its behind a paywall - anything we didnt hear or read before ?![]()
Bret Bielema: How Illinois football coach changed expectations
Illinois football coach Bret Bielema, coming off the program's first winning season in more than a decade, talks about new expectations, recruiting with NIL and hope for the upcoming season.www.chicagotribune.com
Sorry, didn't realize that. Just a nice summary of how the football program is progressing.its behind a paywall - anything we didnt hear or read before ?
Illinois moved down to 85 in the APR. 12th in the Big 10 beating only Penn State and Maryland. It's been a pretty steep drop the past couple years. Not a huge deal, but if we're 5-7 we wont be filling any empty slots
It wasn't that long ago that we were being honored for being in the top 10% in the country:Illinois moved down to 85 in the APR. 12th in the Big 10 beating only Penn State and Maryland. It's been a pretty steep drop the past couple years. Not a huge deal, but if we're 5-7 we wont be filling any empty slots
It wasn't that long ago that we were being honored for being in the top 10% in the country:
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Illini-Record Eight Programs Earn APR Recognition - University of Illinois Athletics
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Eight University of Illinois athletic programs earned the NCAA Public Recognition Award based on their multi-year Academic Progress Rate ...fightingillini.com
The two aren't mutually exclusive. Take a look at the teams at the top of the APR list. There are some excellent football programs there. The reported score of 85 covers mostly the Lovie period which was disappointing on the field as well as academically. We should see improvement in both under Bret.just about everyone will gladly take 8-5 (and improving) than 4-8/3-9. so our football academic rating is falling, big deal.
Nice article. Great coach.![]()
Bret Bielema: How Illinois football coach changed expectations
Illinois football coach Bret Bielema, coming off the program's first winning season in more than a decade, talks about new expectations, recruiting with NIL and hope for the upcoming season.www.chicagotribune.com
Bringing my kids up for that one that would be sweet.
Great to see!! IMHO Taz is too low. But maybe it gives him extra motivation for this year.
Would be a better gauge if the majors were listed (weighted by).It wasn't that long ago that we were being honored for being in the top 10% in the country:
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Illini-Record Eight Programs Earn APR Recognition - University of Illinois Athletics
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Eight University of Illinois athletic programs earned the NCAA Public Recognition Award based on their multi-year Academic Progress Rate ...fightingillini.com
Toledo is good. Awesome. Excellent. Perfect timing.
Toledo is good. Awesome. Excellent. Perfect timing.
I think I have said this before, but we probably have the most themed night at MLB ballparks of any school in the NCAA, haha. And (as a Cubs fan myself) I am TOTALLY all for it! It's cool to see that in a given MLB season, the Illini will be featured and promoted all by ourselves at a Cubs, Cardinals AND White Sox game. I doubt there are many NCAA teams that have fans so spread out among three MLB teams.
What is the realistic ceiling for this team? How many wins could they get to this year? The schedule definitely seems easy.
Ceiling I would say is 8 or 9 wins. This schedule is somewhat "easy", but it also has a lot of relatively coin flip games. We should beat Toledo, FAU, Indiana, and Northwestern and we should be favored or able to reasonably compete with every one else minus Penn State. But there really isn't a game on the schedule that would be an eyes closed cakewalk. I'd like to say we have leveled things up so that we wouldn't get caught with our pants down against anyone, but you never know.What is the realistic ceiling for this team? How many wins could they get to this year? The schedule definitely seems easy.