Game Thread: Illinois at Northwestern

[New Creation]

Leading at half despite ourselves

 

[Pikeillinifan]

Not a great half but with the turnovers I’ll take it.

 

[gary?]

gotta give it up to the defense there. nicely done

 

[Oracle21]

NW should have had 3 on that drive at least, They screwed that up with the delay of game and not throwing it away on the sack

 

[derrick6]

Lead at half. Will take it! No more turnovers and empty plays!!!!

 

[illinidarrin]

We are lucky to be up at the half. I'm disgusted by our effort again. Should be up by 3 scores against this team.

 

[OrangeAndBlueBlooded]

No good!

 

[zentrails]

This Defense is incapable of getting a stop on third down.

And yet they finish the half only giving up ONLY THREE points despite 2 TOs by Luke
Good job of bend don't break, D!

 

[Illini4Christ]

Malachi Hood.

 

[derrick6]

gotta give it up to the defense there. nicely done

Defense is fine. I don’t get all the noise. Going to need to be stronger on 3rd downs but generally sound.

 

[TheChief4Life]

Ugly first half as far as expectations go, but we have the leads and get the ball at half. Adjustments will need to be made.

 

[OskieWowWow]

Really interested to see what we do to address pass rush. Bend but don't break defense worked this year out of necessity but the 2022 defense aggressiveness is where we want to be

 

[skyIdub]

They'd better answer some questions about this defense during halftime.

 

[TheFlyingIllini1317]

Defense is bending and not breaking. Positive is we should be up 21-3, downside is we are not. Dominate this second half.

 

[aaeismacgychel]

Okay, let's stop play around with our food and blow them out this half. Based on how bad their run defense is, do what Oregon did to us and just run it up and down the field on them

 

[NashvILLe05]

Crazy time of possession disparity.

ILL: 9:27
NU: 20:33

 

[Jimbo]

Ok, i like where we are. Playing poorly, still up four. Feels like a 27-17 win to me.

Oh, and Matt Millen adds nothing. I have no broadcasting experience and i’m sure it’s harder than it looks, but i’m pretty sure i could call a Utah State vs Florida A&M game without any prep and do just as good.

 

[One Man Fast Break]

This is the kind of drive that absolutely deflates a team heading into Half.

Now you hope it deflates Northwestern the other way. Methodical drive. Worked down the field, converted a lot of third downs. One penalty, one sack and one missed field goals and it's no points to show for it.

 

[Illini2010-11]

Absolutely brutal defense, and the offense is here to match it today. Always like this against NW.

I disagree. The defense might look quite bad, but they have done the job for the first half. 3 red zone appearances by NW, only 3 points.

The Illini offense gave NW 7 points. The defense is the reason that Illini lead at the half.

Now Illini get ball to start half. Expect a lot on the ground. A TD will be huge, given NW has struggled to finish drives today (and all season).

 

[Oracle21]

Hard to believe this is the same NW team that lost 50-6 last week

 

[HereSoIDontGetFined]

Typical Illinois Northwestern game after all. Need to stiffen up second half.

 

[thehass]

I rushed home to see us blow them out and the only thing I've seen is us blow.

 

[Coop70]

Love this board, yet sometimes it's little more than a Shakesperean chorus in tragedy with random swings from elation to despair.

 

[Oracle21]

I rushed home to see us blow them out and the only thing I've seen is us blow.

NW has been bad in the 2nd half all year so it might still turn into a blowout.

Michigan outscored them 33-0
Ohio State 10-0
Iowa 28-7

 

[BDMAN]

I rushed home to see us blow them out and the only thing I've seen is us blow.

Well the sums it up nicely