Illinois 20, Northwestern 13 Postgame
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Lunney's good enough if we're ok with finishing in the middle of the big10 year after year. We need an upgrade if we are going to start finishing in the top and start making the playoffs. I'm thankful that the football program has risen to where it is after years of languishing at the bottom but now we need to make some changes to get to the next level.
I have the same question.
I heard they did not scan tickets (just let you in if they seen a ticket). So we will likely not get an "official" count.
But what are the realistic estimates for attendance for that game?
They didn't scan the tickets just verified you had one and let you in the stadium. Open seating and then only in the West main.
I'll say official attendance was 5,071
Give or take ~1,000.I’m talking about the bowl game.
given the conditions at 6pm, kinda surprised they even cared at that point if you even had a ticket.
Lunney is pretty good.....he is not working with a great set of talent but still has a productive offense. I love Luke, but there is a reason he doesn't show up as a high round pick on anyone's draft board. Our O-line is weak, which limits what we can do offensively. I'm hot/cold on the trick plays and sometimes he inexplicably gets too conservative, but we can win 10+ games with him as OC
I think Barry is doing a phenomenal job with the tools he's given. He does things that drive me nuts on occasion like shotgun with one yard to gain, trick plays in inappropriate spots etc but he's done enough on the offensive side to create winning football with this team and his gameplans are appropriate for matchups.
Barry's gameplan on Saturday is a huge indictment of Bart Miller's offensive line. We continued to throw with the lead in those conditions. We wouldn't be doing that if our OC had any faith in the offensive line to get tough yards.
I'm not saying Lunney's perfect, but you have to at least be intellectually honest enough to admit that he's not working with top-level talent. Here's the reality:
* OL was clearly below average. It's a miracle LA didn't get hurt this year. This made them gameplan to get the ball out quick all the time.
* Our RB room is mediocre. Some of that was due to the OL play, but they're all just decent players
* No NFL-type talent at WR. Love Beatty, but not a guy a defense has to really scheme. Other than that, just some good players but nothing exceptional
Given that, I would say he did a pretty good job this year. Having said that, I do think it's fair to say that other schools have done better with similar talent so I'm not letting him off the hook. But all in all, getting rid of him without having a clear superstar OC would be crazy. Be careful what you wish for b/c I promise you it could be a whole lot worse.
I’ve been wondering about this. I see so many posters write “Bert”, so I was wondering if it was some kind of insider joke, like maybe an announcer mistakenly called him “Bert" during a game, so now some people also say “Bert”, as, again, a kind of inside joke.
They did not set up the turnstiles and were not checking tickets closely.
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
There were some people at a Bret Michaels concert spelling out BERT once (Miznoz style. Sidenote: kudos to my phone for not autocorrecting Miznoz.)
I'm not sure if that is a meta-reference to that, though.
Ah in that case I hope it's Hank Beatty
There was much talk in the preseason that OL and RB rooms were going to be strengths. Says a lot about preseason talk.
I confess, I didn’t make it to the game. The boss said there was no way she was going by about mid-week and we had the grandkids over and I knew they wouldn’t be able handle it. So, I watched a home game from the couch for the first time in a long time.
A big shout out to all of you who did brave the elements, you all have my respect!
A big shout out to all of you who did brave the elements, you all have my respect!
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
A lot of Wisconsin fans started calling him that after he left, presumably picking up the moniker from Minnesota fans who meant it as an insult. I think some illinois fans have used it in an opposite manner, sort of how you take a mean spirited nickname and claim it proudly in defiance. All of those options seem pretty stupid to me.
Sums my thoughts up perfectly. Even in many of our wins this team was enormously frustrating to watch. Weird to say coming from an Illinois fan, I suppose, but true nonetheless.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
If the 8-4 Illini whose average margin of victory in wins was 22 points was “enormously frustrating to watch”, I can’t imagine how frustrated you were in in 2016 & 2017, when we won just 5 total games in two years.
Or 2003-2006 when we won just total 8 games in four years.
Or 1996-1998 when we just 5 total games in three years.
This season was about a one out of a hundred on the Illinois football frustration scale.
6 of our 8 wins were by more than two scores! Those 6 games had an average margin of victory of 28 points and one of those remaining two wins was a 2 point win over the #17 team in the country.
I have been an Illini football fan since the early 80s and am very grateful to have had three 8-4 or better seasons in four years. I acknowledged in my earlier statement that I suppose it’s weird for an Illini fan to say this team was frustrating to watch in an 8-4 season, so not sure why you felt the need to provide the history lesson.
Autoposter’s post was spot-on for me. Some of it for sure was overinflated expectations, but it was also the uncharacteristic game killing mistakes, the ultra conservative schemes on both sides of the ball, the four noncompetitive losses in what was supposed to be a dark horse CFP year, and the uncanny ability to make even comfortable wins feel clunky and closer-than-they-were.
This isn’t the mid 90s, the mid 00s, or the mid 10s anymore. It’s 2025 and the bar has been raised by our AD, our staff, our players, our alumni, donors, and fans. With most of a 10-3 team and a star senior QB returning I guess I was looking for what felt like another step forward rather than a step backwards.
Autoposter’s post was spot-on for me. Some of it for sure was overinflated expectations, but it was also the uncharacteristic game killing mistakes, the ultra conservative schemes on both sides of the ball, the four noncompetitive losses in what was supposed to be a dark horse CFP year, and the uncanny ability to make even comfortable wins feel clunky and closer-than-they-were.
This isn’t the mid 90s, the mid 00s, or the mid 10s anymore. It’s 2025 and the bar has been raised by our AD, our staff, our players, our alumni, donors, and fans. With most of a 10-3 team and a star senior QB returning I guess I was looking for what felt like another step forward rather than a step backwards.
We beat a team that likely would have made the playoff but for our game and 2 other teams that made their respective conference championship games. Hard to be too upset with a year like that.
As someone whose first UI game was in 1969, let me tell you about some frustrating years.....
- the '87 team might have had the best defense in our history - Davis, Piel, Gardner, Agree, Brownlow, Dawson, Jones and Green all played in the league. We gave up 10 points to OSU, 9 to PU, 17 to UM and 14 to MSU and didn't win any of them. In the season finale we got blown out by a terrible NW team. Had Jeff George been eligible that year, we likely win the big 10
- The '94 team had Rice, Hardy, Howard and Holecek as its LB group, with additional future NFL'ers scattered throughout the roster. We had the national champ NIttany Lions on the ropes and let it get away, and lost snoozers to PU, Wazzou and Wisky. The '93 and '95 teams were similar in terms of wasted opportunity
- and don't get me started on the Zook years....the 2008-2011 teams were loaded with talent; an average coach would have won 8-9 games each of those years
Your observations are valid, but support feelings of “discouraging” or “disappointing” more than “frustrating”.
Watching repeated runs up the gut for no gain on first down was frustrating. How many times did we hear 2nd and 10 (or 12) this season? If I can see it and predict it, do you think the pros coaching the other team might have noticed too? I get it. We need to establish the run for a balanced offense, but in some games we kept banging our heads into a wall, unable to recognize that our OL simply couldn’t get it done. Watching futility is frustrating.
Watching a lackluster/slow defense in one half or game and an energized/dynamic one the next half or game was a theme this year. Not playing more consistently up to our demonstrated potential was frustrating.
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
It felt so close to 4 INTs.
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