Illinois #12 in Preseason Coaches Poll

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#26      
skyIdub
Illinois Football fans seeing Tennessee, Florida, and scUM below them in pre season rankings…


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#27      
7 Year Illini
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I agree, but we will always have some fans with irrational attitudes ... I would rather get the totally invaluable exposure of constantly showing up in these lists and subconsciously training the next generation of youngsters to think of "Illinois Football" as legit. Plus, I do think even our more optimistic fans have been tortured enough over the years that we won't be too disappointed with 9-3 ... I DO think there would be some justified disappointment with an 8-4 record, as that would technically be a step backward from last season even though we theoretically have a better/more prepared team and a slightly easier schedule. With that said, I even think most fans who'd be disappointed with that are going to be able to step back and appreciate back-to-back seasons of winning 8 or more games for the first time in decades!!

I'm sure it will also come down to how we get to those records. If we lose heart breakers at Duke and Indiana but finish the season on a red hot streak (including an upset of OSU) to get to 9 wins, that "9-3" will feel a heck of a lot better than if we methodically lose once every couple weeks, including all of the games that we could most easily make a huge statement with a win (e.g., at Indiana or vs. OSU).
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Guess how many times Illinois has won 9 or more games 2 years in a row? UM, NEVER!

So if Illinois wins 9 games and Bret does something NO Illinois coach has ever done, and there are fans mad, I will personally buy each of those fans a one-way bus ticket to Michigan and they can live among fans who whine incessantly.
 
#28      
Fighter of the Nightman
7 Year Illini said:
Guess how many times Illinois has won 9 or more games 2 years in a row? UM, NEVER!

So if Illinois wins 9 games and Bret does something NO Illinois coach has ever done, and there are fans mad, I will personally buy each of those fans a one-way bus ticket to Michigan and they can live among fans who whine incessantly.
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I tend to agree with your sentiment, but it is important to remember that a given fan can feel these two emotions at once if we end up at 9-3 and miss the CFP.

(A) Ecstatic that we just did something truly historic for our program and INCREDIBLY grateful for what Bielema has been able to accomplish here.
(B) Bummed out that we might have missed out on a "golden opportunity" to get into the CFP, given all of the talent we had returning and our schedule.

A fan very well might be super happy with things overall but still "mad" if our third loss was a total headscratcher at Purdue and it cost us a CFP spot.
 
#29      
Illini2010-11
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I tend to agree with your sentiment, but it is important to remember that a given fan can feel these two emotions at once if we end up at 9-3 and miss the CFP.

(A) Ecstatic that we just did something truly historic for our program and INCREDIBLY grateful for what Bielema has been able to accomplish here.
(B) Bummed out that we might have missed out on a "golden opportunity" to get into the CFP, given all of the talent we had returning and our schedule.

A fan very well might be super happy with things overall but still "mad" if our third loss was a total headscratcher at Purdue and it cost us a CFP spot.
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Very true. Probably to one up that: Going into final game of regular season at 9-2, and putting up a stinker at home against Northwestern to fall out of picture.

The expansion of the CFP changes the calculus in how fans perceive the season. Given how the season plays out, getting to 8+ wins would still be a relatively good year, and give back-to-back seasons of very solid football. A good season to me is avoiding the inexplicable loss (hard to forget that the Purdue game last year almost became one of those losses). I would still be fine if the team went 8-4 with road losses @Duke, @IU, OSU, and @Washington. That would mean the team took care of the games they were supposed to handle, but disappointed because of the lost opportunities. We are in unchartered territory after a 10-win season and serious hype.

The good news is that I am much more confident with the coaching staff compared to the staff we had after the Rose Bowl year in 2008. I am very hopeful that we will see meaningful November football in Champaign.
 
#30      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
Illini2010-11 said:
Very true. Probably to one up that: Going into final game of regular season at 9-2, and putting up a stinker at home against Northwestern to fall out of picture.
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I'd much rather be 8-4 or 7-5 than experience that. (Unless Northwestern is 100x better than we think and its a somewhat acceptable loss).
 
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#32      
illinifan1987
*Insert Jessie's "I'm so excited" GIF*
Is anyone else having issues with the GIFs? The whole website seems to be down...
 
