Illinois 21, South Carolina 17 Postgame

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#577      
mhuml32
eas23 said:
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Rhett And Link GIF by First We Feast
 
#578      
Boomauer
spotter said:
Illinois was (legally) taking their time sending in defensive subs when USC was trying to go fast. This was getting under Beamer's skin.

There is another situation. On the kickoff where the hootenanny happened, the SC receiver put his arms out straight. This is an almost university signal to tell the receiving team, "I'm not running this out, we'll take the touchback." This is an unofficial signal and not part of the fair catch rules. So the SC receiver did the arm thing, caught the ball, hesitated and then threw the ball across the endzone to the second receiver, who ran it to the 25 (which is where they were going to have the ball if they took the touchback). While there is no rule against this, it is in the family of a fake kneel down.

So, an Illinois player was injured a few plays later and SC had all the momentum. BB came out to check on the player. He turned to the SC sideline and extended his arms. THIS IS JUST MY GUESS. He either was saying, "Just so you know, we're subbing this guy out." Or, in reference to the kickoff, "Nice bleeping play you cheap bleepers."

Either way, Beamer totally lost control of himself and BB lived rent-free in Beamer's head for the rest of the game.
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So Beamer gave BB crap about being upset about the SC Tbar signal in the endzone because it's legal but not normally done by teams...then doesn't get the irony of his anger over BB's defensive subbing screwing up his offense when it was done legally also. Using the edge of the envelope and bending the rules a bit are ok as long it doesn't get used against you.
 
#579      
Piotyr
sbillini said:
To be fair, that video isn’t a great look for Illinois.

But both sides can be unethical, coach Beamer, and one side is a lot more likely to cause injury than the other. Not like he defended what they did in the special teams play. Just called it “legal”
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The video is meaningless nonsense cut to make it look like some kind of scandal. The player went out with injury and did not return.
 
#580      
Boomauer
Navy_illini said:
It is per the rules

I always dislike when coaches try to take advantage of rules designed for player safety. When u act like u have given up on the play ie touchback the play should be over. College should make it like the pros and you have to take a knee. It will be interesting to see if college adopts the NFL kick off
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Similar to a QB pretending to go into a slide then staying upright and getting more yards when the defender backs off. Not done much but should be a penalty if it's not already.
 
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#582      
altgeld88
Another long one, friends. tl;dr... 🙏🙏:illinois:❤️

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.

:illinois:
 
#583      
Scoregasm
eas23 said:
Couple more notes that I'm sure were previously addressed.

Sellers' throw on the 4th down on SC's final drive missed by like 10 feet. It should have been high and outside and was low and inside.

The blocking on McCray's long run was nothing short of spectacular. Freaking Collin Dixon stoned two guys.
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I think it was Daniel Brown who got to Sellers in his throwing motion just as the ball was let go....I think that had something to do with the inaccuracy. Not that the announcers said anything.
 
#586      
mhuml32
(1) Bielema is living rent-free in Beamer's head
(2) I have no issue with the "taunting" or whatever you want because I love creating sport hate. The disdain I feel for specific teams or players is what makes sport unique.

Piotyr said:
The video is meaningless nonsense cut to make it look like some kind of scandal. The player went out with injury and did not return.
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(3) I hate fake injuries and CFB needs to legislate it out of the game. There were only three more South Carolina snaps after this incident and two plays later that Hood is ready to come back in and is part of the defensive players swarmed near the LOS on the sideline. It also makes sense he doesn't come back in (and is optimally removed from the game when he goes down) because South Carolina is in the red zone and Hood's speed benefit is no longer as beneficial.
(4) Again, South Carolina fans complaining about one innocuous play is what makes sports fun. There's a bunch of us that are going to have a decade worth of negative feelings about the Gamecocks going forward because of yesterday's game.
 
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#587      
Bbuck21
IllinistuckinGopherland said:
Beamer is the quintessential “hold me back” guy. He had a clear path to Bret in the “taunt” moment, but somehow only made it halfway and had to be restrained by his assistants. His clown act is all act.
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I was hoping they would not restrain him right then. Would have been entertaining. I don't think I have ever seen a coach threatening an opposing coach during the game and from the middle of the field.
 
#588      
sbillini
Piotyr said:
The video is meaningless nonsense cut to make it look like some kind of scandal. The player went out with injury and did not return.
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Who was the player? Malachi hood?

I mean, the dude pops up with little effort. Takes a few steps, looks at the sideline, and keels over in pain. Usually not how players go down with injury.

Regardless, my point stands. Let’s not pretend bielema is some sort of saint. But in this game, the relative “ethicalness” comparison that Beamer is trying to make isn’t even close.
 
#589      
Bbuck21
illinifan1987 said:
Copy pasta from a later page..."I don't know, can you really go out and deck a guy after a loss? Maybe if we win Beamer can show his **** a little bit, just don't think it would be a good look after a loss."
Why are the GameCocks obsessed with 🐔?
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Doesn't sound like the Gamecocks fans like Beamer as much as Illini fans like Bielema 😁
 
#590      
altgeld88
eas23 said:
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lol Good Lord, Priestly. Turning his man completely around and pushing him like a rag doll. And Arkin with a TE block that should appear in textbooks in the future. Finally, Luke: "Over there!! Go over there!! You know... for like... maybe 60 yards!!"

