skyIdub
Illinois 21, South Carolina 17 Postgame
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Noblesville Illini
- Nappanee, IN
In all seriousness, I don’t remember his dad acting anything like this. A gambler and trickeration guru, yes! But, anyone old enough to have watched Va Tech during his golden years please chime in! Very curious for any insight.Yeah, he’s a punk..and s squeaky little gerbil…but there’s definitely others in contention for the crown.
Thanks for sharing. You could have been speaking for me. Since retiring (sort of) I am more engaged and proud of my collegiate history than I have ever been. Well done. I'm with you.Another long one, friends. tl;dr...
This morning I've slowly savored all 22 pages (so far) of the post-game comment thread. What strikes me most is not that we won; nor that we won in what was an-end-to-end battle in which we simply ran the ball down the throat of our allegedly-superior opponent; nor that our beloved HC split open the skull of his counterpart, rammed an 80-inch large screen and sectional sofa into his cortex, cracked open a magnum, kicked up his feet, and relaxed there for the entire second half (and likely into March 2025.)
No. Two things strike me. First, the last time I felt like this at the end of an Illini football campaign was on January 2, 1990. I was living in a little house on East John Street in the home stretch of grad school. That season the Bill McCartney-coached Buffs (which ended up at #4) embarrassed us in Boulder in September on national TV, and then we lost a heartbreaker to Michigan (which ended up at #7) at home in what was the battle for the BT title that year. (I sat ~ at the goal line in the east balcony on an unseasonably warm Veterans Day late afternoon for that one.) We beat Virginia (#16) in the Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day and finished 10-2 (#10 in the nation.) We had what appeared to be an excellent, seasoned head coach who had turned us around in merely two seasons in part because of the dumb luck of landing Jeff George after Purdue adopted an option offense (Texas giveth by firing Fred Akers, who moved to Purdue in 1987; Texas taketh away in 1991 by hiring Mackovic.) The future looked bright. I wore shades.
Anyway: January 2, 1990. I had just turned 24 and life, with all its sparkling promise and none of its obscured disappointments, stretched out before me. I turned 59 last week and much of what I'm likely to enjoy in this life (and I've been fortunate to enjoy great, quiet riches) is in the rearview mirror.
That's how long it has been. Thirty-five years. And I gotta tell you: this feels MUCH better than January 2, 1990 felt. More sustainable, richer, and more satisfying because of the perspective that an accumulation of years affords and who the man at the helm is and has become. And, more importantly, it feels much warmer and richer because of all of you here on the Board. I watched us prevail yesterday with a dear Illini brother whom I met on this Board and who has suffered through a handful more heartbreaking Illini seasons than I have. His friendship in itself is a gift beyond reckoning. Dan, and all of you, enabled it, and at a time when I was near the bottom of this life.
The second thing that strikes me: how serenely happy I am for all of you here on the Board and, more importantly, for the young gladiators who gave everything on the field this year, and those who coached and supported them. How happy I am for how happy all of you are. How nearly all of us expected nothing in August (please, Lord, let us reach 0.500 and play on a Thursday evening in Detroit on ESPNU in mid-December), and yet received everything from these boys.
And then, well, yeah... there were those helmets yesterday.
I will take to my deathbed the desperate thrill of sitting in SHI Stadium and watching us break the huddle on 4th and 13 with seconds remaining and absolutely no hope of a win over Rutgers. The wind had been brisk, cold and swirling all day. The oblique, late-afternoon November sunlight cast sharp, crepuscular rays through low-slung cumulus clouds the sizes of small islands, passing grandly and low above the field under a brilliant, azure canopy. It was beautiful and heartbreaking. I literally thought to myself in that moment as I felt the pit in my stomach: "This is the price of caring so much." The air of November, I swear I remember it that way.
All was lost. And then, in a moment, it wasn't.
Those boys gave that to us and to themselves and I shall never forget how it all felt. This season front to back, and that ineffable moment in New Jersey when Pat turned the corner with six seconds remaining and nothing but open space separating him and Victory Illinois Varsity.
My 20-year-old daughter was in our kitchen on my birthday last week and noticed on my fridge the 3-D postcard the Alumni Association sent this fall portraying Memorial Stadium in the '20s. "That's so beautiful, Dad," she exclaimed. "Where is it?" I explained. I pointed out the Colonnades and explained the meaning of "Memorial" Stadium. She's a junior at Virginia Tech. At the head of its expansive quad, called the Drillfield, is a stirring monument to fallen soldiers who were VT students. It's similar to our Colonnades, and it's called the Pylons. There are eight of them symbolizing Brotherhood, Honor, Leadership, Sacrifice, Service, Loyalty, Duty, and the university's motto, Ut Prosim ("That I May Serve"). So she really understood Memorial Stadium, and in that moment the decades separating us collapsed and we bonded just a wee bit more.
