Against Duke we also had a miscommunication about how many players were on the field. I’m sure the defense would look better if we had more talent on the field. My problem is this isn’t a well coached team. Way too many mental mistakes. We paid Platt and Perry to come in and start and neither has played a snap this year. We also paid a ton to retain our secondary and 2/3 guys have been horrible. You can’t control injuries and I understand wanting to bring back all the defensive backs. It’s just hard to imagine this offseason being any worse.
Illinois vs Purdue, Saturday, October 3rd, 3:15pm CT, BTN
Against Duke we also had a miscommunication about how many players were on the field. I’m sure the defense would look better if we had more talent on the field. My problem is this isn’t a well coached team. Way too many mental mistakes. We paid Platt and Perry to come in and start and neither has played a snap this year. We also paid a ton to retain our secondary and 2/3 guys have been horrible. You can’t control injuries and I understand wanting to bring back all the defensive backs. It’s just hard to imagine this offseason being any worse.
Yeah, this backs up the “trust your eyes” feeling about this defense. It’s pretty much a hot knife through butter situation.
I haven't heard which plays we played with 9. Anyone know?
One was the last OSU rushing TD where their RB just ran up the middle at the goal line. I didn't notice others at the time.
(I still don't know why Bret didn't call a TO?)
Before yesterday's game, I was not optimistic about the rest of the season and I had the Purdue Game as toss-up...After yesterday, assuming we give the same effort as we did against TOSU, we should win...
Regarding the rest of the season, I see 2 more losses (Oregon and Iowa), three toss-ups (Nebraska, UCLA (UCLA cause its on the road), and Northwestern) and three probable wins (Purdue, MSU, and Maryland)...We should get at least five wins. six wins is an optimistic take...Regardless , this season is shaping up to be a major step back in the football program..
Regarding the rest of the season, I see 2 more losses (Oregon and Iowa), three toss-ups (Nebraska, UCLA (UCLA cause its on the road), and Northwestern) and three probable wins (Purdue, MSU, and Maryland)...We should get at least five wins. six wins is an optimistic take...Regardless , this season is shaping up to be a major step back in the football program..
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I'm seeing Illini -9.5
We're the biggest backdoor cover risk on planet earth, so that seems about fair.
We're the biggest backdoor cover risk on planet earth, so that seems about fair.
agree
we’ll be winning by 23 and then give up two scores in the fourth to end up winning by 9
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
If the game were held today, UCLA would be a heavy favorite. Illinois has a terrible history in games in the Pacific Time Zone. I wouldn’t count MSU as a probable win, it’s more of a toss up. I think NW on the road is a probable loss the way things stand now.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
After yesterday, I feel much more confident about facing Maryland and much less confident about UCLA.
The way I see it right now for final 8 games:
- 8-10 point favorite against Purdue
- @MSU (possibly slight favorite)
- Oregon (double digit underdog)
- @Maryland (leaning toward slight favorite now)
- Nebraska (slight underdog in the +3.5 range)
- @UCLA (at least a 7 point underdog)
- Iowa (probably +7.0 underdog)
- @Northwestern (likely a true toss up)
The range of win total can easily go anywhere from 4 to 8. If the defense doesn't improve, then I agree, 6 wins is optimistic. There is a very strong possibility that the team goes 3-4 at home this year, and if we dont handle business Saturday...2-5 is on the table. Saturday really is a big game for Illinois.
Duke was the canary in the coal mine for how our season is gonna go. Defensively we we are obviously struggling, but Altmyer or Devito would have taken us down the field to beat Duke. There is going to be some regression to the mean for how many close games we pull out, but I don't think Houser has that clutch skill, at least at Altmyer's level. He still has 8 games to prove me wrong.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Better!
TheFlyingIllini1317
- Chicago, IL
Pretty dang good. Despite all the snafu's and poor play defensively we'd be favored to go 5-1 and even if we dropped a game we'd be 4-2. As Bret says, more games are lost than won and we lost that one.
Altmeyer was also in this offense for 3 years. It takes time to get settled in. Just like it takes time to know what works best for Houser
I bet Iowa spread is under 7.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Honestly, I am not that sure. I mean, of course I would rather be 3-1 than 2-2.
However, losing to Duke completely reoriented the expectations of this club for the entire board (I personally revised down my expectations after UAB moved the ball with ease against the lack of defense). I remember some thinking this team would win 9-10 games in the preseason thread...wow has the tide shifted there.
If we are being real, we got absolutely thrashed by Ohio State. Sure the offense looked good at times, but we were not really competitive at all on the other side of the ball. The game was never in doubt at any point during the game...similar to @IU last year except with a more respectable(ish) score.
The primary difference is that nobody had any expectations going into Columbus at all, so the responses were not that negative in the postgame thread (some were even suggesting our defense looked good at times!). If we are 3-0 going into the game, I would have a terrible feeling in my stomach, like we had after getting throttled in Bloomington last year, and the postgame thread would have exploded completely negatively. Instead, we have this strange feeling. I have no clue if that is better or worse, to be honest. I moved on from the Ohio State game by 3 PM CT on Saturday. It took me at least 8 days to move on from the IU debacle last year. Amazing what high expectations do to you.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I gave up on fan narrative management around here years ago.
If we were 3-1 our chances of getting to 6 wins would be WAY higher, even if the Duke win was just them accidentally fumbling it into our arms for the winning score and nothing else were any different.
How do you know that about Devito?
We were 1-5 in one score games in 2022. (the lone win being Iowa, and Devito was hurt in that game)
Hot take: if we were 3-1, Hauck would not have been fired yesterday. It might have happened eventually, but it would have been harder to do if our only loss was on the road to a team that, without an epic collapse against Texas, would be #1.
I think you’re severely overvaluing Devito. I would best describe him as a stabilizing force. I don’t recall many games he lifted the team to victory but he certainly wasn’t the reason we lost games. He was helped immensely by Brown and the defense.
Now, I still take Altmyer over Hauser. However I don’t think it takes much effort to see Hausers arm talent exceeds what Luke showed.
Also, give Hauser more than a single game to prove he can come up clutch. Why must we always be doom and gloom the second a guy has a mediocre game. I think Lunney really hamstrung the offense in the second half but even more so late in the Duke game. Hausers only real chance was with his back against the wall.
Dan
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