Illini Football 2022

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#101      
IllinoisssssssVarsity
eas23 said:
Possibly hot take time? At this point in the trajectory of the program, coasting to 8-4 and a comfortable bowl game is just fine versus winning the West and getting destroyed by Ohio State.

Getting the program off the ground is about so much more than one season. We need like 7 straight bowl games or 8 in 10 years or something like that to truly get the train moving.

Of course you want to win every time you take the field, but if we ultimately don't get out ahead of our skis the rest of the way, due to injury or otherwise, it's okay. The story of this program will be told over the next decade. Not next Saturday.
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There is no world where I don’t want us to take our turn as the west team getting destroyed by Ohio state if I can have it.
 
#102      
Joel Goodson
eas23 said:
Possibly hot take time? At this point in the trajectory of the program, coasting to 8-4 and a comfortable bowl game is just fine versus winning the West and getting destroyed by Ohio State.

Getting the program off the ground is about so much more than one season. We need like 7 straight bowl games or 8 in 10 years or something like that to truly get the train moving.

Of course you want to win every time you take the field, but if we ultimately don't get out ahead of our skis the rest of the way, due to injury or otherwise, it's okay. The story of this program will be told over the next decade. Not next Saturday.
Click to expand...

Yeah, no. I'll take every win we can get. Getting mauled by OSU? No shame in that.
 
#104      
OrangeSoda1
I think we would all love the chance to see these guys take on OSU in the title even if it meant 42-0 at halftime.

But reality check time.. We can easily drop close ones to Minny, Purdue, Mich, or even @Nebby (tough place to play). Then we are stuck at 8-4 or 7-5 at worst.

BUT that’s okay. Mostly no one at the beginning of the year thought we would be in the running like this.

I guess what I’m saying is we should all enjoy the ride regardless. I’m not going to be the fan who whines that we ended up 7-5.
 
#105      
ChiefGritty
OrangeSoda1 said:
I think we would all love the chance to see these guys take on OSU in the title even if it meant 42-0 at halftime.

But reality check time.. We can easily drop close ones to Minny, Purdue, Mich, or even @Nebby (tough place to play). Then we are stuck at 8-4 or 7-5 at worst.

BUT that’s okay. Mostly no one at the beginning of the year thought we would be in the running like this.

I guess what I’m saying is we should all enjoy the ride regardless. I’m not going to be the fan who whines that we ended up 7-5.
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The season is an unqualified success if we can find one more win, let's be very clear here. Even if we're left pondering what might have been due to injuries.
 
#106      
skyIdub
I don't think we really understand just how good our defense is. I'm fine with questioning our opponents...but seriously....we held Wisconsin....WISCONSIN..................to 2 yards rushing. 2. To Wisconsin. Wisconsin. 2 yards rushing. WisconALLWEDOISRUNson. 2 yards.

I'm going to keep saying it until it sounds too good to be true EVEN THOUGH IT ALREADY HAPPENED!!
2...that's two yards higher than NO YARDS RUSHING FOR AN ENTIRE GAME!
2...that's as many yards as I can fall forward at the line of scrimmage and gain!

Create whatever narrative you want about our defense...that feat is absolutely mind bending, fake, never happened, ridiculous stat.

I believe we are on the verge of finding out just how good they are...and it could be program changing history.


Edit: I FORGOT IT WAS AT WISCONSIN!! OMG ARE YOU EVEN KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?? 2 YARDS. TWO! AT WISCONSIN.
NONE OF THIS IS REAL AND I AM YELLING IN A SIMULATION!!
 
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#107      
pruman91
The natural progression wanted should be finally getting an above .500 record.....Anything above that to me is gravy......................And I love gravy........

The next step then is to maintain that above .500 record on an annual basis.............Compete for bowl games of nationwide recognition......

Reloading of the roster with high 3 and 4 *'s with the occasional 5 * to stabilize the program and being ranked sometime during the season or even every season............

IMHO , a steady progression of the program is so much better and more enjoyable than a 8-4 record one year then below .500 for the next year or two.......

Goal setting should be realistic and attainable....................................Do I want to win the B1G west ??................h*lls yeah , but I'm so tired of the down years and then the occasional up year once every 5 years or so.............

I love the fact that we are ranked and have such an impressive defensive unit .........I want the same feeling about our offensive side of the equation........
I think the new OC will pan out , but there have been some head scratching plays called ......maybe just getting his feet wet in the B1G .....

What we need is a QB1 that gives us 3-4 years of playing time with good results and good stats....if we get that with a continuation of fierce defensive domination then we would be more prepared to face the annual playoff participants..........

I'm ready for that right now , but willing to bide my time if we can steadily improve our team and nationwide recognition................

JMHO...............
 