I pointed out the space in front of the grand north entrance to the stadium, where IMPE would eventually be built in the '60s; and the large parade ground across Peabody Drive where in the late '50s Snyder and Scott Halls, my homes for four years as an undergrad, affording me a view through Memorial Stadium to the roof of that global architectural gem, Assembly Hall, would be built.
"That was my home, sweetheart," I said. But I was mistaken. That IS my home. And it will ever be thus until I return to dust.
We love no other. Thanks to our glorious team. Thanks to all of you for hanging out here in the family room of our Illini lives. Happy 2025. It's going to be as wonderful in all its imperfect facets as each of us are. We'll make it so.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
I do not remember Frank Beamer ever acting like this. Sure, he had his moments on the sideline like any other coach. But I don't ever remember a wild lack of professionalism like what we saw from his son last night. He was generally in control of his emotions on the sidelines, which was probably why he knew when to gamble and when to reach into his bag of tricks. If you are spending your time on the edge of lunacy and berating officials all day, it's hard to be in the moment to adjust to what the game needs.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
His father was a giant of coaching and not a hothead. VT football was appointment TV for many years when he was there.
Frankly, Shane doesn't resemble Shane from the years I've seen him at USC. Until yesterday I had a high opinion of him.
Also, had no idea that the offspring of ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons is an AC at South Carolina.
illinifan31
Former Krush Cow
- South Bend, IN
Nah, the entire team was on the field(as was Illinois). He was likely yelling at the SCAR players to get back off the field.
Seems like his job is entirely to keep people off the field, even the coach.
A lot of central Illinois people liked VT and Beamer because of his DC’s connection to the state (Bud Foster from Nokomis).
Shane was embarrassing that’s for sure.
Absence of lousy football head coaches makes the heart less hateful
You must have a foggy memory.
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
Thanks for taking the high road, Bret. Love our coach
Frank was a very good coach. His teams were almost always legit. Did he get pissed?yep. Not like what went down yesterday. Frank always had respect. He was old school were Shane is the new age of look at me
Agreed, that was an atrocious call- clearly no official saw what happened- to huddle up and “just assume a fumble before breaking the plane” is malpractice. These goal line plays are impossible to call for an official with so many bodies and no official close to the action by design- but the default should be call him down before the goal line if you
A) didn’t see a fumble
B) didn’t see him cross the goal line
That at least allows a review with no advantage to either team if there is no clear evidence of either
It’s such a huge call to just give the other team the ball on the 20 after first and goal inside the 1 on a play no official saw. Almost as ridiculous is a New Year’s Eve bowl game not having an overhead camera angle, the fact that we didn’t see any good looks at it was almost as bad. Thank goodness the good guys won anyway
He was ABSOLUTELY trying to get the crowd riled up and had his back to all the SC players on the field.
I still wanted a review of the previous play. I thought Beatty was in.
illinifan31
Former Krush Cow
- South Bend, IN
Yah looking back, you're right. The team was already on the field when he did that and he's on the sideline.
Great win Illinois! That was fun to watch. I was looking at some twitter posts and there are a lot of delusional SC and SEC fans out there who don’t have any filters. Anybody who watched that game saw we easily played with them and dominated in the trenches most of the game. Bodes well for next year and in recruiting!
billybaroo
- Pebble Beach, CA
My bad. It seemed like the post you were replying to was about the play I commented on.
Totally agree with lexwaldez’s explanation. I don’t give those two announcers credit for any information, accurate or inaccurate. I suspect they just say what is typed on their sheets or spoken into their headsets. My frustration is with the director, spotters, the “guys in the truck” etc who completely missed the relevance of what really happened on the fake “I’m not running it out, I’m taking the touchback, oh now I’m throwing the crossfield lateral” return play. That topic is a player safety thing, it’s a precedent thing, and frankly was a more relevant thing for the announcers to harp about (as compared to substitution times). Even if Coach Bielema never walked out on the field and extended his arms. But that topic (the breaking of the unwritten rule to not fake a touchback) did not fit the ABC-ESPN template which was basically to broadcast a SC coronation.
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