Ohio State 34, Illinois 16 Postgame

Status
Not open for further replies.
#176      
FloridaMan
Dan said:
Click to expand...
Good to hear BB hinting that he expects more out of the staff. He has been pretty openly setting expectations higher than what we are getting currently. "Couldn't get off the field on third down." He's mentioned that numerous times in the last couple of weeks. "We can't just accept a turnover."

I think there have been/will be some pretty pointed conversations during the bye week. As there should be. When you give teams like USC and Ohio St multiple second chances by failing to get stops on third and long, losses follow. We got away with it against USC, but not OSU. To me, that is the biggest missing aspect of this team right now. Fix that, and I like our chances in all 5 upcoming games.
 
#177      
Oracle21
BZuppke said:
I’m also disappointed in most press coverage of the game - ‘Ohio State Cruises’ etc. It’s as if they are only looking at the final score.

The final stats should be making people appreciate our effort (sans turnovers) and question whether tOSU is really #1. Clearly they have tremendous talent and beat us in many ways through sheer talent. But they really didn’t pressure Luke nor dominate us the way IU or Oregon did last year. No one is really doing this more in depth analysis.
Click to expand...

They got up 20-0 late in the 1st half and were never threatened. That’s the definition of cruising.
 
#179      
altgeld88
I can't recall feeling this disenchanted in the wake of a loss in a game I didn't expect us to win. It was ours for the taking, as was last year's game at Penn State, and we gave it away.

Glad we have a bye week. Hope to see a much sharper Illini team in Seattle in two weeks.
 
#180      
thefalcon5
altgeld88 said:
I can't recall feeling this disenchanted in the wake of a loss in a game I didn't expect us to win. It was ours for the taking, as was last year's game at Penn State, and we gave it away.

Glad we have a bye week. Hope to see a much sharper Illini team in Seattle in two weeks.
Click to expand...
Man idk, I thought the team was firing pretty well all game.

I’m perplexed by the perception of this team in the game. The interception was borderline PI and they missed about another half dozen easy ones as well. I actually don’t think the kneel punt is as earth shattering as the media is making it out to be. He has to know not to do that, but I chalk that up to being unfortunate.

Other than that, we were down 2.5 RBs in the second half and moved the ball well against arguably the best defense in the country. We put up the most points anyone has all year. Our defense made their run game essentially non existent. Heck, we even held their NFL WRs to low numbers.

Obviously other mistakes were made. And yes we could’ve performed better, obviously. I still come away feeling better about this team than before the game.
 
#181      
altgeld88
thefalcon5 said:
Man idk, I thought the team was firing pretty well all game.

I’m perplexed by the perception of this team in the game. The interception was borderline PI and they missed about another half dozen easy ones as well. I actually don’t think the kneel punt is as earth shattering as the media is making it out to be. He has to know not to do that, but I chalk that up to being unfortunate.

Other than that, we were down 2.5 RBs in the second half and moved the ball well against arguably the best defense in the country. We put up the most points anyone has all year. Our defense made their run game essentially non existent. Heck, we even held their NFL WRs to low numbers.

Obviously other mistakes were made. And yes we could’ve performed better, obviously. I still come away feeling better about this team than before the game.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree that we played very well in certain areas. We outgained them, for goodness sake. My point is that, all of our positive play notwithstanding, we made crucial mistakes that dug a hole early and gave the game away. Idiotic mistakes. We forced no TOs while committing four (the muffed punt included), all of which gave them excellent field position. We can't beat OSU that way.

Yes, the officiating blew chunks regarding allowing OSUs DB to drape themselves on our receivers and dare the back judges to call PI. In spite of that, we could have won the game had we not sputtered.

It's frustrating because v. USC we looked sharp on both sides of the ball. We've got to improve our quality control. Way too many defects exist in the product given the experienced personnel. We also appear to have defects in our position coaching in certain areas.

That's why I'm frustrated today. Hoping we get it together on the off week.
 
Last edited:
#182      
Roundball Sage
From the cheap seats said:
If Ohio State is the gold standard in college football — and it appears they are — the Illini are closer to that than in any time in my memory. Not there, but not that far away.
Click to expand...

