Pregame: Illinois at UCLA, Friday, November 13th, 8:00pm CT, FOX

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#201      
Second place is 1st loser
UCLA is going to have to go all Nebraska style for us to hang in. We'll need 60 minutes of mistakes(penalties, missed FG's, turnovers, etc) and we'll have to be mistake free for us to be there at the end.

UCLA doesn't have a "wow" resume when it comes to the teams they've beaten. I think Minnesota is a darn good football team and to go in there and win in the manor they did(speed on the outside and a QB who can lay it out there).....that spells trouble for us.

Any team that exhibits speed and athleticism is going to give us trouble because we don't have much.... especially at the LB position. Our defensive line doesn't get pressure, which puts a couple of pretty bad corners in a real bad situation.

If UCLA makes some mistakes and helps us out:

UCLA. 31
Good guys. 17


If UCLA plays a good, solid game:

UCLA. 42
Good guys. 14

Our offense is going to have to have the ball for 35+ minutes, mistake free, to keep UCLA at that 31.
 
#203      
lstewart53x3
Second place is 1st loser said:
UCLA is going to have to go all Nebraska style for us to hang in. We'll need 60 minutes of mistakes(penalties, missed FG's, turnovers, etc) and we'll have to be mistake free for us to be there at the end.

UCLA doesn't have a "wow" resume when it comes to the teams they've beaten. I think Minnesota is a darn good football team and to go in there and win in the manor they did(speed on the outside and a QB who can lay it out there).....that spells trouble for us.

Any team that exhibits speed and athleticism is going to give us trouble because we don't have much.... especially at the LB position. Our defensive line doesn't get pressure, which puts a couple of pretty bad corners in a real bad situation.

If UCLA makes some mistakes and helps us out:

UCLA. 31
Good guys. 17


If UCLA plays a good, solid game:

UCLA. 42
Good guys. 14

Our offense is going to have to have the ball for 35+ minutes, mistake free, to keep UCLA at that 31.
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I don’t want to take anything away from UCLA because 9-0 is 9-0 and winning on the road in the B1G is never easy.

But I don’t know that I’d classify Minnesota as a darn good team. They’re 5-4, ranked #68 in SP+ (3-6 Kansas is #64) and they have the #102 ranked offense, yet still put up 20 points on UCLA.

In SP+, we’re ranked #43 overall and have the #41 ranked offense.
 
#204      
RabidDawgClassic
Chase321 said:
Fair. But even with traffic it’s still not different in terms of time commitment than what many BT fans do when going from major metro areas where most fans live to campus. And unlike those remote campuses the Rose Bowl is surround by millions of people. This reason for people not going to the game makes no sense. And if it were the reason then why do people also not go to basketball games that are on campus?
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I’m fortunate enough to live within walking distance to the Rose Bowl so tonight’s game is perfect for me, but going to Pauley Pavilion last season was a chore. It was basically my whole day’s plan, not just something I could zip to and back. Unless it’s a game I really want to see (and obviously, Illinois vs UCLA fit that bill), I wouldn’t make the trek from where I live to Westwood.

Conversely, going to the Galen Center and the Coliseum is easy for me — just take the Metro train to both. But both of those, if you’re driving, are generally problematic. LA traffic fatigue is real. Live here long enough and you know what time of day and which route is worth the effort or not.
 
#205      
ChiefGritty
RabidDawgClassic said:
I’m fortunate enough to live within walking distance to the Rose Bowl so tonight’s game is perfect for me, but going to Pauley Pavilion last season was a chore. It was basically my whole day’s plan, not just something I could zip to and back. Unless it’s a game I really want to see (and obviously, Illinois vs UCLA fit that bill), I wouldn’t make the trek from where I live to Westwood.

Conversely, going to the Galen Center and the Coliseum is easy for me — just take the Metro train to both. But both of those, if you’re driving, are generally problematic. LA traffic fatigue is real. Live here long enough and you know what time of day and which route is worth the effort or not.
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New Yorkers think nowhere else has culture, and Angelenos think nowhere else has traffic.
 
#207      
Username

Illinois at No. 4 UCLA (Friday, 9 p.m., Fox)

UCLA has certainly benefited from an easy schedule thus far, but the Bruins have won eight of nine games by double digits, and what they do well, they do extraordinarily well.

The Bruins' defense is second nationally in success rate allowed (first against the pass) and first in takeaways, and their offense is eighth in rushing success rate and seventh in percentage of completions gaining at least 20 yards. Thus far, no one has punished them for their inability to pass efficiently. Since quarterback Ty Dieffenbach took over for injured Nico Iamaleava four weeks ago, UCLA ranks 104th in passing success rate. We saw against Minnesota that Dieffenbach can throw a lovely deep ball -- back-to-back 75-yard bombs to Aidan Mizell changed the game -- but UCLA's fatal flaw is apparent.

Illinois isn't really a team you want to play right now. Bret Bielema's Fighting Illini have scraped out four straight wins. The defense has improved, but mostly against the pass -- in the past three weeks, they still rank 99th in yards allowed per rush (no sacks). That will hinder an upset bid, but the Illini are crafty.

