Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Illini Football 2023
- Status
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Ked with a QC Times piece:
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
big Keith is fixing to feast (and correct this travesty, lol):
Our linebackers should be feasting, too with these two controlling the LOS.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
It feels so good to go into a season knowing it’s our fundamentals that will give us a chance in each game. Literally the opposite of the Zook years, haha.
Not to be a negative Ned or anything, But the big elephant in the room for next year will be... SCORING POINTS.
Losing our two most (by far) productive offensive threats of Tommy at QB and Chase at RB, could have us looking like the the bowl game or worse, trying to hang on to slim leads as the clock winds down. I was there and it wasn't pretty...
In order to succeed:
First, I think we MUST find a stout running game as everything (offense and defense) is predicated on that. No turn overs, time of possession-- that's the Bielema way. Then a no-turnover passing game.
I wouldn't mind it if on offense we looked like Wisconsin 10-15 years ago--road-graders up front, smash mouth RB behind. Ditto on defense-- Stout front seven; ball-hungry DBs behind.
I think we are garnering the recruits for this style, but it will depend on the QB and RB combo to set the tone. Let's hope our new QB and inexperienced RBs are up to it!
Comments? Go Illini!
Losing our two most (by far) productive offensive threats of Tommy at QB and Chase at RB, could have us looking like the the bowl game or worse, trying to hang on to slim leads as the clock winds down. I was there and it wasn't pretty...
In order to succeed:
First, I think we MUST find a stout running game as everything (offense and defense) is predicated on that. No turn overs, time of possession-- that's the Bielema way. Then a no-turnover passing game.
I wouldn't mind it if on offense we looked like Wisconsin 10-15 years ago--road-graders up front, smash mouth RB behind. Ditto on defense-- Stout front seven; ball-hungry DBs behind.
I think we are garnering the recruits for this style, but it will depend on the QB and RB combo to set the tone. Let's hope our new QB and inexperienced RBs are up to it!
Comments? Go Illini!
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TheFlyingIllini1317
- Chicago, IL
They held us in pretty high regard, it's a welcoming site.A quick article summing up the Illini from a Ped State perspective:
2023 Opponent Snapshot: Illinois
Illinois took a major step forward in 2022. Are they now ready for a Big Ten West crown?www.blackshoediaries.com
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Obviously not a massive media market or anything, but it's nice to get some good coverage out of that paper. It seems like their coverage of the Illini has been absolutely pathetic for about 40% of their metro's population being on the Illinois side of the river. I know people will say "yeah, but the IL side is mostly Iowa fans, too!", but I would argue that's kind of a chicken-and-the-egg thing ... my 59-year old dad said the QC Times has been a Hawkeye propaganda piece for years. Even the STL media treats the Illini like a quasi-home team.
Replacing Chase Brown will be difficult. I think if we establish a short passing game that could be just as effective to open the down field plays and open the running game
Chase is one of the few backs who could run with eight in the box. I don’t think we have that this year
Yeah I'm worried about losing Chase and DeVito, but look DeVito had no connection with Lunney(committed before Lunney) and was able to put together one of the best QB seasons of recent memory. Altmyer could have a similar year given that it's also his first year in the system.
For the skill positions, aside from Hightower leaving this will be the second year in the system for them. There's reason for a little optimism here, but Chase is a special kind if athlete.
For the skill positions, aside from Hightower leaving this will be the second year in the system for them. There's reason for a little optimism here, but Chase is a special kind if athlete.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Devil’s advocate is none of us could have known Chase would blow up like that … maybe it’s next man up!!
Witherspoon too.
I think writer gives Kansas and Nebraska too much credit.
Kansas finished 6-7. It has not been over .500 since 2008 or 15 seasons. Limit our turnovers and this is a win.
Nebraska has had 6 straight losing seasons. Matt Ruhle was 1-11 his first season at Baylor. The Nebraska game is in Champaign so I say we get a win.
That will put us at 8-4. Maybe then we can steal a win at Minnesota or Iowa. Defense and running game will be good. It comes down to Altmyer not making turnovers, hitting on key 3rd down plays like DeVito, and staying uninjured.
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2023 schedule predictions (6-6, 4-5): Toledo (Win), at Kansas (Loss), Penn State (Loss), FAU (Win), at Purdue (Win), Nebraska (Loss), at Maryland (Loss), Wisconsin (Win), at Minnesota (Loss), Indiana (Win), at Iowa (Loss), Northwestern (Win)
Illinois must replace much of its NFL-bound secondary this fall and hopes Ole Miss transfer Luke Altmyer is the difference-maker who's needed at quarterback to combat a difficult schedule. If the Fighting Illii get out of September with three wins, they going to have a shot at getting back to the postseason. If there's an inkling of hope here, it's that Illinois misses Ohio State and Michigan. The big win of 2023 comes against Wisconsin at home, unfortunately that one could be sandwiched between conference losses.
247sports.com
Kansas finished 6-7. It has not been over .500 since 2008 or 15 seasons. Limit our turnovers and this is a win.