Ohio State is just one of those programs that simply refuses to accept anything short of being among the very best. The program doesn’t accept mediocrity nor do Buckeye fans. It’s been that way for a long time now.

Many football programs and fans are used to being also-rans. Year after year. That’s where their expectation level sits. The programs might try to climb the ladder. A few of them do. Most do not. For various reasons.

The Illini are in much better shape today than in many of the most recent years. Fans – and the Big Ten collective – know that.

But not only are the Illini now dealing with lowered expectations for this season... but Illini Nation is watching the Indiana program right now sitting where the Illini had hoped to be as a program at this point. So far, Indiana has been standing right along all the other Big Boys of College Ball. That’s where the Illini want to be.

So Indiana has finally learned how to play well with a ball that isn’t just round anymore.
 
#187      
Ryllini
BillyBob1 said:
You think he would have a Lazy Boy recliner.
Click to expand...
george costanza massage chair GIF
 
#189      
bluemountain
WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? said:
Not gonna lie, 34-19 would've looked much better than 34-16. Won't be many teams this year playing Ohio State within two possessions. Really should've been 34-20 as there was also that two point try (although I wouldn't blame that too much).

In a day and age where the score matters more-so than ever, you should take the free style points. Really no reason not to. JMO.
Click to expand...
Ehhh, the 3 points is meaningless, unless you had big money on the game
 
#190      
Dkayak
altgeld88 said:
I don't disagree that we played very well in certain areas. We outgained them, for goodness sake. My point is that, all of our positive play notwithstanding, we made crucial mistakes that dug a hole early and gave the game away. Idiotic mistakes. We forced no TOs while committing four (the muffed punt included), all of which gave them excellent field position. We can't beat OSU that way.

Yes, the officiating blew chunks regarding allowing OSUs DB to drape themselves on our receivers and dare the back judges to call PI. In spite of that, we could have won the game had we not sputtered.

It's frustrating because v. USC we looked sharp on both sides of the ball. We've got to improve our quality control. Way too many defects exist in the product given the experienced personnel. We also appear to have defects in our position coaching in certain areas.

That's why I'm frustrated today. Hoping we get it together on the off week.
Click to expand...
You’ve just made a strong argument that both our offense and defense performed very effectively against Number One. Outperformed them in fact, based on yardage and first downs.

We lost the game only due to 3 turnovers, a punt error, and some frustratingly blind officiating. Our fundamental performance on both sides of the ball was surprisingly strong through all four quarters.

Remember all the pre-game wailing about how our defensive line was going to be shredded by an OSU steamroller? Turned out they simply couldn’t run the ball against our defense - less than 3 yards per carry, wasn’t it? And how our offensive line couldn’t possible give poor Luke even a brief pocket? He’d be scrambling for his life on every play. Turned out our line gave him loads of time! OSU should have been embarrassed by their pathetic pass rush on many of those downs. We simply outplayed OSU in the trenches. Whoodathunkit?!

So get rested and healed, clean things up (TO’s and things like a false start on the goal line). We know how to protect the ball, but even Luke had one bad game. Bret ball isn’t sloppy. We can do this. Then winning out is something between very possible and probable. Life is good at 10-2 or even 9-3.
 
#191      
RML
I, for one, never DREAMED of us being where Indiana is (perhaps the best team in the country) "at this point" and don't consider it "lowering expectations" to be absolutely delighted with where we are right now as a program.

From a long-term perspective, this is pretty much exactly where I "hoped" we would be at this point, and far better than I "expected". But yeh, if you're talking about hopes and expectations for the season at the start of the year, then OK, it's not quite what I hoped. But its probably about what I expected while looking at things through orange-colored glasses.

And the only reason it's not quite what I hoped is that Indiana has unexpectedly turned into a juggernaut. That's not on us.
 
Last edited:
#193      
altgeld88
Dkayak said:
You’ve just made a strong argument that both our offense and defense performed very effectively against Number One. Outperformed them in fact, based on yardage and first downs.

We lost the game only due to 3 turnovers, a punt error, and some frustratingly blind officiating. Our fundamental performance on both sides of the ball was surprisingly strong through all four quarters.

