Very happy with the win. No way most on this board saw this coming. I really think the Illini can win next week. That being said, Luke needs to react quicker, more decisive and "I don't give a damn." I think leading FBS in INT's has made him a little gun-shy unless it's a do or die. There were multiple times he could have gotten rid of the ball but took a sack. To be fair, if you get hit as much as he has, happy feet has to come into play. The I. Williams wide open play led me to this conclusion.
Illinois 27, Maryland 24 Postgame
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
Winning is contagious. We need to build off this. Unlike our other victories that had us just scraping by teams we should have beat, we beat a team we were expected to lose to. That's the kind of thing that can hopefully inspire confidence for the rest of the season.
It’s the morning after and I’m still feeling pumped. We are at my daughter and son-in-law’s house in Annapolis where the mood wasn’t as somber as one might have expected. My SIL is a Terp but he was as courteous in defeat as he was before the game as a 14 point favorite.
As altgeld88 mentioned above, the “crowd” was embarrassingly small, but as my SIL pointed out, Maryland wasn’t a football school 25 years ago when he was at College Park. It was was full on the home side, but we had been able to get four seats on the 50 at the top of the home side, from the university. I couldn’t have gotten better seats, that location and under the balcony on a drizzly afternoon It was relatively full there, and with and overhead to trap ghe sound, loud
We had a trio of sophomoric drinking-age Maryland fans who were well aware they had Illinois loyalists behind them, we wearing our brilliant Orange were right behind them, and I lost count of the times they said “Nebraska.” By halftime they had slid down away from us, and by the fourth quarter they were gone.
But in general, the stands didn’t empty before the end of the game, and the fans stuck around until the end of the game. Admittedly it was a game they very well could have won…
There’s something special about winning an away game for which you had been significant underdogs. At home, everyone is wearing Orange and going their separate was with their separate groups. Away, with so few of us, everyone in Orange is your bestest friend. Many I-L-L-s were spoken.
Speaking of leaving, it took us 45 minutes to get out of the parking garage. If the game had been at Penn State, we’d still be there.
Finally, before we leave for breakfast, who thought of the the Terps entering the field from what looks lite the south end of a turtle headed north? I asked my SIL about that. He had no answer.
We were at the game the last time the Fighting Illini came to town, and we heard about that that 63-33 debacle. The victory was all the more sweet because if that. Go Illini.
As altgeld88 mentioned above, the “crowd” was embarrassingly small, but as my SIL pointed out, Maryland wasn’t a football school 25 years ago when he was at College Park. It was was full on the home side, but we had been able to get four seats on the 50 at the top of the home side, from the university. I couldn’t have gotten better seats, that location and under the balcony on a drizzly afternoon It was relatively full there, and with and overhead to trap ghe sound, loud
We had a trio of sophomoric drinking-age Maryland fans who were well aware they had Illinois loyalists behind them, we wearing our brilliant Orange were right behind them, and I lost count of the times they said “Nebraska.” By halftime they had slid down away from us, and by the fourth quarter they were gone.
But in general, the stands didn’t empty before the end of the game, and the fans stuck around until the end of the game. Admittedly it was a game they very well could have won…
There’s something special about winning an away game for which you had been significant underdogs. At home, everyone is wearing Orange and going their separate was with their separate groups. Away, with so few of us, everyone in Orange is your bestest friend. Many I-L-L-s were spoken.
Speaking of leaving, it took us 45 minutes to get out of the parking garage. If the game had been at Penn State, we’d still be there.
Finally, before we leave for breakfast, who thought of the the Terps entering the field from what looks lite the south end of a turtle headed north? I asked my SIL about that. He had no answer.
We were at the game the last time the Fighting Illini came to town, and we heard about that that 63-33 debacle. The victory was all the more sweet because if that. Go Illini.
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Hard to believe, but 2006 was nearly TWO decades ago.
illini80
- Forgottonia
Amazing how much better we all feel after a win! We can beat Wisconsin but it won’t be easy. If were being completely honest, Maryland shot themselves in the foot with penalties yesterday, but we played really clean and gave ourselves a chance. Exactly what we need to do on Saturday. I know nothing about Wisconsin’s backup QB, but we have to keep pressure on him. I’m sure he’s plenty good enough to complete passes if he has all day. Did our O-line finally take a step yesterday? It looked like if finally clicked. Maryland sent a lot of blitzes and got some sacks, but I also thought we did a pretty decent job of picking them up and didn’t have as many 1 on 1’s where we let guys just run right past us. Good signs for the future.
I think the most encouraging thing from last night was to just play competent football and give ourselves a chance. If we’d of done that against Purdue and Nebraska we’d be talking about winning the west right now. Let’s keep it going and make a run! I hope we get a great Homecoming crowd and send them all home happy!!
I-L-L ! ! !
I think the most encouraging thing from last night was to just play competent football and give ourselves a chance. If we’d of done that against Purdue and Nebraska we’d be talking about winning the west right now. Let’s keep it going and make a run! I hope we get a great Homecoming crowd and send them all home happy!!
I-L-L ! ! !
