orangeswarm76
- hastings Nebraska
Excited to see a Nickerson on the sideline and on the field . Found this article about Illini football pretty good, https://t.co/X6zlUjDVBX
Excited to see a Nickerson on the sideline and on the field . Found this article about Illini football pretty good, https://t.co/X6zlUjDVBX
We only have 3 healthy scholarship RBs with Dre Brown's injury. Vaughn, Corbin, and Foster.
Hylton was a rb at one time if memory serves me right
So, what graduate program does UIUC offer that UCB does not? Or is this no longer a condition for grad transfers?
Excited to see a Nickerson on the sideline and on the field . Found this article about Illini football pretty good, https://t.co/X6zlUjDVBX
Sounds like the opposite. High football IQ, better against the run than the pass, not an explosive athlete, team leader, etc.
Sounds very Mason Monheim-ish. That kind of soundness will be very valuable with the inexperience elsewhere in the linebacking core.
https://twitter.com/TVallese/status/721868500575330305
So evidently fightingillini.com and the FBS site both had the home game against MSU scheduled at primetime on ESPN/ABC. It's been taken down now. Gameday wouldn't come here, but this has to be a legit leak right? Someone just messed up and put it on the site too early I'm guessing. I'm getting goosebumps thinking about a primetime game on national tv against an elite team at home. Hopefully it's true.
ESPN B1G primetime schedule:
10/8 Mich-Rut
10/15 OSU-Wis
10/22 OSU-PSU
10/29 Northwestern-OSU, Neb-Wis
11/5 Neb-OSU
11/12 Mich-Iowa.
Preseason rankings for all 128 teams:
http://collegefootballnews.com/2016/post-spring-college-football-ranking-128-teams
Ranks us 68th, 12th in the B1G, predicts a 3-9 record. Obviously these things should be taken with a grain of salt, but they're still fun to talk about.
Personally, I think it's a little harsh. I think the addition of President and Nickerson Jr is going to help us out big time on D. If we can be average against the pass, we should be a middle of the pack B1G defense IMO.
Offense is a little more dicey. Losing Dudek and Brown means Vaughn and Lunt will carry a huge burden without many other playmakers. Hopefully some of the young receivers can take a big step.
Added in as a frame of reference is where each team finished in the 2015 Season Ranking – based on how good the schedules and seasons actually were – along with the last year’s preseason prediction to see just how close to the pin all the picks were. Also, next to each team in parentheses is its 2015 record.
I think you mis-read the article. 3-9 was the site's prediction for us prior to last season. This article isn't offering any prediction for 2016, by the looks of it, besides pre-season ranking.
That said, I think 3-9 is comfortably the worst case/absolute floor for us this year. I think tiers shake out like this:
We Should Comfortably Beat: vs Murray State, vs Purdue
- These should be easy wins. Anything else and I'll be concerned. Murray St may start slow, but talent gap alone should allow us to coast. Purdue is awful and will be game #5.
Slightly Harder, but Very Winnable: vs Western Mich, vs Minnesota, @Rutgers
- These are all games where I don't see any considerable gap in talent. Rutgers is also undergoing a coaching/scheme change, so for me, that takes out the road advantage. We should be able to out-coach all of these games as well, which to me should guide us to a W.
Tossups: vs UNC, @Wisconsin, @Nebraska
- I view all of these as tossups. UNC lost a lot of talent from last year to graduation, and Nebraska/Wisconsin are still rebuilding to some extent. I think UNC is the most likely we take out of these, but they're all winnable games
Winnable 'Dogs: vs Iowa, @Northwestern
- You could easily push both of these to Tossups, but I feel this teams are more stable than UW/Neb currently and were successful last year. While both are inconsistent, I gave them benefit of the doubt here. We'll know if they're good far before we play either.
Unlikely: vs MSU, @ Michigan
- MSU will be far more winnable than @ Michigan in my mind. They are losing a lot of key guys and it will be interesting to see if they truly reload. I don't see us winning at UM.
In my mind, assuming we are able to be effective on offense, I don't see any major reason we can't bowl with this schedule. This coaching staff should be able to utilize these seniors to navigate us to 6 wins. I see it as: Murray, Purdue, Minn, WMU being wins, and then take 2 from somewhere else. I think @Rutgers can be a let-down, and @Nebraska being an L with it being our first road game under new staff. So I'd hope to see an early win vs UNC, and get the 6th from @Wisco, @NW, vs Iowa.
That is an interesting take, LL&P. I'd certainly like to see six wins and a bowl. Lunt needs to stay healthy and receivers need to catch the ball. Perhaps the D will get some much needed turnovers.
I'd bet the over on 3 wins with anyone anywhere for any amount.