Nebraska has had 6 straight losing seasons. Matt Ruhle was 1-11 his first season at Baylor. The Nebraska game is in Champaign so I say we get a win.
That will put us at 8-4. Maybe then we can steal a win at Minnesota or Iowa. Defense and running game will be good. It comes down to Altmyer not making turnovers, hitting on key 3rd down plays like DeVito, and staying uninjured.
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2023 schedule predictions (6-6, 4-5): Toledo (Win), at Kansas (Loss), Penn State (Loss), FAU (Win), at Purdue (Win), Nebraska (Loss), at Maryland (Loss), Wisconsin (Win), at Minnesota (Loss), Indiana (Win), at Iowa (Loss), Northwestern (Win)
Illinois must replace much of its NFL-bound secondary this fall and hopes Ole Miss transfer Luke Altmyer is the difference-maker who's needed at quarterback to combat a difficult schedule. If the Fighting Illii get out of September with three wins, they going to have a shot at getting back to the postseason. If there's an inkling of hope here, it's that Illinois misses Ohio State and Michigan. The big win of 2023 comes against Wisconsin at home, unfortunately that one could be sandwiched between conference losses.
2023 Big Ten football season predictions: Order of finish, final records picks for every team
Summer picks for every Big Ten football game, leading up to the conference championship.
247sports.com
TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
Yeah I am not sold on Nebraska, but nervous about Kansas (and Toledo) though. Then again, big things happen to my teams when I get too cocky about them.I think writer gives Kansas and Nebraska too much credit.
Kansas finished 6-7. It has not been over .500 since 2008 or 15 seasons. Limit our turnovers and this is a win.
Nebraska has had 6 straight losing seasons. Matt Ruhle was 1-11 his first season at Baylor. The Nebraska game is in Champaign so I say we get a win.
That will put us at 8-4. Maybe then we can steal a win at Minnesota or Iowa. Defense and running game will be good. It comes down to Altmyer not making turnovers, hitting on key 3rd down plays like DeVito, and staying uninjured.
--------------------
2023 schedule predictions (6-6, 4-5): Toledo (Win), at Kansas (Loss), Penn State (Loss), FAU (Win), at Purdue (Win), Nebraska (Loss), at Maryland (Loss), Wisconsin (Win), at Minnesota (Loss), Indiana (Win), at Iowa (Loss), Northwestern (Win)
Illinois must replace much of its NFL-bound secondary this fall and hopes Ole Miss transfer Luke Altmyer is the difference-maker who's needed at quarterback to combat a difficult schedule. If the Fighting Illii get out of September with three wins, they going to have a shot at getting back to the postseason. If there's an inkling of hope here, it's that Illinois misses Ohio State and Michigan. The big win of 2023 comes against Wisconsin at home, unfortunately that one could be sandwiched between conference losses.
2023 Big Ten football season predictions: Order of finish, final records picks for every team
Summer picks for every Big Ten football game, leading up to the conference championship.
I'm nervous about Kansas as well. It's our first road game of the season and bad things tend to happen in a team's first road game. (they may not lose...but bad things happen)
I think we will be able to handle Toledo, but it does suck that we, once again, get a team at its best and/or most experienced. I'm sure it happens plenty elsewhere but dang does it feel like it happens exclusively to us.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I am sure many expect us to take a step back in "overall quality" compared to last year given what we lost; I think you could at least make the argument that last year's team was better than an 8-4 regular season team, given the screw job at Indiana, the arguable screwjob in Ann Arbor vs. a team that made the CFP and two uncharacteristically bad performances vs. MSU and Purdue ... but that is all beside the point! When you look at this year's schedule, it looks entirely likely that we could get to 8 wins again.
If we did that, we would go from 2 (regular season) wins in 2020 (still Lovie) to 5 wins in 2021 to 8 wins in 2022 and 2023. That would be the first time that an Illini team has gone four straight seasons with either the same or more regular season wins in a row since 1980-1983:
1980: 3-7-1
1981: 7-4
1982: 7-3
1983: 10-1
I really hope fans would appreciate and respond to the fact that this would be consistent competitiveness and reliability that we have not seen in literal generations! I might not expect the 73,871 average attendance we had in 1983 or the 76,056!!!! average attendance we had the following year in 1984 (I believe the 78,297 we drew for Mizzou that year is still the Memorial Stadium record), but I certainly would expect to see a very, very significant increase in fan interest ... like thousands of more tickets sold. Our staff and players frankly would deserve it at that point.
I have posted on this before, but I'm bored.
Last year, we averaged 43,048. However, that is seriously deflated by the early season games where fans had not bought in yet, IMO. We drew over 48,000 for Big Ten games, and after the Iowa game (when I think people REALLY started to believe and we got our first top 25 ranking!), we averaged nearly 50,000 (drawing over 56k for the MSU game). I would like to think that if we kept winning, we could honestly get these attendance numbers:
vs. Toledo: Probably no more than 43k, but that is a huge improvement over last year's 37k for Wyoming. I would be ecstatic with anything over 45k, as I think that would be a huge gesture on behalf of the fan base that we have really bought in to this whole football thing!