#108      
pruman91
skyIdub said:
I don't think we really understand just how good our defense is. I'm fine with questioning our opponents...but seriously....we held Wisconsin....WISCONSIN..................to 2 yards rushing. 2. To Wisconsin. Wisconsin. 2 yards rushing. WisconALLWEDOISRUNson. 2 yards.

I'm going to keep saying it until it sounds too good to be true EVEN THOUGH IT ALREADY HAPPENED!!
2...that's two yards higher than NO YARDS RUSHING FOR AN ENTIRE GAME!
2...that's as many yards as I can fall forward at the line of scrimmage and gain!

Create whatever narrative you want about our defense...that feat is absolutely mind bending, fake, never happened, ridiculous stat.

I believe we are on the verge of finding out just how good they are...and it could be program changing history.


Edit: I FORGOT IT WAS AT WISCONSIN!! OMG ARE YOU EVEN KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?? 2 YARDS. TWO! AT WISCONSIN.
NONE OF THIS IS REAL AND I AM YELLING IN A SIMULATION!!
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dolp2.jpg
 
#109      
skyIdub
Also...yesterday I used my fly swatter to kill a fly, a mosquito, and a hornet in my house. This was a really weird, but extremely satisfying trifecta.

I am only relating this because after obliterating the hornet, I trashed talked him as the Illinois defense. "NOT IN MY HOUSE BUMBLEBITCH!!"


you-shall-not-pass-lotr.gif
 
#110      
pruman91
skyIdub said:
Also...yesterday I used my fly swatter to kill a fly, a mosquito, and a hornet in my house. This was a really weird, but extremely satisfying trifecta.

I am only relating this because after obliterating the hornet, I trashed talked him as the Illinois defense. "NOT IN MY HOUSE BUMBLEBITCH!!"


you-shall-not-pass-lotr.gif
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em01.gif
 
#114      
TheChief4Life
To the point of "do we want 8-4 and a game at the Citrus Bowl" or "9-3 and get destroyed by OSU and likely destroyed in the Rose bowl", I'm torn...

You can definitely grow too fast for your own good, and I fully believe that's what happened to Zook in '07. I often wonder if going to the Rose Bowl was a detriment to the program. If he gets Illinois to the two bowls first, THEN the Rose Bowl, it's seen as growth. I think that the fact we got to the Rose Bowl was seen as more of a "flash in the pan" that got exposed by USC, and no recruits really got on the hype-train. Zook certainly could have been a part of that. Regardless, I do think about it often about what would have been had we done a couple lower bowls first, then the Rose Bowl.

The biggest difference this time around are the NIL and transfer rules. A trip to the B1G West followed by a slaughtering by the Buckeyes probably turns more eyes than it did in '07. Maybe...
 
#115      
skyIdub
ChiefGritty said:
I'll bid you one lower for our first winning regular season since the Rose Bowl year.
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I'll bid you two higher...with a heartbreaking loss by a FG @scUM.

But only if TDV comes back healthy! :cool:
 
#118      
skyIdub
Chills.

It also reminds me of a pretty good college RB that people said was too small, too soft, and too slow to make it in the NFL......

maxresdefault.jpg
 
#119      
GForce
eas23 said:
Possibly hot take time? At this point in the trajectory of the program, coasting to 8-4 and a comfortable bowl game is just fine versus winning the West and getting destroyed by Ohio State.

Getting the program off the ground is about so much more than one season. We need like 7 straight bowl games or 8 in 10 years or something like that to truly get the train moving.

Of course you want to win every time you take the field, but if we ultimately don't get out ahead of our skis the rest of the way, due to injury or otherwise, it's okay. The story of this program will be told over the next decade. Not next Saturday.
Click to expand...
We just cleared the over with 5 wins half-way through the season (Vegas had us at 4.5), so we're now playing with house money. It's all gravy from here on out. Incredibly delicious gravy.
 
#124      
IlliniFan85
Any insiders heard anything about TDV yet?

Also did Taz and IW end up with concussions? I didn't listen to BBs conference yesterday.
 
#125      
Battle89
phats22 said:
i hear you but, i think we're a bit more proven at this point of the season though clearly Ibrahim will by far be the best back our defense has faced so far this year.

Us
1665413937796.png

Them (Minny)_
1665413967869.png
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All good points. To me Minnesota has a much better offense and about the same defense as Iowa. That spells trouble to me.

As to Robert's tweet, I don't want to be accused of Gritty-like negativity, but I have a hard time using the word 'elite' when we are below the x-axis. Elite defense, yes. Maybe the best in my lifetime, and I never thought any would surpass the Rice / Hardy squad. But our offense is decent-to-good with Tommy and below average with Art, Chase notwithstanding.

All Minnesota needs to do is pack the line, and if no handoff, then follow Art's eyes. As many have said, he never looks off and IMO this is his biggest weakness.

Still hoping for a win of course. Go Illini!
 
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