Illinois 31, Chattanooga 0 Postgame

#77      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
We have a great coaching staff, not only in developing players but in identifying potential in underrated players. I was at the game and I can't remember a less stressful and enjoyable experience as an Illini season ticket holder. I love how this team is developing. I am not predicting we win the BIG west, but I don't feel like we will be embarrassed by anyone. Feeling good about 6 or more wins and a bowl game for the holidays!
As I bask in the after glow of a big day with Cardinals and Illini wins , my mind does what it usually does and starts to ponder.......

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And what is my favorite pondering thought ???.............................You guessed it .....................

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Do you blame me ??.....................And the bigger question , "" have you done any pondering about her also...................??

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it started last night about an hour after the Illini victory and I tried to hide my pondering from NL # 3 , but she sensed something was driving me to a pondering frenzy............................Over and over , my pondering got to where I had trouble breathing .....My pulse was racing and I finally entered a pondering coma .....aware of my surroundings but unable to carry on a conversation , just mumbling non stop........I finally did a 420 and regained my senses and my ability to control my pondering and slowly got back to normal.....well , normal for me is chaos for most other carbon units....

What should I do ???.....try and meet her in person ??,,,,that would be a mistake , I know , and thats where i am at right now........Thank you for listening to my pondering dilemma and have a nice day....I will try and do the same ..........I really really will..................................

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uh oh , talk about a flashback ..........................................

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#78      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
We have a great coaching staff, not only in developing players but in identifying potential in underrated players. I was at the game and I can't remember a less stressful and enjoyable experience as an Illini season ticket holder. I love how this team is developing. I am not predicting we win the BIG west, but I don't feel like we will be embarrassed by anyone. Feeling good about 6 or more wins and a bowl game for the holidays!
This was a fun game. Decent crowd at the start, pretty empty stands by the start of the 4th quarter, but I wouldn't have expected anything different given that it was a weeknight, chillier than the previous few days (I saw sooooo many people that didn't bring jackets on a night where it got down to 55 or so), and of course a blowout.

I thought there were a ton of positives - Tommy had a good game, Chase is a beast, our D forced 7 three-and-outs, and other than the wonky punt, Special Teams looked fine. Good to see Bryant getting a good share of looks, it's good to have a bunch of WRs who can get it done.

My only gripes were the missed 4th down conversions (although I agreed with going for it both times, just not the play call itself), and what seemed like too many swing passes where the receiver was behind the LOS. However, I don't think Lunney showed too much of the playbook that he'll use at Wisconsin so that's probably a wash in the long run.
 
#79      
I can’t explain how nice it is to have a solid, well coached team to watch again. We’ve had our issues, but we are playing like a good big ten team.

We will lose some games due to special teams and a turnover or two this year, but we are finally building something.

Now, I hope some of that NIL $ will help with recruiting to really get this thing going.
AGREED! Last night was a real treat and it was so cool to see Dick Butkus in the house as well as Jeff George etc.

Our coaching staff is like night and day from the lazy lovie smith saturday clownshows that we were grown to accustom to watching.

We'll have a long week for our guys to get ready for Coach Bielema to make his return to Madison (and hopefully McCray is ready to go as well) The next 3 games will tell us a lot and I can't wait to see how we'll fair in them.

It feels great to be actually legit excited about Illinois football again!
 
#80      

JJE

Bethalto, IL
If your JW do you bring in the brinks truck for Walters and try to keep him another couple of years?

Clemson was able to keep Venables around for longer than most people thought. If Walters' defense plays like this the rest of the year I would think he gets a power 5 opportunity.
 
#82      
If your JW do you bring in the brinks truck for Walters and try to keep him another couple of years?

Clemson was able to keep Venables around for longer than most people thought. If Walters' defense plays like this the rest of the year I would think he gets a power 5 opportunity.
Yes without question. Enjoy Coach Walters while we can because he is most definitely going to be a head coach sooner than later.
 
#83      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
If your JW do you bring in the brinks truck for Walters and try to keep him another couple of years?