--- Week 2 at Kansas ... let's assume we win and are 2-0! ---
vs. Penn State: If we lose at KU, I think we will max out at 52-53k? Not sure, but either way that is not the end of the world, as it will still look full and it will be loud. However, if we win in Lawrence and are 2-0, I think we easily push 55k, given this will be an incredibly hyped game, and a little magic by the DIA could push this one to a sellout.
vs. Florida Atlantic: If we beat PSU, I think we are ranked and the hype train is fully rolling. However, our fans need time to develop the same kind of fandom we have for basketball, for football. So, I think we have like 52k for this one. But that is a remarkable improvement over what would have had for these games in the past.
--- Week 5 at Purdue ... let's assume we win and are 5-0! ---
vs. Nebraska (Friday): This is a Friday game, sure, but Nebraska fans travel and we would be 5-0 overall, 2-0 in the Big Ten and likely ranked. I say a floor of 55k only because it's a Friday, but we could sell this one out.
--- Week 7 at Maryland ... let's assume we win and are 7-0! ---
vs. Wisconsin (Homecoming): Okay, this is it. If we are actually 7-0 heading into Homecoming vs. Wisconsin, this thing will sell out. And all of my dreams of Champaign becoming an elite college football atmosphere will have been realized.
Past that, in November, you just never know with our fans. The November 11 home game vs. Indiana is Dads Day, so it will probably get a good crowd. However, we could be 11-0 for Northwestern on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and that crowd will be under 50k. That game cannot be permanently moved to the Bears new indoor stadium soon enough, it just simply sucks and is never well-attended.
If we did that, we would go from 2 (regular season) wins in 2020 (still Lovie) to 5 wins in 2021 to 8 wins in 2022 and 2023. That would be the first time that an Illini team has gone four straight seasons with either the same or more regular season wins in a row since 1980-1983:
1980: 3-7-1
1981: 7-4
1982: 7-3
1983: 10-1
I really hope fans would appreciate and respond to the fact that this would be consistent competitiveness and reliability that we have not seen in literal generations! I might not expect the 73,871 average attendance we had in 1983 or the 76,056!!!! average attendance we had the following year in 1984 (I believe the 78,297 we drew for Mizzou that year is still the Memorial Stadium record), but I certainly would expect to see a very, very significant increase in fan interest ... like thousands of more tickets sold. Our staff and players frankly would deserve it at that point.
I have posted on this before, but I'm bored.
Last year, we averaged 43,048. However, that is seriously deflated by the early season games where fans had not bought in yet, IMO. We drew over 48,000 for Big Ten games, and after the Iowa game (when I think people REALLY started to believe and we got our first top 25 ranking!), we averaged nearly 50,000 (drawing over 56k for the MSU game). I would like to think that if we kept winning, we could honestly get these attendance numbers:vs. Toledo: Probably no more than 43k, but that is a huge improvement over last year's 37k for Wyoming. I would be ecstatic with anything over 45k, as I think that would be a huge gesture on behalf of the fan base that we have really bought in to this whole football thing!
--- Week 2 at Kansas ... let's assume we win and are 2-0! ---
vs. Penn State: If we lose at KU, I think we will max out at 52-53k? Not sure, but either way that is not the end of the world, as it will still look full and it will be loud. However, if we win in Lawrence and are 2-0, I think we easily push 55k, given this will be an incredibly hyped game, and a little magic by the DIA could push this one to a sellout.
vs. Florida Atlantic: If we beat PSU, I think we are ranked and the hype train is fully rolling. However, our fans need time to develop the same kind of fandom we have for basketball, for football. So, I think we have like 52k for this one. But that is a remarkable improvement over what would have had for these games in the past.
--- Week 5 at Purdue ... let's assume we win and are 5-0! ---
vs. Nebraska (Friday): This is a Friday game, sure, but Nebraska fans travel and we would be 5-0 overall, 2-0 in the Big Ten and likely ranked. I say a floor of 55k only because it's a Friday, but we could sell this one out.
--- Week 7 at Maryland ... let's assume we win and are 7-0! ---
vs. Wisconsin (Homecoming): Okay, this is it. If we are actually 7-0 heading into Homecoming vs. Wisconsin, this thing will sell out. And all of my dreams of Champaign becoming an elite college football atmosphere will have been realized.
Past that, in November, you just never know with our fans. The November 11 home game vs. Indiana is Dads Day, so it will probably get a good crowd. However, we could be 11-0 for Northwestern on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and that crowd will be under 50k. That game cannot be permanently moved to the Bears new indoor stadium soon enough, it just simply sucks and is never well-attended.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
I think we should be favored against Kansas, but going on the road on a Friday night anything can happen. I also think that for "most likely outcome" I'd have us beating Nebraska and losing to Wisconsin. So I think 7-5 is a fair goal for this retooling year, but if 6-6 happens I won't cry over back to back bowl games. Just win one this time!
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
- Status