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Last week in DC from Saturday night through Friday night: sunny and not a cloud in the sky. Temps in the 60s and 70s. Gorgeous fall weather.
This morning when I woke up: sunny and not a cloud in the sky. Gonna be ~ 60.
Saturday all day through at least 11:30 p.m. when I went to bed: dead grey, raining intermittently, in the 50s, and a cloud ceiling of 500-2000 feet.
Maryland football, literally and metaphorically:
This morning when I woke up: sunny and not a cloud in the sky. Gonna be ~ 60.
Saturday all day through at least 11:30 p.m. when I went to bed: dead grey, raining intermittently, in the 50s, and a cloud ceiling of 500-2000 feet.
Maryland football, literally and metaphorically:
It was great to see us just be competitive and look like a real team- that’s what I was mostly concerned about frankly. The OL being much better and the D coming up with big stops when we needed them- this is the team we were hoping to see all along
Altmeyer is the real deal but needs to get rid of the ball quicker - get rid of the ball of it’s not there and not see ghosts as much- you can’t blame him (he’s the most sacked QB in the big ten) but him getting over that can really unlock the offense now that it appears we have a run game again. I’m still srurprised at some of the play calling in the second half when we got the ball with the lead in the fourth we did absolutely nothing. Those are the drives you just commit to running the ball all 3 downs regardless if they are stacking the box. Hopefully we build confidence from this one and go get a win next week- it will turn the whole season around if we beat Wisconsin!
Altmeyer is the real deal but needs to get rid of the ball quicker - get rid of the ball of it’s not there and not see ghosts as much- you can’t blame him (he’s the most sacked QB in the big ten) but him getting over that can really unlock the offense now that it appears we have a run game again. I’m still srurprised at some of the play calling in the second half when we got the ball with the lead in the fourth we did absolutely nothing. Those are the drives you just commit to running the ball all 3 downs regardless if they are stacking the box. Hopefully we build confidence from this one and go get a win next week- it will turn the whole season around if we beat Wisconsin!
Looks like Whiteknack is securing the guard position, Our freshman rb looked good yesterday. Overall good tough win.
Great win yesterday, just got to watch The Game. Luke, please get rid of the ball, throw it out of bounds. Brother! 7 games into the season, throw the ball out of bounds period quit, taking losses, and putting us in down and distance bad situations. Period great job running backs offensive line Seth Coleman and Rosiek. This kid is our 2023 DarkAngelo! What a great linebacker and Johnny Newton. I can't wait to cheer for you on Sunday's big guy.
I for 1 was looking at team and roster, OMG we are Young! I can't wait til next year. It's funny when we were recruiting and signing men. Everyone, including myself were. Why are we going after so Many Corners/ Db's? I get it now. Coaches know,
I for 1 was looking at team and roster, OMG we are Young! I can't wait til next year. It's funny when we were recruiting and signing men. Everyone, including myself were. Why are we going after so Many Corners/ Db's? I get it now. Coaches know,
Good observation! Coach B said in his presser that since Randolph was out, they decided to rush 4. I for one did not even notice the difference.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
The MD team now calls the stadium "The Shell." lol. I, too, was amused by the shell over the entrance to the long tunnel. Insert intestinal metaphor here. Frankly, if I hadn't been wearing contacts and could discern the shell pattern, I would have thought it looked like a cheap, corrugated metal awning at a low-rent beach resort.
[BTW, to offset that snark, get a load of the old Cole Field House, home of the MD basketball team until 2001 and one of the great American college hoops venues, in the background of the second photo that @1970 John posted. They made it into the indoor football practice facility recently and it's a beauty. Really pleased to see it repurposed but wish they'd upgraded it for basketball instead of building the sterile Xfinity Center.]
We sat in the lower deck right above you at the 40 having just walked down there at halftime. I noticed that a not-inconsiderable number of fans there left with 5:00 remaining in the 4Q. They gave up even before the MD FG to tie. And I was delighted at the number of Illini fans. Love the ILL-INI chants at a road game.
As for parking, we literally drove right out of the garage, which was around 200 yards east of the stadium, immediately after the game without waiting. I've been to MD basketball games and it takes forever to get out of there. Maryland fans just aren't into their football team. And, yes, the younger, non-student Terp fans in their 20s and early 30s are often smack-talking twits until it becomes clear that their team is in trouble. Then they slink away, as they did in your section yesterday. Low self-awareness. Also, I noted that they played highlights on the scoreboard screen from the 63-33 drubbing of the Illini here several years ago. As Ron Burgundy would say: "You stay classy, Maryland Terrapins."
I'll look forward to attending the MD-Illini basketball game in February. Hoping for a clean sweep in College Park.
Didn't realize Loville lost last night. Just thought it was a gimme game for them. Daughter attends Loville and her husband is a big ND fan!! They attended the game last week. So there is that.
So… how was the Haunted Hayride? 
I always enjoy revisiting the pregame “easy money” posts.
I'll admit, I was tempted to open up an account somewhere and bet on Maryland. I don't gamble though so never got around to it thankfully
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
At least we know the reason why a few on this board are living on the streets of Champaign.