#35      
Navy_illini
For pre season polls what are most of the voters voting on is it how good the team is now, how good a team will finish the year or given a teams schedule how well a team will do

Right now we are 0-0 but we are returning a good qb OL RBs and a core of the defense from last year add in some solid transfers we should have a solid team

Things that concern me from last year is the performance in the PU Rutgers and Oregon game. Oregon we didn’t look like we belong. However we took care of a good SEC team in a bowl
 
#37      
lstewart53x3
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I tend to agree with your sentiment, but it is important to remember that a given fan can feel these two emotions at once if we end up at 9-3 and miss the CFP.

(A) Ecstatic that we just did something truly historic for our program and INCREDIBLY grateful for what Bielema has been able to accomplish here.
(B) Bummed out that we might have missed out on a "golden opportunity" to get into the CFP, given all of the talent we had returning and our schedule.

A fan very well might be super happy with things overall but still "mad" if our third loss was a total headscratcher at Purdue and it cost us a CFP spot.
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From 2012-2021, we went 37-79. In those 10 years, we had more seasons win 2 wins (3) than 6 wins (2) and zero seasons with 7 wins. So yeah, I’ll take 7-5.
 
#39      
SkyysNotFalling
Curbelo Fanboy said:
Because you've lived thru 35 years of collapsing every time there is the slightest hint of expectations for the football program.

2001 10-2 2007 9-4
2002 5-6 2008 5-7
2003 1-10 2009 3-9

Has there ever been another program have such 2 high profile seasons twice in the same decade only to immediately fall off the rails both times. Not to mention the Zooker swan song in 2011 where we started 6-0 only to finish 6-6. 7-6 after we defeated UCLA (and hunger) in the bowl game.
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Eh.

2022 8-5
2023 5-7
2024 10-3

I see what you’re saying but Bert is rolling.
 
#40      
altgeld88
illinidarrin said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1952400097880289415
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I like our coach. I like the players he has recruited to form our team. I like his coaches. I like our stadium. I like how it rises starkly and grandly over the prairie like the Great Pyramid does over the desert. I like our uniforms. I like the community vibe. I like the anticipation. I like the wave that has been building.

It's August 4th. The Good Lord willing, 32 days from tomorrow noon I'll be sitting in Wallace Wade Stadium for kickoff.

When was the last time I felt this good about our program and the ensuing season? August 1989.

It's time. :illinois:
 
#41      
wpr
Wow #12. Fantastic. We haven't seen that in a long long time.
In 1990 Illinois was in a 4 way tie for BT Champion. (Regrettably with Iowa, Michigan and MSU) The other good part of that season Was Indy 6-5, Purdue 2-9, NW 2-9 and Wisky 1-10 were the bottom 4 in the conference.
 
#44      
lstewart53x3
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Okay, lol. At some point how bad Beckman and Lovie were should stop dominating our perspective 24/7, though. 🤷🏼‍♂️
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Sure. Let’s use a longer timeframe. From 1985 to 2024, we went 200-268. So over the span of 40 years, covering 3 years of Mike White, along with the entire tenures of John Mackovic, Lou Tepper, Ron Turner, Ron Zook, Tim Beckman, Bill Cubit, and Lovie Smith, and Bret Bielema, we averaged 5-7. So yeah, I’ll take 7-5.
 
#48      
BretMyBeachHouse
Navy_illini said:
For pre season polls what are most of the voters voting on is it how good the team is now, how good a team will finish the year or given a teams schedule how well a team will do

Right now we are 0-0 but we are returning a good qb OL RBs and a core of the defense from last year add in some solid transfers we should have a solid team

Things that concern me from last year is the performance in the PU Rutgers and Oregon game. Oregon we didn’t look like we belong. However we took care of a good SEC team in a bowl
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For the last three years we've had a lot of close games that could have gone either way. So we've had some good fortune behind out record, but also a bit of bad luck two seasons ago.

The good news is that I feel we're growing in our culture. This team is making fewer and fewer boneheaded mistakes that end up costing you games. That comes down to coaching.

I still think we'll return a bit to the mean this year, but I'm hopeful that we won't. Definitely a great opportunity to make a lot of noise.
 
#50      
Ander1345
After Iowa 2018 I never thought we'd ever be where we are. I' not sure if we're actually 12th, but I'll take another winning season!!!!
 
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