Ohio State 42, Illinois 19 Postgame

#101      
The final score would lead anyone to believe we were sorely outclassed, and I don’t think we were at all. OSU is clearly a level above us, but we had chances to make it a much closer game. As others have stated, I feel more optimistic.
 
#103      
Never said it was a lack of effort, great effort to get there, but that’s the gig. He got to the qb and didn’t finish. I’d be hard pressed to think Cam would say otherwise. And then we had another one on the same play over play it and whiffed on a one arm wrap up. Unacceptable.

That's a true freshman needing more time in the weight room
 
#104      
Never said it was a lack of effort, great effort to get there, but that’s the gig. He got to the qb and didn’t finish. I’d be hard pressed to think Cam would say otherwise. And then we had another one on the same play over play it and whiffed on a one arm wrap up. Unacceptable.
We’re just a bad tackling team at every level of the defense.
 
#105      
If OSU had an opportunity to replace defensive players from OSU with an illinois player, they'd poach exactly 1 player. Bailey.

Not even X has played well enough for OSU to be interested.

Illinois has marginal B1G talent on D. Illinois tries to build them up.

A few young guys show promise.

I don't care if Illinois runs a 3-3-5, 4--3 or even a 11-0-0. They can run through DC's every 3 years, every year, or do whatever. But until the talent improves the Illinois D will look the way it looked today. For better or worse.
 
#106      
If OSU had an opportunity to replace defensive players from OSU with an illinois player, they'd poach exactly 1 player. Bailey.

Not even X has played well enough for OSU to be interested.

Illinois has marginal B1G talent on D. Illinois tries to build them up.

A few young guys show promise.

I don't care if Illinois runs a 3-3-5, 4--3 or even a 11-0-0. They can run through DC's every 3 years, every year, or do whatever. But until the talent improves the Illinois D will look the way it looked today. For better or worse.

If X, making what he does can't be enough for OSU interested, that is also a resource allocation flaw.

Like i get the overall point being made, but don't miss on your highest priced guys then. It won't fix the talent gap between OSU and you, but it will improve your team a great deal.
 
#108      
This roster is built with far deeper/better talent on offense.

They have a head coach that doesn't like to outscore opponents but rather grind out wins.

There's a disconnect with roster construction. At least vs the top talented teams.

Maybe it pays off the rest of the year? I hope so as Illinois does have a opportunity to win quite a few more games.
 
#109      
I usually stay out of the game threads due to the hot takes, but it was a very positive experience today. The post game thread however, is

jurassic park deal with it GIF
 
#110      
Not liking what I'm seeing from Hauck. See.s like we are 3 months away from where we should be now. Our experienced secondary is looking pedestrian at best. D line and linebackers are not BIG level.
 
#111      
This roster is built with far deeper/better talent on offense.

They have a head coach that doesn't like to outscore opponents but rather grind out wins.

There's a disconnect with roster construction. At least vs the top talented teams.

Maybe it pays off the rest of the year? I hope so as Illinois does have an opportunity to win quite a few more games.
Yes, the disconnect is getting beat by a team that more than doubles our NIL budget. Can’t pretend that doesn’t matter.
 
#113      
I hardly ever post a thing on the football board. Over the years I sort of just “enjoy” Illinois football. I am not quite old enough to remember when they really were good under Ray Elliot, but I have to say today I was just even more impressed with Bert.

He is perfect for Illinois. We looked like just as good a team as them minus one NFL number 1 pick. Bert does that with players who might not make tOSU’s practice squad.

He is a hell of a good coach
 
#115      
Not liking what I'm seeing from Hauck. See.s like we are 3 months away from where we should be now. Our experienced secondary is looking pedestrian at best. D line and linebackers are not BIG level.
A good coach adapts to the talent he has, not try to change the players to his system. Illinois does not have the speed needed to play Hauck's defense.playing 10 yards back from a receiver like OSU has is absolutely wrong.
 
#117      
I can't complain too much about today. The offense was phenomenal, just missed a few crucial plays. Except for a couple of series in the 3rd Q we moved the ball surprisingly easily, made some big gains, and were in position to stay even with them. Lunney called some great stuff today. Defensively, we were outclassed by their athletes who made some big plays, but we hit hard, wrapped up, stuffed some plays, and got bend not break kind of stops- a far cry from what we saw week 1. Final score sucked but it wasn't the debacle I thought might be coming. So I'm not mad or giving up on the season, which I expected to be. I think we can be a very good team the rest of the way. Our performance complaints from the first 3 games seem to have been addressed, if not totally fixed. Final analysis, I'd trade the scoreboard $ for more linemen on both sides.
 
#118      
Defense showing signs but still has a lot of work to do. Offense was very good except for a couple of missed throws by Houser that would have resulted in touchdowns. Also our recievers gotta hang on to the ball through contact, especially the ground. It is beyond me that they are not ready to death grip the ball when they are in a closely guarded situation expecting contact. I know it's harder to get the ball to Dixon with everyone keying on him but we still have to keep throwing it his way. He comes down with those types of catches.
 
#120      
Couple of thoughts with a few hours to reflect.

First, Bart Miller has taken a ton of flack but he’s doing yeoman’s work with that line. Kudos to him.

Second, the thing that is absolutely baffling to me about this Hauck D is how it has essentially neutralized our secondary when it was supposed to amplify it as a strength. More specially our corners. Bailey is obviously killing it but I’m blown away with the regression at corner. And I do get the lack of pass rush, to Bret’s postgame point, but that’s not the whole enchilada. The eye test with our corners is revealing.
 
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#123      
The 4x-1x has bothered me every time I see it on the bottom of my screen bcuz every idiot is seeing that and thinking blowout. Game wasn't like that.
 
#124      
Defense showing signs but still has a lot of work to do. Offense was very good except for a couple of missed throws by Houser that would have resulted in touchdowns. Also our recievers gotta hang on to the ball through contact, especially the ground. It is beyond me that they are not ready to death grip the ball when they are in a closely guarded situation expecting contact. I know it's harder to get the ball to Dixon with everyone keying on him but we still have to keep throwing it his way. He comes down with those types of catches.
I forgot to mention all the missed pass interference and holding calls the refs kept their flags in their pocket for Ohio State.
 
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