Illinois 24, Maryland 6 Postgame

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#51      
FloridaMan
zentrails said:
IIRC MD had only two long drives for the entire game and we held them to only 6 points. That's pretty good in my book. Sure they had some drops, but they also had some really great catches.
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I get it. And like I have repeatedly said I'm extremely happy with any wins and where we are as a program. But, I also believe we are on the cusp of being consistently in the top 4/5 of the B10 in football for the first time in most of our lives.

It is extremely frustrating to watch us play 7 to 9 yards off of receivers and let teams easily get 7-10 yards a play and march right down the field on our defense with little to no pressure whatsoever. Then we see a series where we bring pressure and tip a couple of passes and get a sack. Why are we not consistent? It usually works against Maryland, Purdue, and Rutgers. But when you go against Indiana, Ohio St, and Washington not so much. Not to mention Oregon, Michigan, Penn St most seasons.

Anyway, I just think that we are a cohesive, consistent defensive game plan - and a bit more talented players on that side of the ball - from being a really complete team that can compete with anyone. That's what I would love to see. I am very pleased we have climbed ourselves to the level we are. Credit to Josh and BB mostly. But bigger things are there for the taking if we can just become more consistently sound and not have these wild swings in play, especially on defense.

I don't understand how that is viewed as wrong, honestly. Why do Illinois fans not deserve that?

Edit: just realized my post is not really specifically addressed at your comment necessarily. Just that some posters seem to be upset when others hope for bigger and better for our program. Again, not that you do not.
 
#55      
GMAN55
Homecoming 2019 said:
Yep one bizarre loss to Minnesota/Washington away from the playoff potentially again.
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Ive been an Illini fan since late 1970s. And I have endured buckets of S__t from other teams during terrible seasons So Im excited for the winning under Beilema, but we dont belong in playoffs YET. We are going to have to play the game of buying much better players , to go with vastly improved recruiting before that day comes.
 
#56      
JJE
Coach Henry is that you?
 
#57      
Illiniam1984
GMAN55 said:
Ive been an Illini fan since late 1970s. And I have endured buckets of S__t from other teams during terrible seasons So Im excited for the winning under Beilema, but we dont belong in playoffs YET. We are going to have to play the game of buying much better players , to go with vastly improved recruiting before that day comes.
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I’m pretty confident BB and Whitman will get us there…
 
#58      
Orangetool
BretMyBeachHouse said:
Am I forgetting some history? I have zero hard feelings toward Locksley.
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Not a good guy.
Treated people like crap unless Zook was in the room or press. He was a real jerk to student assistants and trainers, people just trying to do their job.
A classic "kiss up, kick down" goof.

Google his time at New Mexico for fun.
 
#59      
Navy_illini
AutoPoster 3000 said:
Rather than ponder how a group of supposedly professional sports officials can be so incomprehensibly bad at their jobs, instead I’m just going to enjoy the still pretty novel feeling of having seven wins twelve days before Thanksgiving.
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I don’t get how bad you can be even with replay. If one foot down = a catch. 4 steps can’t be going to the ground

Being able to bounce back after multiple calls not going our way, getting stopped on the goal line, and having the other team drive the ball 98 yards has huge. Our D step up on that goal line stand to prevent a comeback
 
#60      
aaeismacgychel
To put this win and season in perspective, this is the first time since '91-'92 where we will finish the year with back to back winning regular seasons! And the first time since '89-'90 with back to back 7+ win seasons! That's 33 and 35 year respectively! And yes those are sobering numbers, but my gosh, are we living in a truly special time. Bret and Josh have done the unthinkable here.

And yes we might complain about an ugly 18 pt win, or our defensive scheme, or what have you, but man have these past few years been special. I never thought the Cubs would win the Series in my lifetime. I never thought I'd see the Blackhawks win the Stanley again after Dollar Bill, and then Illini football... poor permanent misery inducing Illini football... And yet, I know it's still a big step away, but I can see the crystal ball sparkling. Keep grinding, keep building, and may we keep having seasons like these until we break through. Special times, guys, special times.