That's a freaking ten-foot hole for McCray to saunter through.
 
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#591      
TheChief4Life
Boomauer said:
Similar to a QB pretending to go into a slide then staying upright and getting more yards when the defender backs off. Not done much but should be a penalty if it's not already.
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Except, I’m pretty sure this is actually illegal now, and will result in the ball being spotted where the QB pretended to start the slide. I think this went into effect a couple years ago. Or maybe was just discussed?
 
#593      
SoCal Illini
From the cheap seats said:
Having had time to reflect a bit on that thrilling game, a few things come to mind:
--Seems to me part of Beamer's weird behavior, which began long before the F-bomb tirade, was because he was shocked and his team unprepared for how tough and competitive the Illini were. SC's supposed dominance lasted precisely one series, the opening series. After that, the Illini more than held their own on the line of scrimmage.
--Usually, the underdog resorts to gimmick plays. Seems like when reality hit, Beamer kind of panicked and went into a hair-on-fire (which it appeared to be) strategy.
--The game plan to stop Sellers was superb. The kid has freakish athletic ability for a QB and is legitimately dangerous when he gets outside the pocket. But the Illini rushers did a great job of staying disciplined to keep him hemmed in the pocket. Meanwhile, the back end also did a good job except for the one broken-coverage chunk play. The SC offense had put up 33 vs. LSU, 25 vs. Alabama, 35 vs. Oklahoma and 44 vs. A&M. The only other teams to limit them were Ole Miss (3) and Clemson (17), and, as Paul Finebaum would explain, Ole Miss like SC was a national title contender (if only they had made the playoffs).
--I was OK with the Bielema hire, but not real excited to see a run-first type of offense. I still grumble at some of the early down play-calling, but it's clear to me that he has a very balanced approach that stresses toughness. That toughness takes a toll on the other team as the game wears on. In the end, the Illini were simply tougher than SC. When the game was on the line, the Illini cooly executed, an extension of their coach. On the other hand, SC exhibited the fake bully characteristics of their coach.
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To your last point, that’s specifically what I’ve been waiting to see. If Illinois keeps that up then sustained success is likely, and can make up for some shortcomings in talent if there are any.

My worry was that for the S Carolina game that scenario was going to be the other way around. I think the weeks of rest helped the illini. Now gotta get more depth especially on the lines.
 
#594      
Bbuck21
altgeld88 said:
lol Good Lord, Priestly. Turning his man completely around and pushing him like a rag doll. And Arkin with a TE block that should appear in textbooks in the future. Finally, Luke: "Over there!! Go over there!! You know... for like... maybe 60 yards!!"

That's a freaking ten-foot hole for McCray to saunter through.
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I think Luke was saying, "He's gone".
 
#597      
Boomauer
Piotyr said:
Some thoughts a day later:

1. The announcing crew was super uninformed the whole game. It's like their pregame prep consisted of Sellers and Pat Bryant, and with Bryant out of the game, they just talked about Sellers non stop. Sellers finished with 11 runs for 19 yards, something they never really mentioned or acknowledged the Illini defense for.
2. The officials completely blew that McCray end zone call. Either he's down before he breaks the plane, or he scores a touchdown. The ball didn't come out until he was over the plane of the goal line and it's not visible on any replay. Defaulting to fumble is the only call that doesn't make sense and that's what they went with.
3. The substitutions by Bielema were specifically in response to late substitutions that Beamer was doing. The NCAA specifically changed the rule this year so Beamer couldn't get away with late substitutions on offense like that, and Bielema's response was exactly what the new rule was supposed to provide. Want to run a sped up offense? Don't substitute late on offense, that's what the other 100 FBS teams do.
4. The trick play where the returner signaled for no play (the T signal) and then brought it out was technically not against the rules, but it was a move specifically to get the Illinois defense to let up which could have led to player injury. But to do that and then complain when Bielema called him on it, and then later call Bielema's response bush league? Look in the mirror, dude.
5. The injury that Bielema came out for wasn't on that return play, it was later in the drive (Sellers rush that brought a knee to Clarke's helmet accidentally). However, it was just about one minute later and that's what Bielema was calling Beamer out on, which the announcers missed completely and then overreacted for the rest of the game.
6. Why was that sideline reporter in Beamer's pocket the whole game? He's the one that mischaracterized Bielema's response and literally talked with Beamer while Beamer was behaving like a drunk Karen at the bar. Total nonsense.
7. The Illini punter for the game is not cut out for punting, time to find one in the portal.
8. Despite the biased announcing and refs shafting the team of a TD, and opposing coach's whining, they still won the game and played their game plan to perfection. Maybe next year they can get in the playoff with an announcing team that's prepared and knows the rules and personnel.
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7. Didn't Pinzon beat out our former punter mid-season?
 
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