First of all, I'm so pleased for the players and coaches. Maryland was #26 in Sagarin this week, in a clump with Wazzu, Miami, Duke and Iowa. The Illini beat a solid team today. They bore down on both sides of the ball for 4Q and got it done. Second, it was a thrill to see this win in person. I haven't been able to see two Illini football games in a season since 1990. Now in the span of two weeks I've seen the boys twice. The improvement from what we saw in Ross-Ade in the second half was substantial.
- Luke had time to throw. He's going to be really good for us once the line can protect him reliably. The dime he dropped to Casey was just sick, as was CW's catch. The throw to Isaiah at the goal line that was almost a TD was excellent, too. Fantastic Maryland DB play to break it up. Luke overthrew some wide open receivers but he'll get there on the timing. He and Casey are absolutely in sync at crunch time, however.
- Luke's scrambling and running ability is valuable in someone who can throw well. He got Caleb G a huge 10 extra yards to the 20 at the end by escaping the collapsing pocket (then, well, gave up five getting the ball to the middle of the field on the next play.)
- Feagin's arrival on the scene is truly a big deal. I had to check: yes, he really
is a true freshman. Wouldn't know it to watch him. He's a bull.
- Play of the game IMO (edging out Luke's scramble to the 20) was Rosiek's lateral pursuit and open-field tackle of Taulia Tagovailoa on 2nd & 9 on MD's final drive. If Dylan hadn't nabbed him, he would have had a first down easily inside the 20 and MD's TD chances would have looked pretty good as they'd been gashing us intermittently that drive with the run. D's tackle, and the line's stuffing the run on 3rd down, forced the FG. Dylan impresses me every game. He's active and effective.
As
@Retro62 noted, we felt badly for Maryland. It was its homecoming game and attendance was dismal. This for a 5-1 team that hung right with OSU for 3Q last week on the road. Granted, it was a grey, misty day and they were playing a 2 TD+ underdog. But I can't imagine that even if we'd had this weather at Purdue two weeks ago when we played them on their homecoming day that Ross-Ade wouldn't still have been packed. The only Big Ten comparison I can find to MD football support is Northwestern, and MD makes NW support look rabid. It was kind of embarrassing. We literally could have walked all the way down to field level on the visitors' side and sat at the 40 if we wanted. The stadium seats 52k. Couldn't have been more than 25k there today.
Two Saturdays ago it was sunny, 80 degrees and we had as perfect a football weekend road trip as we could possibly have hoped for. And the Illini face planted in the second half at Purdue. Today the weather was grim (though it actually didn't rain at all until after the game), the environment was depressing (it's not one of the better college football stadium experiences), and yet we saw the team grow and pull off a big upset.
Idyllic weekend... brutal, embarrassing loss. Hideous day, grim environment... stellar win. Can't have everything, right? I'm a finance guy so immediately am reminded of the power of asset diversification.
. That tackle on Maryland's last drive was awesome. I’m still so pumped about coach Bielema’s willingness to go for the td, and Feagin and OL making it happen. The defense, as gassed and depleted as they were, was huge