And I will take every "ugly" 18pt win we can get because I remember how we were only a few stops and scores away from it not being a 40pt blowout loss.

I love this team
 
#62      
Ryllini
I had to miss the second half, but I was more than thrilled to walk out of the Bavarian Lodge to discover our Illini smothered them. Looking at the box score, the D came to play.
They threw 46 times for only 238. For a defense that has struggled against the pass, that is more than phenomenal. They only gave up 55 on the ground too. On to the next.
 
#64      
IlliniCardinal
FloridaMan said:
I get it. And like I have repeatedly said I'm extremely happy with any wins and where we are as a program. But, I also believe we are on the cusp of being consistently in the top 4/5 of the B10 in football for the first time in most of our lives.

It is extremely frustrating to watch us play 7 to 9 yards off of receivers and let teams easily get 7-10 yards a play and march right down the field on our defense with little to no pressure whatsoever. Then we see a series where we bring pressure and tip a couple of passes and get a sack. Why are we not consistent? It usually works against Maryland, Purdue, and Rutgers. But when you go against Indiana, Ohio St, and Washington not so much. Not to mention Oregon, Michigan, Penn St most seasons.

Anyway, I just think that we are a cohesive, consistent defensive game plan - and a bit more talented players on that side of the ball - from being a really complete team that can compete with anyone. That's what I would love to see. I am very pleased we have climbed ourselves to the level we are. Credit to Josh and BB mostly. But bigger things are there for the taking if we can just become more consistently sound and not have these wild swings in play, especially on defense.

I don't understand how that is viewed as wrong, honestly. Why do Illinois fans not deserve that?

Edit: just realized my post is not really specifically addressed at your comment necessarily. Just that some posters seem to be upset when others hope for bigger and better for our program. Again, not that you do not.
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Q - Why do Illinois fans not deserve that?

A - Deserve is an interesting word, but I’d say if Illini fans sold out and showed up for home games during a potential 9-3 season I’d agree we’d be more worthy.
 
#66      
Illini2010-11
lstewart53x3 said:
This team is so much better than last year’s team.

This year’s team is currently ranked #23 in SP+ and finished last year in the mid 30s.

Last year’s team beat Kansas at home by 6. This year’s team beat Duke on the road by 26.

Last year’s team beat Purdue at home by 1 in overtime. This year’s team beat Purdue by 16 on the road.

Last year’s team needed a last second touchdown to beat Rutgers. This year’s team beat Rutger’s by 22.

Last year’s team finished the regular season without a single win over a team who finished the year ranked. This year’s team beat USC who is one win away from making the CFP.

If we had last year’s schedule this year, we make the CFP.

Even this ho-hum “win is a win” win was an 18 point win against a team in the 60s in the advanced metrics.
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Two completely opposite seasons. It seemed like last year nearly every game was a close one score game where the Illini snuck out with wins.

This year, outside of the USC game, there have been no close contests. Many might get caught up with how badly we lost against the good competition, but this team has easily handled the other games. That is what makes this season so interesting. The Washington game is really the lone disappointing game to me (as they had a bye to prepare). Otherwise, this team has played to expectations.
 
#70      
jcron13
You are spot on! The bend don’t break was helped by big drops by terps.
 
#71      
blackdog
Pitched a shutout in the second half, actually got off the field on the 3rd down, multiple 4th down stops, got more pressure on the QB, held Maryland to 55 yards rushing.

I'm not totally sure if this is Bret having a hand in the improvement or if its that the defense could always be decent but had to have too many top offenses.
 
#75      
chiefIlliniWek4.0
Defensive line learned to throw their hands up in the air, and it made a huge difference.... now put a qb spy job on Jacas and let him truly f it up
 
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