In college football, there is so rarely "easy
" bets out there.Proud of the effort from this team yesterday. Hope they can build upon this. Each of the remaining games are winnable. What a difference 7 days make!
As a Big Ten band parent, I have to say that this does not look like a Big Ten caliber marching band. Most are 350+ strong - this one is less than half of that. Two years ago we went to the Bands of America Grand Nationals in Indianapolis, and the guest college band was Rutgers (they played Purdue that day and were in town). Rutgers marching band was, bluntly, a pathetic joke. Every high school band we saw that day was better.
I'm sorry, but Rutgers and Maryland will never fit in.
skyIdub
Winged Warrior
@ our Insiders....Is this leaning into the BB Bully Ball with Feagin now? More of this going forward? How involved was Bret in the offense this week? It sure seemed like a return to basics with Feagin barreling straight ahead. Seemed obvious there was more commitment to the run. You know OL'men love that sh#t!
Pretty clear that was/is the way to W's now. Running game set's up Luke for more time and more success. Impressed with the true freshman #3.
Impressed with our D.
I think that game plan wins the Nebby and Kansas game.
Pretty clear that was/is the way to W's now. Running game set's up Luke for more time and more success. Impressed with the true freshman #3.
Impressed with our D.
I think that game plan wins the Nebby and Kansas game.
It’s the morning after and I’m still feeling pumped. We are at my daughter and son-in-law’s house in Annapolis where the mood wasn’t as somber as one might have expected. My SIL is a Terp but he was as courteous in defeat as he was before the game as a 14 point favorite.
As altgeld88 mentioned above, the “crowd” was embarrassingly small, but as my SIL pointed out, Maryland wasn’t a football school 25 years ago when he was at College Park. It was was full on the home side, but we had been able to get four seats on the 50 at the top of the home side, from the university. I couldn’t have gotten better seats, that location and under the balcony on a drizzly afternoon It was relatively full there, and with and overhead to trap ghe sound, loud View attachment 28453
We had a trio of sophomoric drinking-age Maryland fans who were well aware they had Illinois loyalists behind them, we wearing our brilliant Orange were right behind them, and I lost count of the times they said “Nebraska.” By halftime they had slid down away from us, and by the fourth quarter they were gone.
But in general, the stands didn’t empty before the end of the game, and the fans stuck around until the end of the game. Admittedly it was a game they very well could have won…
There’s something special about winning an away game for which you had been significant underdogs. At home, everyone is wearing Orange and going their separate was with their separate groups. Away, with so few of us, everyone in Orange is your bestest friend. Many I-L-L-s were spoken.
Speaking of leaving, it took us 45 minutes to get out of the parking garage. If the game had been at Penn State, we’d still be there.
Finally, before we leave for breakfast, who thought of the the Terps entering the field from what looks lite the south end of a turtle headed north? I asked my SIL about that. He had no answer.
View attachment 28454
As altgeld88 mentioned above, the “crowd” was embarrassingly small, but as my SIL pointed out, Maryland wasn’t a football school 25 years ago when he was at College Park. It was was full on the home side, but we had been able to get four seats on the 50 at the top of the home side, from the university. I couldn’t have gotten better seats, that location and under the balcony on a drizzly afternoon It was relatively full there, and with and overhead to trap ghe sound, loud View attachment 28453
We had a trio of sophomoric drinking-age Maryland fans who were well aware they had Illinois loyalists behind them, we wearing our brilliant Orange were right behind them, and I lost count of the times they said “Nebraska.” By halftime they had slid down away from us, and by the fourth quarter they were gone.
But in general, the stands didn’t empty before the end of the game, and the fans stuck around until the end of the game. Admittedly it was a game they very well could have won…
There’s something special about winning an away game for which you had been significant underdogs. At home, everyone is wearing Orange and going their separate was with their separate groups. Away, with so few of us, everyone in Orange is your bestest friend. Many I-L-L-s were spoken.
Speaking of leaving, it took us 45 minutes to get out of the parking garage. If the game had been at Penn State, we’d still be there.
Finally, before we leave for breakfast, who thought of the the Terps entering the field from what looks lite the south end of a turtle headed north? I asked my SIL about that. He had no answer.
View attachment 28454
Yes, it was great to see the team - particularly the OLine - do enough there! It wasn't great, but I think it was their best.
To try and say a negative thing constructively... how often do we think this secondary can flirt with penalties and come out with a net positive? I see a lot of celebration of PBUs by Strain that are sufficient or obvious DPI.
You win some, you lose some with officiating, but if Maryland gets those calls or are hit less and connect on those passes, I think they win convincingly. It would be a stroke of luck to be in a close game and get the same treatment against Northwestern. Is there enough time to coach and tune downfield contact, or are we just going to need leave it to chance?
To be fair, you hedged your “bet” with that comment.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Caleb Griffin's 43-yard field goal on the final play lifts Illinois over Maryland 27-24
Caleb Griffin kicked a 43-yard field goal as time expired to give Illinois its first Big Ten victory of the season, a 27-24 upset of Maryland.
Did either you or 1970 John notice the Kevin James King of Queens meme they had showing on the scoreboard during the game winning kick by Griffin?