Clemson was able to keep Venables around for longer than most people thought. If Walters' defense plays like this the rest of the year I would think he gets a power 5 opportunity.
Much too early for this conversation before our DL beasts play against some guys capable of blocking them in conference play.

Walters is very young and hasn't necessarily made a name for himself as a rain-making recruiter, Power Five jobs aren't going to be falling all over themselves to hire an assistant at a program that hasn't won anything.

Colorado as Walters' alma mater may very well be an exception there, of course.

In terms of going to a non-P5 HC job, we can pay him more, and my hope would be that if he takes that sort of job it's a plum gig that sets him up for the future. The worst decision he could make right now would be to take a pay cut to take over a mid-major dumpster fire, so many promising young coaches have been derailed that way.

All of that said, what Walters HAS proven is that he's one of the absolute best young DC minds in the business. Which means elite schools with defense problems are going to be lining up to try to big-time Illinois and steal him. THAT is where the Brinks truck comes into play. If he leaves to become Colorado's head coach, he'd be a fool not to take it and we should wish him great success. It would suck big time to lose him to becoming Bill O'Brien's DC-for-hire at Auburn or something.
 
#84      
If your JW do you bring in the brinks truck for Walters and try to keep him another couple of years?

Clemson was able to keep Venables around for longer than most people thought. If Walters' defense plays like this the rest of the year I would think he gets a power 5 opportunity.
Considering we have struggled for decades in football which is the highest revenue sport, you renegoiate that contract. The D-Fence looks very well coached both in scheme and technique. Also the players look like they give Coach Walter 110% which means they trust and like him. He is a class act, handles himself like a PRO. Bottom line is Pay Him to stay. Don't allow him to leave for a lower level HC job, but ultimately goes back to what Coach Walters wants.
 
#88      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Here's a scary one: Alex Grinch (whose defenses give up 30+ points against anyone good everywhere he goes, I don't understand his big reputation) is in the frame for the ASU job among others. And Walters is an LA native....

The thing Walters is pondering is whether his star is as bright as it's ever going to get at Illinois. It might be, that's just reality and Walters only gets one career to play.
 
#89      
Great team win! We have been dominant this year when the offense takes care of the ball because the D is so solid.


Saw comment about Illinois allowing a few big runs. They have a few bend but don't break moments each game. Most of that was missed tackles but bound to happen and think we notice more when so dominant most of the game. Few stats to show how dominant IL was against the run last night.

Ford had 17 carries for 93 yards

Two of those carries were of 39 yards and 32 yards
Other 15 carries for 22 yards total



Appleberry 11 carries for 34 yards

One carry for 18 yards (of course when 3rd and 17 :ROFLMAO:
Other 10 carries for 16 yards
 
#90      
This was a fun game. Decent crowd at the start, pretty empty stands by the start of the 4th quarter, but I wouldn't have expected anything different given that it was a weeknight, chillier than the previous few days (I saw sooooo many people that didn't bring jackets on a night where it got down to 55 or so), and of course a blowout.

I thought there were a ton of positives - Tommy had a good game, Chase is a beast, our D forced 7 three-and-outs, and other than the wonky punt, Special Teams looked fine. Good to see Bryant getting a good share of looks, it's good to have a bunch of WRs who can get it done.

My only gripes were the missed 4th down conversions (although I agreed with going for it both times, just not the play call itself), and what seemed like too many swing passes where the receiver was behind the LOS. However, I don't think Lunney showed too much of the playbook that he'll use at Wisconsin so that's probably a wash in the long run.
I'm hoping those swing passes were intentional, setting-up the Wisconsin D for something it won't even see coming.
 
#91      

GrayGhost77

Centennial, CO
Here's a scary one: Alex Grinch (whose defenses give up 30+ points against anyone good everywhere he goes, I don't understand his big reputation) is in the frame for the ASU job among others. And Walters is an LA native....

