Pregame: Illinois vs Southern Illinois, Saturday, September 19th, 1:00pm CT, Peacock/YTTV

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#51      
Birdus
altgeld88 said:
We watched most of the OkSt-Oregon game Saturday before and during the Illini game at the bar. OK State was solid. Though shockling, the win was no fluke. The Oregon fumble on its final possession was an own goal but otherwise, each time Oregon punched, OK State punched back. Harder, on balance.
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I too do not believe it was a fluke. Ok. State earned it. Great for them. However, here is my theory. Michigan is 2-0. We all know that they should be 1-1 but that did not work out so, the first game they pretty much showed up and should have lost. The second game, they showed up to play. It showed. Unfortunately, that is a good football team. Oregon is loaded with NFL prospects. They have not showed up yet. When they do, pity who is across from them. Many people are saying that they are Penn State from last year. I think we need to pump the brakes a little. Let's see where they are at in a couple of weeks. That team if playing on all cylinders is a National Championship contender. If they do keep plunging, I would say that Lanning's days could be numbered. Remember, they have virtually everyone back from last year.
 
#52      
altgeld88
Birdus said:
I too do not believe it was a fluke. Ok. State earned it. Great for them. However, here is my theory. Michigan is 2-0. We all know that they should be 1-1 but that did not work out so, the first game they pretty much showed up and should have lost. The second game, they showed up to play. It showed. Unfortunately, that is a good football team. Oregon is loaded with NFL prospects. They have not showed up yet. When they do, pity who is across from them. Many people are saying that they are Penn State from last year. I think we need to pump the brakes a little. Let's see where they are at in a couple of weeks. That team if playing on all cylinders is a National Championship contender. If they do keep plunging, I would say that Lanning's days could be numbered. Remember, they have virtually everyone back from last year.
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Solid observation ^^^.

"The next Penn State"
"The next Indiana" (as @ChiefGritty has noted often, there will never be another Indiana)

I side with Tolstoy and tailor the opening line of Anna Karenina for college football accoridngly:

"All winning, funuctional college football teams are alike; each dysfunctional team is dysfunctional in its own fashion."
 
#53      
Carter Waller
Mr. Tibbs said:
agree . 6-6 is how I see it now

anything can happen on any given Saturday .

NO ONE in the country could guess OkSt would beat Oregon . from what my son (an alum) says , it wasn’t just luck . the Pokes beat em fair & square . it’s what having a 6’5” stud qb can do for you . Imagine how Oregon fanbase feels right now .
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Even crazier, OkSt lost to Tulsa in their first game.
 
#57      
IlliniInBuckeyeState
Updated Gies Memorial Stadium Sellout Watch for Southern Illinois.

Not far of from sellout territory, but I bet we don't quite get there.


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#60      
illinoisfootball
Improve on.... wrapping up tackkles, Sheppard broke free consistently, dragging defenders for extra yardage..running game completely stalled, fix it...
 
#63      
fatt lacosse
aaeismacgychel said:
The thing with our schedule is that we have a ton of 50/50 games with our easiest ones on the road. Nothing that happened in these first 2 weeks really changed that. It’s not like the teams on our schedule suddenly turned into playoff teams. Is it possible we lose every single one of them? I mean anything is possible but we could say that about anything. How I see it we have a much better offense than expected and a significantly worse defense than expected. That doesn’t quite resonate as a 2 win season to me like a team with a significantly worse offense and defense would. This team is significantly better than that and we should know that- we’ve seen what 2 win teams look like. This isn’t that.

One other reason for optimism- I actually don’t think the defense has been as awful as the metrics show primarily because they’re getting absolutely nuked by some of the worst tackling I’ve seen. I would be shocked if that doesn’t improve as the season goes on. It isn’t like opposing players are just running around untouched in space with our players being incapable of getting to the ball. We’re missing tackles plain and simple.

We may not be a 10-2 team this year but we’re also not a 2-10 team
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Winnability of some of those games changed for me. UCLA is looking more like a sure loss, I was very impressed with how they closed out cal and that's west coast on the road. Nebraska has been about as expected. Michigan State took care of business against what I expect will be two middling MAC teams and I now regard them as more of a problem than I did before. Oregon looks more winnable, but we're talking moving that from 2% to 8%. Nern failed to look like a dumpster fire against a good FCS team unfortunstely.

Absolutely must see good tackling this Saturday. Must control the line of scrimmage on both sides. I'll never forget looking evenly matched in the trenches with Western Illinois in 2018. Can't be like that.
 
#72      
Brosky
Shocked to see we are this close. Band Day and the kid's families to the rescue!

Weather report looks like some AM showers, followed by a spike in heat (and likely humidity).
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Yesh, accuweather says 68% chance of morning thunderstorms, but the heat is supposed to back off. What I hate about this game is viewed on friggin Peacock!
 
#73      
mhuml32
Get Collin Dixon a TD, defense show some improvement, no injuries, and lots of backups getting second half reps. I really, really want this score to be a very lopsided. Illinois hasn't scored 50+ in regulation since 2018 Minnesota.
 
#74      
Fly Illini Fly!
mhuml32 said:
I really, really want this score to be a very lopsided. Illinois hasn't scored 50+ in regulation since 2018 Minnesota.
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I really, really want no more injuries.

For the next TWO weeks, it’s the only thing that impacts where this team will finish.

Our next legitimate game is Purdue, Oct. 3. From what I’ve seen (correct me if I’m wrong) — Platt, Henderson, Matelau, Brown should all be back by then. Getting those guys back will be a significant boost, to an offense that’s already pretty good.

Not having more injuries pile up, in two games where everybody knows the outcome, is going to be highly critical.

….

In the record book — SIU will be a win and OSU will be a loss. However, if we have no injuries, both games are “wins” in my mind.

We need to avoid the WMU / IND situation from last year, of losing every player that entered the game in the secondary (including X for the year).
 
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