Very good observation. My largest curiosity on this is why no O - line depth? That would be the one area where we should be able to recruit and retain.
Ohio State 42, Illinois 19 Postgame
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He seems like he needs some muscle so until that happens he has to tuck that ball quickly.
I thought they were good, hard hits that came sooner than he expected.
1. Effort was certainly there.
2. Laughery & Houser are good.
3. That defense is absolute garbage. Only reason OSU didn’t score 60 pts is b/c they offense chewed up clock in the 3rd quarter. I don’t know what BB does, but this ain’t working.
2. Laughery & Houser are good.
3. That defense is absolute garbage. Only reason OSU didn’t score 60 pts is b/c they offense chewed up clock in the 3rd quarter. I don’t know what BB does, but this ain’t working.
55M roster vs 20M roster, using 8th string OL, no one in the same stratosphere as J Smith, etc. Not making excuses. It is what it is. But still put up 461 yards O! It was Pros vs Joes. Now lets not lose to any more Joes.
I didn't get home until late in the first quarter, but as soon as I tuned in, I could see that all I feared was wasted fear. Illinois played very well. People around the country will look at the score and think it was a blow out. It wasn't. A failed fourth down, a failed two point conversion, and Ohio State's two successful fourth down conversions made a hard fought game look bad, but it wasn't. I am interested in the team that played Ohio State today but the contradictory signals haven't gone away. If Illinois continues to play like this, everything I said early is still on the table.
Congratulations on a hard fought, well played game. There were errors, including some defensive errors, but these can be cleaned up. I was amazed how well Illinois ran on Ohio State. Your QB is a keeper.
Congratulations on a hard fought, well played game. There were errors, including some defensive errors, but these can be cleaned up. I was amazed how well Illinois ran on Ohio State. Your QB is a keeper.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
A little tough to tell how to allocate our defensive problems between personnel, scheme, and Hauck just not being good as a first-time-ever DC
It has to be a playmaking defense, that is the design, negative plays, sacks, turnovers, etc. It is not that in any way, shape or form currently.
Proud of the team for not giving up. Our offense has some great weapons. They tried to take away Dixon and our other receivers stepped up. I'm interested to see how Platt fits in and spreads things out more. Houser has the arm to get it to him if he burns someone (just needs the time in the pocket!).
I think the defense is still figuring it out. Bailey had 14 tackles and some of them were bell-ringers!
I think the defense is still figuring it out. Bailey had 14 tackles and some of them were bell-ringers!
Absolute killer:
80% personnel. Ohio State would have put up even more on last year’s defense.
This is not how you win games with this time and situation (6 minutes left). You need to go 1/1 or 2/3 on 2 pt conversions. If you wait to try it later you eliminate the 2/3 chance.
Lost this one but actually had our chances, I feel a lot better about this team. Not the result we wanted, and this makes the Duke loss worse, but I think this is a seven win team.
I understand we were up against Ohio State and J Smith, but our secondary was supposed to be a strength, it's definitely not.
Our D is still slow and tentative. I think they are still trying to learn the defense and our athletes aren't high level. Maybe after the bye week the D will have it more figured out.
Our D is still slow and tentative. I think they are still trying to learn the defense and our athletes aren't high level. Maybe after the bye week the D will have it more figured out.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
This is an extremely bad defense and has been in all four games.
By those standards I thought they were sound-ish today playing an opponent who overmatched them, but then I hear things like "we had 9 players on the field at one point".
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
What bothers me is I know Bret is really smart and a good coach. Didn’t we realize we had some advantages on offense and a SERIOUS issue on defense? This seems like it could have been avoided and an infuriatingly wasted opportunity of a season.
I complain about the ugly-!!! Horseshoe more than anyone alive, but if I knew what our defense looked like, I’d want all $100 million of Gies’ money going toward the roster. We have put so much effort into changing the perception to “Illinois is an 8+ wins per year program” … this would be a terribly depressing year to lose that momentum.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
What? No. Last year’s defense ended the season in the 40s in the metrics. This year’s defense was in the 50s headed into this game. Will likely drop into the 60s afterwards.
Last year’s defense looked worse than it was because it faced 4 top 10 offenses.
The positives: 200 yards rushing. Houser! 462 yards against a bad Buckeye Defense. 2nd half time of Possession! Wounded-OLine performance. Strong 
Defense does not give me hope in any game except Purdue And Maryland. Ucla, NW, Iowa, Nebby, Oregon, etc.. Cross fingers and cheer for our men.
Defense does not give me hope in any game except Purdue And Maryland. Ucla, NW, Iowa, Nebby, Oregon, etc.. Cross fingers and cheer for our men.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
As a ball watching fan, it if I were to rank the issues of this defense, I’d likely go:
1. New, leading to confusion. We have a talented secondary, but they aren’t playing like it.
2. Communication, from staff to players and player to player.
3. Personnel, just not a lot of B1G guys on that defense.
4. Scheme, didn’t agree with switching to the 3-3-5 at the time and still don’t now. But doesn’t seem like our biggest atm.
Fan Since '70
- OBS, Florida
If Trimble could hang on to the ball her might have had good chance for 3 touchdowns. Dixon was practically invisible, while Smith had 4 TDs. Are OSU DB's that much better than UI's? That's where the key game difference was.
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