Remember all the pre-game wailing about how our defensive line was going to be shredded by an OSU steamroller? Turned out they simply couldn’t run the ball against our defense - less than 3 yards per carry, wasn’t it? And how our offensive line couldn’t possible give poor Luke even a brief pocket? He’d be scrambling for his life on every play. Turned out our line gave him loads of time! OSU should have been embarrassed by their pathetic pass rush on many of those downs. We simply outplayed OSU in the trenches. Whoodathunkit?!

So get rested and healed, clean things up (TO’s and things like a false start on the goal line). We know how to protect the ball, but even Luke had one bad game. Bret ball isn’t sloppy. We can do this. Then winning out is something between very possible and probable. Life is good at 10-2 or even 9-3.
Click to expand...
Yeah; I think that's fair to say. I was frankly amazed at the protection Luke had compared with what I saw in person at Duke and IU. We gave up only a sack or two at worst. And our secondary held up well, even though it's our weak spot. The problem is that no one is going to beat a team such as OSU committing four TOs. + the false start on the goal line was committed (IIRC) by an inexperienced TE. Priestly was beside himself with the guy after that gaffe. Our first half was a nightmare of unforced errors.

I feel good about UW in a couple weeks, even though it's on the road.
 
#194      
mhuml32
mhuml32 said:
Game Thoughts:

(1) I wholeheartedly agree with Robert's post-game about how this was actually a sneaky closer game on paper. Ohio State is still in a different class, and the turnovers put them in advantageous spots but maybe the Buckeyes punish Illinois with more yards/explosive without them, but it could have been a sweat. (PGWE of 13% doesn't necessarily agree with me)
(2) The punting mistake is still frustrating. Knowing the backup snapper is in the game, there has got to be more awareness of a low snap and the consequences.
(3) One season thought, now that Illinois is hitting their first bye. Being 5-2 should have been the goal reaching this bye. Plenty of frustration because of how Illinois lost to Indiana, but you're 5-2 and you are not playing another ranked team until 2026. Let's take a zoomed out view of the Illinois schedule (Using SRS since it's updated now)

Western Illinois (NR) - looking like a bad FCS team
Duke (29th) - 4-2. Will win at least 7 games, likely a 8-4/9-3 team.
Western Michigan (81st) - 4-3 and haven't lost since leaving Champaign. Current favorite to win MAC.
Indiana (4th) - 6-0. Juggernaut and slack-jawed with what Cig has done.
USC (11th) - 5-1. Just whipped Michigan. Likely a 9-3 team.
Ohio State (1st) - 6-0. Juggernaut.

Going forward
Washington (17th). 5-1 team that has a lot of similarities on paper as USC. Hardest game remaining by a mile. Win this game? 10-2 is really possible.
Rutgers (62nd). 3-3 and they are all offense/no defense.
Maryland (42nd). 4-2. Better than expected but starting to take on water.
Wisconsin (92nd). 2-4. Flaming dumpster fire and very unlikely that Fickell is coaching this game.
Northwestern (61st). 4-2 and have played well since September started. No offense/all defense.

(4) I'm really impressed with the blocking since USC. It's a noticeable step forward. The pass blocking is really, really good. Priestly was about the only lineman that struggled. JC Davis has been really good since that Duke first half. Only allowing five pressures in a game where Altmyer threw 44 times against the best defense in the country? Absolutely!
(5) Rusk played 34 snaps against Ohio State. Previous high for the season was 12. If he's turned the corner and can be at least passable in pass blocking, this offense might find yet another gear. On the flip side, we might see Arkin's snap counts continue to fall because of the run blocking struggles. Based on his PFF grades, I'm wondering if he injured himself in the WMU game.
(6) I'm liking the idea of starting the game with Valentine and bringing in Feagin on the 2nd or 3rd drive. But no idea how Valentine's knee is doing or if Valentine can pass block well enough to avoid restricting the play calls. Also, I refuse to give up on Aidan. Valentine can make the most of terrible blocking, Feagin can always gain 2-3 yards but also seems impossible for him to run for longer than 8 yards. Aidan is somewhere in between.
(7) Dylan Rosiek needs to stay healthy all year.
(8) Ohio State had 35 carries for 109 yards. It was their worst rushing performance since week 1 against Texas.
(9) Matt Bailey had an awesome first half. Ohio State was scheming up options for Clare (banking on that 2024 Purdue tape) and it just wasn't available. They changed tactics in the second half.
(10) This was the best defensive performance since South Carolina. I was really impressed with the defense shutting down the running game and taking away explosives in the passing game.
Click to expand...