The thing Walters is pondering is whether his star is as bright as it's ever going to get at Illinois. It might be, that's just reality and Walters only gets one career to play.
Also being an ASU alum (grad school), I can confidently say that ASU is a mess. He's be leaving a great AD and coaching relationship in a better conference to go there to another all-new situation. That's taking a pretty big risk, especially given ASU has been just as fickle with coaches as we have over the past two decades, yet the program and fan pressure there is much higher than at Illinois.
 
#92      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Also being an ASU alum (grad school), I can confidently say that ASU is a mess. He's be leaving a great AD and coaching relationship in a better conference to go there to another all-new situation. That's taking a pretty big risk, especially given ASU has been just as fickle with coaches as we have over the past two decades, yet the program and fan pressure there is much higher than at Illinois.
No what I'm saying is that USC could hire him to replace Grinch as DC.

And forget about the money, Riley's SC is a rocket ship and everyone knows it.

If Walters gets offered any P5 head coaching job he's going to take it, let's be real here. That's a life-changing step up, and freezes his DC reputation at a level where he can get a good opportunity back no matter how bad the HC stint goes. But I don't expect those offers to be plentiful this offseason barring amazing things happening for us over the next few months.
 
#93      
The refs called back a touchdown. That’s how Indiana “beat” us.
Nah, it was calling running plays up the middle 4 times a their goal line and getting stuffed each time. You don't call that 4 times if the first 2 don't work. At least kick the durn field goal.
 
#94      
If Walters gets offered any P5 head coaching job he's going to take it, let's be real here.
He's getting a million dollars here right now. What would be ideal is if BB keeps this staff together here and they win the Big Ten championship. You don't get that exhilarating feeling just by becoming the CEO of a downtrodden team.
 
#95      
If your JW do you bring in the brinks truck for Walters and try to keep him another couple of years?

Clemson was able to keep Venables around for longer than most people thought. If Walters' defense plays like this the rest of the year I would think he gets a power 5 opportunity.
Kind of going along with Gritty, I think people are overestimating the things that P5 ADs would be looking for. First, offensive coordinators are hired as head coaches at a much higher rate than DCs. Second, being a good coordinator does not equate to knowing how to run a P5 program. Third, like Venables and others who stayed longer than people thought they would, either the location or the pay increase has to be extremely different to bring that move. We will see, though. I'm hopeful we will get another full year (at least) with both of our coordinators, and if Walters does leave, I would think Kevin Kane can fill in nicely.
 
#96      
My only gripes were the missed 4th down conversions (although I agreed with going for it both times, just not the play call itself), and what seemed like too many swing passes where the receiver was behind the LOS. However, I don't think Lunney showed too much of the playbook that he'll use at Wisconsin so that's probably a wash in the long run.

I felt the exact same way. I appreciate that wrinkle that this brings to the offense, but if that play becomes a staple it's only a matter of time before really bad things happen.

I'm hoping those swing passes were intentional, setting-up the Wisconsin D for something it won't even see coming.

I hope this is the case. Get the Wiscy D to bite on the swing pass and then burn them deep.
 
#99      
And hope like hell he's very picky (which he should be). Fortunately, we have his replacement already on staff: Kevin Kane. I think he'll be outstanding in the coordinator role too.
I like Kevin and if Walters moves on the defense wont change much at all but every signal caller has their own way of doing things. Walters is aggressive and brings pressure in a lot of different ways and I hope Kane does the same. (If/when that happens)
 
#100      

blackdog

Champaign
Once their QB realized he was going to have multiple large angry individuals in his earhole on every dropback he made a business decision to get back to Tennessee alive and that was your ballgame.

Our pass rush is really something. Jacas is getting a lot of deserved plaudits, but Seth Coleman was in the backfield on every snap last night.

Yea pass rush has definitely been good but we also need to give some credit to the secondary for some of the pressure too. Most college offenses aren't designed for the QB to go through more than 2 reads and the back end of this defense has been absolutely smothering. Its not like they're giving them all day to stand and look around but it makes it easier when the ball isn't gone to a wide open receiver in 2 seconds.