Current line: UCLA -10 | SP+ projection: UCLA by 14.7 | FPI projection: UCLA by 8.8
 
#208      
Chase321
RabidDawgClassic said:
I’m fortunate enough to live within walking distance to the Rose Bowl so tonight’s game is perfect for me, but going to Pauley Pavilion last season was a chore. It was basically my whole day’s plan, not just something I could zip to and back. Unless it’s a game I really want to see (and obviously, Illinois vs UCLA fit that bill), I wouldn’t make the trek from where I live to Westwood.

Conversely, going to the Galen Center and the Coliseum is easy for me — just take the Metro train to both. But both of those, if you’re driving, are generally problematic. LA traffic fatigue is real. Live here long enough and you know what time of day and which route is worth the effort or not.
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If Illinois played all their home games at Pauley you wouldn’t get season tickets? Or at least go to weekend games? Or if you lived on the ucla campus you wouldn’t make the trek to the Rose Bowl to see every game?

I mean it’s a pain. I get that. But so is driving from KC to Lincoln NE and I know people that do that for every Nebraska game. And of course people going from Chicago to Champaign. Or Philly to State College (where they wait hours to exit the stadium parking lots). Etc etc.

And I’m not saying I would do those things just that thousands of people do.
 
#209      
IllianaOne
fatt lacosse said:
Wayne Knight is going to be a problem
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Jerry!

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#210      
New Creation
WeWillWhen said:
See you there!
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I can still get tickets for the illini section only a couple miles down the road for $30. I was going to take the family today, but it will be raining and chilli. I have a 2 year and a 4 month old. So gonna have to watch it from TV tonight
 
#212      
Chase321
New Creation said:
I can still get tickets for the illini section only a couple miles down the road for $30. I was going to take the family today, but it will be raining and chilli. I have a 2 year and a 4 month old. So gonna have to watch it from TV tonight
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We’ve been in California for a week and the one day not absolutely beautiful weather is game day. Argh.
 
#214      
Illini2010-11
lstewart53x3 said:
I don’t want to take anything away from UCLA because 9-0 is 9-0 and winning on the road in the B1G is never easy.

But I don’t know that I’d classify Minnesota as a darn good team. They’re 5-4, ranked #68 in SP+ (3-6 Kansas is #64) and they have the #102 ranked offense, yet still put up 20 points on UCLA.

In SP+, we’re ranked #43 overall and have the #41 ranked offense.
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I tend to agree with you. There is no universe where UCLA is 4 td better than us if they play a solid game, unless the Illini implode like the IU game last year.

Minnesota is a very average team that is getting props for hanging with IU (who I think are way overrated) and upsetting Iowa and Michigan (who are absolutely atrocious). Let's not forget they got blasted @Purdue by 4 touchdowns.

Illini absolutely have shot tonight, but they will need to play their best game of the season.
 
#216      
New Creation
Chase321 said:
We’ve been in California for a week and the one day not absolutely beautiful weather is game day. Argh.
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Yeah, pretty annoyed right now. It is suppose to rain the entire weekend. It never rains here either... Wanted the family to experience Illini Football. We have only gone to Basketball games since we have been married. We have gone to Vegas, KC and UCLA games. I was on campus for the 2004 -2005 season and I have been back to multiple home football and basketball games, but I have never gotten to take them. Bummed about this one.
 
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#217      
lstewart53x3
AirTran said:
UCLA is surrounded by a massive metropolitan community - Pasadena is not. UCLA averaged just over 46k in their last 4 years at the Coliseum and were running -3k less per game over the past 5 years at the Rose Bowl. For those of you that have been to the Rose Bowl the sight lines are terrific and the Rose Bowl and UCLA have spent a lot of money upgrading what is a massive under - structure that for years was known as "not very good."

Keep in mind that UCLA changed the way the count attendance in 2026, so this year is not comparable to other years. But from LA its 1 - 2 hours to get the Rose Bowl and 30 minutes to get in and 30 mins to get out. Then the ride back is more than 2 hours. That is a large investment of time.
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UCLA averaged 76,000 a game in 2014. Has traffic gotten worse?
 
#221      
BZuppke
Illini2010-11 said:
I tend to agree with you. There is no universe where UCLA is 4 td better than us if they play a solid game, unless the Illini implode like the IU game last year.

Minnesota is a very average team that is getting props for hanging with IU (who I think are way overrated) and upsetting Iowa and Michigan (who are absolutely atrocious). Let's not forget they got blasted @Purdue by 4 touchdowns.

Illini absolutely have shot tonight, but they will need to play their best game of the season.
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I agree with all of this except Iowa being atrocious. They are solid and we must defeat them
 
#222      
skyIdub
Chase321 said:
I don’t understand the comment that Pasadena is not surrounded by a massive metro community. It’s all one giant LA area blob….
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lol, one of the Captains I flew with in my early airline days banging around California would look out the window on final approach to LAX and see a tiny patch of grass or empty lot and say “hey SoCal you missed a spot!”😆
 
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