyeoftheIllini
phats22 said:
100%. obviously hindsight but man it was putting a lot onto Valentine's plate to execute in that scenario
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Yeah, but read through past pre-, in- and post-game threads with a lot of people calling for Valentine to see a lot more time. And not just over Laughery but the other two backs. Perfect example of why he hasn’t been — or shouldn’t be — playing more. Feagin being out likely meant he was needed in spots where he wouldn’t have played normally. He’ll get there hopefully in time, but surprise, surprise, coaches know more than guys on a fan message board.

Have we heard how long Feagin is out? Didn’t sound like his return was imminent, but hopefully wrong on that.
 
#92      
Illini in Italy
TheDrinkinLincoln said:
I'm not particularly worried about being able to score on Michigan. Our biggest problem is going to be stopping the run and I hope we come up with some solid plans. Honestly I'd drop a safety in the box and make them throw the ball and have the in box safety spy Orji.
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I believe it's been announced that seventh year (!!!!) starter Jack Tuttle is staring for ScUM . . . Better passer, but not as strong a runner as Orji according to reports.
 
#93      
fatt lacosse
will johnson's status for michigan is big. i think he's good enough to take away pat bryant. he missed their last game but they're coming off a bye.

second half offensive line performance against purdue was concerning. i don't think we're gonna have much success on the ground this week.

michigan is probably going forward with jack tuttle and they'll try to be more balanced than they were against USC. this could work in our favor as tuttle is less mobile than orji and warren. unlike purdue, they probably don't value this game enough to put in a bespoke offense designed around our scheme.

illini coaches have done some pretty good things this year. gonna need their best performance, especially since there's not that much film on the jack tuttle michigan offense. they're capable of getting this one but it'll take their best.
 
#94      
Scoregasm
TheDrinkinLincoln said:
I'm not particularly worried about being able to score on Michigan. Our biggest problem is going to be stopping the run and I hope we come up with some solid plans. Honestly I'd drop a safety in the box and make them throw the ball and have the in box safety spy Orji.
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Agree, we need Bailey to play Linebacker for this game and spy Orji if he plays.
 
#96      
Ander1345
I would like to see us move to more of a stack look instead of our normal 5 up front alignment.... I think we will get bullied if we stick with what we've been lining up in. It's a lot of pressure on Rosiek.
 
#97      
Fighter of the Nightman
I was as concerned as everyone else with almost blowing that lead to Purdue, but I also will not be too quick to assume the team we saw in the second half yesterday is somehow more indicative of the team we have seen the rest of the year. Sure, stopping the run remains a concern, especially against Michigan. However, I am not sure this is a game where I think analyzing stats will predict the outcome. If we play with the type of intensity and discipline we did vs. Nebraska, I think we win - especially with the atmosphere helping us out. This one will be about focus and energy, too, and ours HAS to be better than the second half vs. Purdue. Michigan will get some solid rushing yards against us, but we have to get some big stops when they are forced to pass, and our offense needs to (once again) come to play!
 
#99      
thefalcon5
Dbell1981 said:
His whiff of a block led to the Altmeyer fumble. Really caused a Tidal Wave of momentum for Purdont.
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It was literally the turning point. Yea Purdue just got a TD but a 14 pt swing in 3 plays is going to kill any sort of momentum.

I choose to believe we got behind the right ball and couldn’t dig out. They did a good job attacking our weakness and we didn’t adjust.

Michigan’s strengths are similar. I think we’ve got to believe in our defensive backfield to hold against passing and load the box.
 
#100      
Fly Illini Fly!
There's a very solid chance (probably more likely than not) that we'd be favored had we not had that embarrassing second half...

but the thing is, we did... and that certainly needs to be taken into consideration when evaluating this matchup. They're the worst P4 team in America and absolutely owned us in every which way on D. Game will be over by the 1st QTR if we decide to show up with that effort.

Certainly hope Scott will be back. IMO significantly more of a factor than Feagin. Even though it has not been our strong-suit, we have options and depth there... we just don't in the secondary, and that reared its end.
 
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