Illini Football 2016

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#126      
BananaShampoo
Fillory said:
The thing to look for this season is execution both offensively and defensively. That is to say "How many dumb penalties does the team take?" or "How well does the team play down in the fourth?"

Those are things tied to coaching. If the Illini can finish 6-6 next year with better execution, that's essentially the best result we can expect year one.
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Exactly my thinking. I am thinking 6-6 is this team's ceiling with the talent we have right now, but I'll expect to see improvement throughout the course of the season as they acclimate to Lovie's system. We may be competitive in some games we have no business being competitive in towards the end.
 
#127      
IrishIllini
BananaShampoo said:
Exactly my thinking. I am thinking 6-6 is this team's ceiling with the talent we have right now, but I'll expect to see improvement throughout the course of the season as they acclimate to Lovie's system. We may be competitive in some games we have no business being competitive in towards the end.
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Date Opponent Location
Sept. 3 Murray State Memorial Stadium W
Sept. 10 North Carolina Memorial Stadium Toss Up?
Sept. 17 Western Mich Memorial Stadium W
Sept. 24 BYE
Oct. 1 at Nebraska Lincoln, Neb. Toss Up?
Oct. 8 Purdue Memorial Stadium W
Oct. 15 at Rutgers Piscataway, N.J. W
Oct. 22 at Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. L
Oct. 29 Minnesota Memorial Stadium W
Nov. 5 Michigan State Memorial Stadium POSSIBLE UPSET?!?!
Nov. 12 at Wisconsin Madison, Wis. Toss Up?
Nov. 19 Iowa Memorial Stadium Toss Up?
Nov. 26 at Northwestern Evanston, Ill. Toss Up?

If I've said it once I've said it a dozen times. We defied expectations last year and were far more competitive than a lot of people here seem to acknowledge. 5-7 for Cubit with a squad recruited almost entirely by Beckman isn't a bad year. Now imagine Lovie taking on that same squad plus a few of Cubit's recruits...I'm thinking we can realistically get to 7-5. Maybe get a lucky win or two and we're at 8-4 or 9-3. 6-6 should be the floor, not the ceiling.
 
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#128      
TheSecretWeapon
BananaShampoo said:
Exactly my thinking. I am thinking 6-6 is this team's ceiling with the talent we have right now, but I'll expect to see improvement throughout the course of the season as they acclimate to Lovie's system. We may be competitive in some games we have no business being competitive in towards the end.
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and improvement might not be apparent even if it is happening. we could possibly pull an upset vs UNC or NEB and start 5-1 only to finish 6-6 or 5-7.
 
#129      
Kramer
I think they would have beat Iowa, there were just a few plays that decided that game.


IrishIllini said:
Date Opponent Location
Sept. 3 Murray State Memorial Stadium W
Sept. 10 North Carolina Memorial Stadium Toss Up?
Sept. 17 Western Mich Memorial Stadium W
Sept. 24 BYE
Oct. 1 at Nebraska Lincoln, Neb. Toss Up?
Oct. 8 Purdue Memorial Stadium W
Oct. 15 at Rutgers Piscataway, N.J. W
Oct. 22 at Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. L
Oct. 29 Minnesota Memorial Stadium W
Nov. 5 Michigan State Memorial Stadium POSSIBLE UPSET?!?!
Nov. 12 at Wisconsin Madison, Wis. Toss Up?
Nov. 19 Iowa Memorial Stadium Toss Up?
Nov. 26 at Northwestern Evanston, Ill. Toss Up?

If I've said it once I've said it a dozen times. We defied expectations last year and were far more competitive than a lot of people here seem to acknowledge. 5-7 for Cubit with a squad recruited almost entirely by Beckman isn't a bad year. Now imagine Lovie taking on that same squad plus a few of Cubit's recruits...I'm thinking we can realistically get to 7-5. Maybe get a lucky win or two and we're at 8-4 or 9-3. 6-6 should be the floor, not the ceiling.
Click to expand...
 
#130      
BananaShampoo
IrishIllini said:
Date Opponent Location
Sept. 3 Murray State Memorial Stadium W
Sept. 10 North Carolina Memorial Stadium Toss Up?
Sept. 17 Western Mich Memorial Stadium W
Sept. 24 BYE
Oct. 1 at Nebraska Lincoln, Neb. Toss Up?
Oct. 8 Purdue Memorial Stadium W
Oct. 15 at Rutgers Piscataway, N.J. W
Oct. 22 at Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. L
Oct. 29 Minnesota Memorial Stadium W
Nov. 5 Michigan State Memorial Stadium POSSIBLE UPSET?!?!
Nov. 12 at Wisconsin Madison, Wis. Toss Up?
Nov. 19 Iowa Memorial Stadium Toss Up?
Nov. 26 at Northwestern Evanston, Ill. Toss Up?

If I've said it once I've said it a dozen times. We defied expectations last year and were far more competitive than a lot of people here seem to acknowledge. 5-7 for Cubit with a squad recruited almost entirely by Beckman isn't a bad year. Now imagine Lovie taking on that same squad plus a few of Cubit's recruits...I'm thinking we can realistically get to 7-5. Maybe get a lucky win or two and we're at 8-4 or 9-3. 6-6 should be the floor, not the ceiling.
Click to expand...

I think that losing as much as we did on defense (Jihad Ward, Neal, etc) is going to hurt more than you think. Also, just the time it's going to take to learn a new system. I don't see us pulling off an upset against UNC, nor MSU, but I can at least see us being competitive against them and pulling off W's against Wiscy or NW late in the season. 6-6 for this season is a realistic expectation, and if we can win a minor bowl game with that I think we'd all call the season a success. One thing is for sure and that is that Lovie will get the most out of what talent he has, and that's really exciting for when we start reeling in higher level kids (which WILL happen).

