Illinois vs Purdue, Saturday, October 3rd, 3:15pm CT, BTN

#101      
aaeismacgychel
Genesis said:
This is understandable from a fan perspective, but not optimal for the team. A team must practice the way they need to play in the game. Likewise, you need to play in the easy games the way you need to play in the tougher games. Essentially this is a practice to get the offense closer to its highest efficiency and the defense to its most effectiveness. You never want to practice being just good enough.
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I agree you want to play your best at all times, but expecting that type of consistency is difficult even for pro teams let alone college. Letdown games happen, games where opponents play way above their level happen as well. I honestly thought we played pretty well against OSU and I would not be surprised if we took a slight step back here. Purdue does have a good offense, our defense has struggled, and we're going through a coaching change. It is not difficult to see Purdue sticking with us, scaring us, or even beating us even if they're considered worse on paper. This game and @MSU is going to play a major role in deciding our season. So no matter what the final score is, just play the best you can that day and win. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be good enough.

As for me personally, I am a bit nervous about this one, but typically after an in season coaching change there's a rally the troops positive response from the unit that puts up a good performance. Hopefully that happens. But if it does, @MSU scares the ever-living daylights out of me. Gotta win both these games. If we go 2-0 by a combined margin of 2pts, I'll say good enough and be happy.
 
#103      
crazedillini09
therealmiket86 said:
Both have been very bad this year. I think juice had a 43 pff grade this past week.9
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I think this is kind of the point. Players dont typically just become bad...good players play (and grade) poorly when they are not put in the right positions to make plays. So, I think we would all agree that both Juice and X have not been good this year...and I would argue that is because they are not being put in positions to succeed and are likely not playing with confidence.

OSU grading for Juice is actually a great example. Juice consistently proved last year that he's a solid corner (highest graded CB last year at 74.2 average and HM all big ten) - not ELITE, but solid. But put him single man coverage against arguably a top 5 college WR of all time and OF COURSE he will score awful in that game. Witherspoon probably would have scored sub 60 if put in that position.

Is it possible that both clarke and X regressed as PLAYERS from their All Big 10 years in 2024 and 2025? Yes, but its extremely unlikely. A much more likely scenario is that they are not being deployed effectively and being put in situations that make them play poorly.

Lets all hope that the change at the top means they will be put in positions to make an impact for the remainder of the season.
 
#106      
therealmiket86
crazedillini09 said:
I think this is kind of the point. Players dont typically just become bad...good players play (and grade) poorly when they are not put in the right positions to make plays. So, I think we would all agree that both Juice and X have not been good this year...and I would argue that is because they are not being put in positions to succeed and are likely not playing with confidence.

OSU grading for Juice is actually a great example. Juice consistently proved last year that he's a solid corner (highest graded CB last year at 74.2 average and HM all big ten) - not ELITE, but solid. But put him single man coverage against arguably a top 5 college WR of all time and OF COURSE he will score awful in that game. Witherspoon probably would have scored sub 60 if put in that position.

Is it possible that both clarke and X regressed as PLAYERS from their All Big 10 years in 2024 and 2025? Yes, but its extremely unlikely. A much more likely scenario is that they are not being deployed effectively and being put in situations that make them play poorly.

Lets all hope that the change at the top means they will be put in positions to make an impact for the remainder of the season.
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X is coming back from a season ending injury and just might not be the same player he used to be
 
#107      
Illini4Chief
Illini 37 PeeDoo 21 Look for Pu to run straight at the middle, toss in a couple of blow protection from Illini, gets Purdue closer
 
#108      
Epsilon
Given the recent post on the front page looks like this is going to be a major shootout. Let’s hope the good guys get at least one more stop.
 
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