Illinois 45, Duke 19 Postgame

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#260      
Illini2010-11
Second place is 1st loser said:
Lets be honest and not Monday morning QB this one. The first half was absolutely atrocious and the final score is not indicative of how this game was played.

You couldn't look at one unit on our team that was outplaying theirs. We got beat in every conceivable aspect, but turnovers. When you win that battle 5-0, plus get dropped balls, uniform penalties, etc, you should win 100% of all games. Lets not pretend like there aren't major concerns

The first 35 minutes was horrendous, the first 45 improved to bad, HOWEVER, the 4th quarter was pretty much perfection. The late scores put some makeup on this one.

We can(and do) woulda, coulda, shoulda all games to death, but in this one.....we shoulda probably been down three scores at that half. The fact we were winning was a minor miracle.

Both lines and the corners have to be better. Thx corners have to be a LOT better. Glad we adjusted on the offensive side at the half. Quick slants, screens, play action.....it all slows down a pass rush and over active defensive ends.

Not sure we have things figured out on the defensive side yet. Worried about those interior linemen, but onward and upward.
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There are certainly areas that need to be addressed. However, removing the last Illini drive where they kneeled the clock out, the Illini scored on  every possion in the second half. The Illini pushed Duke around the second half and played a near flawless offensive half. I am pretty sure the Illini would have racked up more yards than Duke had they not had shorter fields than Duke.

IMO, this is the perfect outcome for the Illini. Plenty for the coaches to address, and yet still get a statement win that will get noticed in the national media. Let's not forget that Duke was receiving votes in both polls, and we smacked them by 26 points on the road!
 
#261      
SescIllini
MajorNathanMaxwellJanice said:
If you spent any time at all this past week looking at the actual makeup of Scary Manny’s team, it was obvious. I mean obvious, that they were an inferior team.

Do it now. Please. There was no unit or position that you would swap for Illini’s.


And there was no unit match up where they had an advantage

And yet, so many of you were drinking the kool aid and scared.
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I was at the game, Duke DEs and D-line were extremely tough, didn't give Luke any time. The offense and QB are good as well, with more seasoning watch out. Duke is a good team and will do well in ACC.
 
#262      
TheodoreRex
A few thoughts from the game:
1st half really felt like we played poorly and were somehow still leading

I'm still a bit concerned at how the offensive line played, we literally didn't move Duke hardly at all. At least we pass protected for most of the 2nd half.

I thought Feagin looked slow and went down way too easy. Valentine has far more burst and seems to find and hit the hole a ton better than Feagin. Maybe he's still coming around from his injury, but I'm just not seeing it.

How about finding Justin Bowick, he had some huge plays today.

Overall, while I have some frustrations and concerns from the game, pinch me and wake me up from the dream of Illinois football being this good. We went into a borderline top 25 team's home field and just ran them off the field in the 2nd half. If we somehow make a college playoff- build Josh Whitman a flippin statue.
 
#265      
Todd99
Illini2010-11 said:
There are certainly areas that need to be addressed. However, removing the last Illini drive where they kneeled the clock out, the Illini scored on  every possion in the second half. The Illini pushed Duke around the second half and played a near flawless offensive half. I am pretty sure the Illini would have racked up more yards than Duke had they not had shorter fields than Duke.

IMO, this is the perfect outcome for the Illini. Plenty for the coaches to address, and yet still get a statement win that will get noticed in the national media. Let's not forget that Duke was receiving votes in both polls, and we smacked them by 26 points on the road!
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Well said. You can’t hide the poor play in the first half but if they come out and play the first half like they did in the second the starters would have been benched in the 4th quarter again. The more I think about it I’m glad it turned out the way did. Like you said there are things to work on, we saw some of our weakness's and that will help prepare for the games coming up.
 
#266      
Bbuck21
SescIllini said:
I was at the game, Duke DEs and D-line were extremely tough, didn't give Luke any time. The offense and QB are good as well, with more seasoning watch out. Duke is a good team and will do well in ACC.
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That's the operative phrase.
 
#272      
MajorNathanMaxwellJanice
IMG_6299.jpeg
Manny directing blitz traffic
 
#275      
HereSoIDontGetFined
Second place is 1st loser said:
Lets be honest and not Monday morning QB this one. The first half was absolutely atrocious and the final score is not indicative of how this game was played.

You couldn't look at one unit on our team that was outplaying theirs. We got beat in every conceivable aspect, but turnovers. When you win that battle 5-0, plus get dropped balls, uniform penalties, etc, you should win 100% of all games. Lets not pretend like there aren't major concerns

The first 35 minutes was horrendous, the first 45 improved to bad, HOWEVER, the 4th quarter was pretty much perfection. The late scores put some makeup on this one.

We can(and do) woulda, coulda, shoulda all games to death, but in this one.....we shoulda probably been down three scores at that half. The fact we were winning was a minor miracle.

Both lines and the corners have to be better. Thx corners have to be a LOT better. Glad we adjusted on the offensive side at the half. Quick slants, screens, play action.....it all slows down a pass rush and over active defensive ends.

Not sure we have things figured out on the defensive side yet. Worried about those interior linemen, but onward and upward.
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It's fair to say the team will have plenty of film to study. It's also fair to say that big plays can cancel out a lot of deficiencies. Most Illinois teams would get handed those opportunities and would come away with nothing to show for it.

What I liked most today were the coaching adjustments. Once we found plays that worked, the offense started to cook. And it didn't take us three games to figure it out.
 
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