It definitely matters, but got beat bad at home by Duke that has 10 mil less in NIL than Illinois. Weren't going to beat OSU, but our D coach needs to be better. Our recruiting on defense libe needs to be better.
Ohio State 42, Illinois 19 Postgame
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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.
Its wrong against anyone except in a total prevent for one play.
orange100
time to hop on the wife
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.
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.
Still a true sophomore, not everyone can be Jeremiah smith. Agreed it’s hurting the team but guys go through growing pains.
Hereforit
- Littleton, CO
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.
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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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
No one is pretending.
"Illinois does have a opportunity to win quite a few more games."
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.
I forgot to mention all the missed pass interference and holding calls the refs kept their flags in their pocket for Ohio State.
Cook
- Richmond, VA
Even given that we’re trying something new and have a major transition going, this has been bewildering so far this year. It seems like the vision, identity/philosophy, and resource allocation/roster construction haven’t been highly cohesive and strategically aligned.
Good callout here.
He did last year, and while I noticed the line today being good despite the injuries, I didn’t think of him.
Nice shout. He deserves it
Apart from that one play, I thought the tackling overall was very good today.
True but we’re going to have to out score everyone because our defense isn’t stopping anyone
That's good to hear as I didn't watch the game.
I keep seeing this NIL and lack of talent complaining in terms of our defense.
Lack of talent didn’t put 9 men on the field in critical situation.
Nor did if cause the lack of communication, tackling, or 1 on 1 coverage on all world Jeremiah Smith in the red zone.
Kirk Ferentz isn’t bitching about money at the podium. His teams are still playing fundamentally sound and fighting every game to the last second. WITH LESS NIL.
Stop complaining about your money and start working about bringing about a disciplined approach to the game —especially on defense— because we haven’t seen that in Illinois since Walters left.
The complaints aren't about money. They're about talent. (the two are related, but not exactly the same thing)
The talent Walters had is night and day compared to now.
Mark Cuban agrees. And his team has a Natty.
I’m not a fan of Hauck but he’s not the guy out there missing tackles. We definitely are lacking in talent. I do think this defensive staff we brought over from Montana is pretty bad
I think Groce's TnT was more accurate to his teams than TSD is to this team.
I'm fine with calling out the money, mostly because i think it gets eyeballs and attention to an issue that needs attention - us talking about it, is better than us not.
That said, we could be doing a whole lot more to make this a tad easier on ourselves and more enjoyable. To me, it a clear cut good example - the offense is well coached and performs. The defense isn't and doesn't perform.
I don't think that offense is top 20 talent wise in the sport. But I think they have the coaching and infrastructure and player identification/development, that Lunney performs. He finds good QB's, he finds good WR's (or has a good coach at that position), and he makes the backs work.
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