https://twitter.com/x/status/1977761243080622436
 
#195      
Illini2010-11
altgeld88 said:
Yeah; I think that's fair to say. I was frankly amazed at the protection Luke had compared with what I saw in person at Duke and IU. We gave up only a sack or two at worst. And our secondary held up well, even though it's our weak spot. The problem is that no one is going to beat a team such as OSU committing four TOs. + the false start on the goal line was committed (IIRC) by an inexperienced TE. Priestly was beside himself with the guy after that gaffe. Our first half was a nightmare of unforced errors.

I feel good about UW in a couple weeks, even though it's on the road.
Click to expand...
What a strange world in which we feel pretty good about two road UW games in the same season!
 
#196      
Illinir1
Yesterday was travel day home from the game, so I'm just starting to read through post game comments and forgive me if this has already been posted/discussed. As many have stated, the referees did us absolutely no favors in the game. Luke's first interception of the year looked like a bang-bang play live, but also with the potential for OSU pass interference. When I saw the FOX broadcast of the play, the live action camera view was inconclusive, then the first replay angle from behind the line of scrimmage wasn't conclusive, then they showed this angle from behind the OSU secondary. If that's not pass interference, I don't know what is. And not a word about it by the FOX broadcast team. Hmmmmm.

1760396118631.png
 
#197      
HensonHall71
Illinir1 said:
Yesterday was travel day home from the game, so I'm just starting to read through post game comments and forgive me if this has already been posted/discussed. As many have stated, the referees did us absolutely no favors in the game. Luke's first interception of the year looked like a bang-bang play live, but also with the potential for OSU pass interference. When I saw the FOX broadcast of the play, the live action camera view was inconclusive, then the first replay angle from behind the line of scrimmage wasn't conclusive, then they showed this angle from behind the OSU secondary. If that's not pass interference, I don't know what is. And not a word about it by the FOX broadcast team. Hmmmmm.

View attachment 44269
Click to expand...
I even thought from the replay live in the stadium he clearly got there early as this picture shows, but refs often let it go if they get a hand on the ball - the only thing I think our receivers can do better is "sell the call" more and when you fell the arm around your neck/pulling the jersey like the Bowick play - just go down - it forces the ref to make the call. I know it's against what they are taught - ignore the refs and just try to make the play - but against OSU, where they are basically all over you and committing holding/pass interference all game, you have to start selling the calls to get them called.
 
#198      
Illinir1
WWWWRocU said:
Also the Paddock to Isaiah pass to beat Minny a few years ago!
Click to expand...
We were fortunate to have John Paddock and his Grandfather, John Wright Sr., at our tailgate Saturday (look up John Wright Sr.'s Illini accomplishments if you aren't familiar). In addition to the game winner TD pass to Isaiah at Minnesota, one week later John Paddock threw the game winning overtime walk-off TD pass to Isaiah in a 48-45 instant classic victory. In that game Paddock passed for 507 yards, the all-time Memorial Stadium single game record (with 4 TD passes, including the walk-off winner). All in his first QB start as an Illini. Not a bad day.
 

Attachments

  • 20251011_091606.jpg
    20251011_091606.jpg
    903 KB · Views: 127
#200      
pvaughn8
HensonHall71 said:
I even thought from the replay live in the stadium he clearly got there early as this picture shows, but refs often let it go if they get a hand on the ball - the only thing I think our receivers can do better is "sell the call" more and when you fell the arm around your neck/pulling the jersey like the Bowick play - just go down - it forces the ref to make the call. I know it's against what they are taught - ignore the refs and just try to make the play - but against OSU, where they are basically all over you and committing holding/pass interference all game, you have to start selling the calls to get them called.
Click to expand...
It would have helped of the pass wasn't behind him as well. He kind of had to slow down anyway which maybe helped mask the degree of interference
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back