Hell of an exciting time to be an Illini fan! :shield:
 
#131      
Cubby Blue
BananaShampoo said:
One thing is for sure and that is that Lovie will get the most out of what talent he has, and that's really exciting for when we start reeling in higher level kids (which WILL happen).
:shield:
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Thing is, I actually think we have some of talent. With Dude K back, the offense should be better ( I think Corbin, Foster and Vaughn will cover Josh's yards). Need to develop a couple of the young receivers but Cain and
Taylor showed that they can do some things. Need a tight end to establish himself no doubt.

Defense- I actually think the Dline will be good. Phillips, Bain and Chunky give us three quarters of a good line. Smoot, Powell, McGrew and Odinigbo hopefully give us some depth. Couple redshirt freshmen also.

Linebackers are the big big big question mark!


DB's should be fine.
 
#132      
Deleted member 29907
BananaShampoo said:
I think that losing as much as we did on defense (Jihad Ward, Neal, etc) is going to hurt more than you think. Also, just the time it's going to take to learn a new system. I don't see us pulling off an upset against UNC, nor MSU, but I can at least see us being competitive against them and pulling off W's against Wiscy or NW late in the season. 6-6 for this season is a realistic expectation, and if we can win a minor bowl game with that I think we'd all call the season a success. One thing is for sure and that is that Lovie will get the most out of what talent he has, and that's really exciting for when we start reeling in higher level kids (which WILL happen).

Hell of an exciting time to be an Illini fan! :shield:
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Don't forget Fej!
 
#133      
TheDrinkinLincoln
IrishIllini said:
Date Opponent Location
Sept. 3 Murray State Memorial Stadium W
Sept. 10 North Carolina Memorial Stadium L
Sept. 17 Western Mich Memorial Stadium W
Sept. 24 BYE
Oct. 1 at Nebraska Lincoln, Neb. W
Oct. 8 Purdue Memorial Stadium W
Oct. 15 at Rutgers Piscataway, N.J. W
Oct. 22 at Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. L
Oct. 29 Minnesota Memorial Stadium W
Nov. 5 Michigan State Memorial Stadium L
Nov. 12 at Wisconsin Madison, Wis. L
Nov. 19 Iowa Memorial Stadium L
Nov. 26 at Northwestern Evanston, Ill. Toss Up?

If I've said it once I've said it a dozen times. We defied expectations last year and were far more competitive than a lot of people here seem to acknowledge. 5-7 for Cubit with a squad recruited almost entirely by Beckman isn't a bad year. Now imagine Lovie taking on that same squad plus a few of Cubit's recruits...I'm thinking we can realistically get to 7-5. Maybe get a lucky win or two and we're at 8-4 or 9-3. 6-6 should be the floor, not the ceiling.
Click to expand...

I see the season going more like this coaching might not be able to make up for our lack of talent and there are going to be growing pains for new systems. I see 6-7 wins with a low end bowl game, but hey that is better than the 4-5 wins we were likely to get with Bill Cubit
 
#134      
BWBW
Our best defense will be an offense that doesn't go three and out repeatedly.
 
#137      
BirdDog9048
BWBW said:
Our best defense will be an offense that doesn't go three and out repeatedly.
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This can not be stressed enough. Even just getting one or two first downs gives the defense 2-3x more rest and an extra 20 yards of field position.
 
#138      
DeadPanic
Cubby Blue said:
Thing is, I actually think we have some of talent. With Dude K back, the offense should be better ( I think Corbin, Foster and Vaughn will cover Josh's yards). Need to develop a couple of the young receivers but Cain and
Taylor showed that they can do some things. Need a tight end to establish himself no doubt.

Defense- I actually think the Dline will be good. Phillips, Bain and Chunky give us three quarters of a good line. Smoot, Powell, McGrew and Odinigbo hopefully give us some depth. Couple redshirt freshmen also.

Linebackers are the big big big question mark!


DB's should be fine.
Click to expand...

Didn't Foster transfer?
 
#141      
illlllinois
Cubby Blue said:
Thing is, I actually think we have some of talent. With Dude K back, the offense should be better ( I think Corbin, Foster and Vaughn will cover Josh's yards). Need to develop a couple of the young receivers but Cain and
Taylor showed that they can do some things. Need a tight end to establish himself no doubt.

Defense- I actually think the Dline will be good. Phillips, Bain and Chunky give us three quarters of a good line.

Smoot, Powell, McGrew and Odinigbo hopefully give us some depth. Couple redshirt freshmen also.

Linebackers are the big big big question mark!


DB's should be fine.
Click to expand...

I'm pumped for the D line
 
#144      
DrewD007
Cubby Blue said:
Thing is, I actually think we have some of talent. With Dude K back, the offense should be better ( I think Corbin, Foster and Vaughn will cover Josh's yards). Need to develop a couple of the young receivers but Cain and
Taylor showed that they can do some things. Need a tight end to establish himself no doubt.

Defense- I actually think the Dline will be good. Phillips, Bain and Chunky give us three quarters of a good line. Smoot, Powell, McGrew and Odinigbo hopefully give us some depth. Couple redshirt freshmen also.

Linebackers are the big big big question mark!


DB's should be fine.
Click to expand...

Smoot had 8 sacks last season. We've got 4/4 good starting dlinemen.
 
#145      
KnoxIllini2
If we get six wins this season I will be more than pleased. I can easily see 4-8, but hopefully 6-6 is where we end up. Just bowl, baby. :shield:
 
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