Pregame: Illinois vs Rutgers, Saturday, November 1st, 11:00am CT, NBC
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You are responding to a post about not getting boat raced in games this year with a post about Iowa’s results from last season??
Whatever helps I guess.
But hey, just for the record, that Iowa team last season probably gets pretty dang close to beating the Illini if they had played each other. Look at the Purdue and Rutgers results from a year ago and it’s all you need to know.
A lot of us thought and expected we were close to taking a big leap forward. Now a lot of us are disappointed that we are not nearly as close as we thought or were told.
All the while we have to sit back and watch Vanderbilt and Indiana take a big step forward while we take 2 steps back.
Whatever helps I guess.
But hey, just for the record, that Iowa team last season probably gets pretty dang close to beating the Illini if they had played each other. Look at the Purdue and Rutgers results from a year ago and it’s all you need to know.
A lot of us thought and expected we were close to taking a big leap forward. Now a lot of us are disappointed that we are not nearly as close as we thought or were told.
All the while we have to sit back and watch Vanderbilt and Indiana take a big step forward while we take 2 steps back.
This!!!
Running a big time football program is just like running a company.
CEO Josh
Director Bret
Managers O&D coordinator
Supervisors position coaches
Employees players
In a company the Director doesn't run day to day operations, but directs the vision/direction for company goals.
When they have to get directly involved with day to day operations there's usually consequences.
Bret is not going anywhere, he has become the face of this program, but like any good Director he doesn't accept failure. There are some coaches on this staff that aren't working out in the way they thought.
This isn't Bret's first Director's position, he's had lots of success and had big time failures. I'll promise you that he's thought about getting back to this position and learned a lot about what needs to be done to maintain it.
Loyalty is one thing but business is business and he knows it's all about results!
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
Iowa lost 2 games to sub-.500 teams last year. We haven't lost to a team with a below .500 record in over 750 days.
We haven't lost a game as a favorite since the '23 season. We have won 5 games as underdogs in that time frame. That's incredible.
It is so awesome that we are in a spot some folks are griping about us relative to Iowa, or getting mad that we aren't better than the one team that has gone nuclear the last 2 years. What an awesome place we are in that those are the complaints vs. what we all have dealt with most of our lives.
All in all hoping to see an attitude change on defense this week.
Get some momentum to finish the season strong.
Illinois-38
Rutgers-28
Please please please be more aggressive defensively. Let these guys fly around a little bit!
Get some momentum to finish the season strong.
Illinois-38
Rutgers-28
Please please please be more aggressive defensively. Let these guys fly around a little bit!
If any game can be said to be a "must win" this is it.
I fully expect our defense to play much better against Rutgers. With all the negativity surrounding their performance, they will take an "us against the world" type of mentality into the game. I also think BB will be more hands on in terms of game prep. They have shown the ability to play well at times (OSU, 2H Duke), so the capability is there.
The question then becomes, is the improved performance a one off, or is it sustainable? What makes Phil Parker and Iowa's defense so great is their consistency - game in/game out they perform at a high level and they improve throughout the year. AH's defenses have occasionally performed well, but the consistency has not been there.
Our personnel is decent but not great, so our expectations should be realistic. If we see consistent effort and good fundamentals and game planning over the next 4 games, you can make the argument that the light has come on for AH and he has earned another year. If not, if we continue to see inconsistency and performances such as we had against PU and UW, then he needs to go
The question then becomes, is the improved performance a one off, or is it sustainable? What makes Phil Parker and Iowa's defense so great is their consistency - game in/game out they perform at a high level and they improve throughout the year. AH's defenses have occasionally performed well, but the consistency has not been there.
Our personnel is decent but not great, so our expectations should be realistic. If we see consistent effort and good fundamentals and game planning over the next 4 games, you can make the argument that the light has come on for AH and he has earned another year. If not, if we continue to see inconsistency and performances such as we had against PU and UW, then he needs to go
Illinir1
- Camdenton, MO
And our Director, Bret is pretty savvy. So savvy in fact, that I'm going to go out on a limb and say that at the end of the season he won't name himself as Defensive Coordinator and won't hire his wife to be Linebacker's position coach.
agree in the sense that if we lose this game I think we could lose the rest of the games on the schedule. There is no way that this game should be close. We should be hyper motivated, it's at home, and Rutgers is arguably the worst team we have left (WI is a train wreck, but that game is on the road and who knows with those kids auditioning for NIL for the following year and the coaching staff doing much the same).
Everything will be enjoyable Saturday. Illinois 34-23
Yeah... remembering the Gary Moeller 0-0 tie against Northwestern is something the young-ins didn't have to put up with... Or the 0-fer seasons that came along after that...Iowa lost 2 games to sub-.500 teams last year. We haven't lost to a team with a below .500 record in over 750 days.
We haven't lost a game as a favorite since the '23 season. We have won 5 games as underdogs in that time frame. That's incredible.
It is so awesome that we are in a spot some folks are griping about us relative to Iowa, or getting mad that we aren't better than the one team that has gone nuclear the last 2 years. What an awesome place we are in that those are the complaints vs. what we all have dealt with most of our lives.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
TY. You saved me the effort......
Illini4Chief
- TENNESSEE
Looking at both teams....Illini 59 Rutgers-62
Henry may not have the headset by MD if anything close to 62 points transpires.
However, there's little to no chance this is the score Saturday (unless numerous OTs). For them to score 62, it would have to be like IND - numerous 3 and outs, nothing on offense, dominated in the possession game. And if that happens, we're not scoring 59 either.
If we have any type of great success offensively, chances are it will be RPO, the running game, and probably winning TOP.
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My first game as an Illini fan sitting in West Block I.
When your defense is as bad as ours, your best defense becomes your offense by possessing the ball and keeping the D on the sideline AMAP.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
So you're thinking it's a back/forth defensive struggle, huh?
Mind if I borrow that identical score for my January 8th prediction when Rutgers basketball comes to town? Although I might choose to flip the winner.
I just hope we get off to a fast start for a change.
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