Illini Football 2026

#301      
Se Il Illini
Inexperience on the both sides of the line raises red flags. My head says 6-6. But this staff will squeeze out another regular season victory along with a bowl victory 8-5. Illinois will be much better by the end of the season.
 
#302      
zentrails
bluemountain said:
As bad as Beckman and Tepper (and Zook) were, the worst 2 coaches in my lifetime were Lovie and Moeller, with Moeller being the worst. By mid-70's standards Blackman was a good coach; he had to deal with ridiculously difficult non-conference schedules and there was no way he was going to beat OSU or UM. With today's schedules he would have gone to bowl games every year, in which case who knows how the program develops?

Moeller inherited a lot of starters from a very competitive team in '77 and it took him all of one year to run the program into the ground. And for those who think Beckman is a jerk, well Moeller made him look like a saint. I was in HS and went to a lot of games during that era - it was brutal.
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Yep, Moleface was awful and even ended up flaming out later in a great situation at UM. He gets my vote for worst
 
#309      
Curbelo Fanboy
zentrails said:
Yep, Moleface was awful and even ended up flaming out later in a great situation at UM. He gets my vote for worst
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I was too young to remember Moeller tho I know some of the history. I wrote the post earlier on Tepper & how awful he was. To me he will always get the nod as the worst. The 94 team had the potential to be top 10/top 5 & he blundered them to 6-5. 5 losses by 27 points IIRC.
 
#310      
bluemountain
Curbelo Fanboy said:
I was too young to remember Moeller tho I know some of the history. I wrote the post earlier on Tepper & how awful he was. To me he will always get the nod as the worst. The 94 team had the potential to be top 10/top 5 & he blundered them to 6-5. 5 losses by 27 points IIRC.
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Losing to WSU and a bad PU team at home were inexcusable. We had PSU on the ropes and sleep walked through the Wisky game. We were behind UM all game but were within one score and gave up first downs on 3 straight third and longs late in the game to throw away a good chance to win. We had a legit chance to go unbeaten that year. I remember RG called us the "best 6-5 team in the country" before our bowl game and I threw up in my mouth
 
#317      
Curbelo Fanboy
bluemountain said:
Losing to WSU and a bad PU team at home were inexcusable. We had PSU on the ropes and sleep walked through the Wisky game. We were behind UM all game but were within one score and gave up first downs on 3 straight third and longs late in the game to throw away a good chance to win. We had a legit chance to go unbeaten that year. I remember RG called us the "best 6-5 team in the country" before our bowl game and I threw up in my mouth
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Not to mention the missed clip on Amani Toomer (IIRC) punt return for a td that was the back breaker in the Michigan game. At worst that team should have been 9-2.

The Purdue game was the one where in the post game radio interview, Tepper (after promising Scott Weaver would play in the game some at QB) uttered the worst line I've ever heard by a head coach. He said "I'm not responsible for the offense" Shoulda been fired at that exact moment IMO.
 
#320      
jimbo72
I really like the entire coaching staff assembled. If our offensive line is solid, hiring Wheatley will play out huge for our rb's..
 
#322      
genevaillini39w
RabidDawgClassic said:
He kinda reminds me of Toby from The Office.
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I have a feeling it’s self imposed for the press conferences to not give anything away for other teams that are watching.

He’s had what I would consider borderline arrogant comments sprinkled in. I think he can get pretty pointed and pretty direct in a hurry.
 
#323      
fuddrules
Last year Illinois gave up 23.6 points/game - all games (12th in the B1G)

If opponents average 23.6 points/game against Illinois in 2026 but the D gives the offense 2 more possessions per game, would you consider it a successful defense?
 
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#324      
fuddrules
jimbo72 said:
I really like the entire coaching staff assembled. If our offensive line is solid, hiring Wheatley will play out huge for our rb's..
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What will help more than anything, IMO, is Illinois finally has B1G level running backs. Finally. Valentine is only now ready. Bowl game Laughery is good but hasn't been able to stay on the field long enough to get in any rhythm. I *think* the two freshman are/will be B1G level backs. It's been a weakness for Illinois.

It took them a long time to get here after Brown.

Edit: Add Anderson as a short yardage back, he's good in this situation.
 
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