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Illinois 31, Kent State 24 POSTGAME
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<blockquote data-quote="lexwaldez" data-source="post: 1409269" data-attributes="member: 9817"><p>With regards to Saturday, I expected a LOT more out of the first half offense having been to most of the practices this fall. The second half is EXACTLY what I had been expecting to see. I didn't boo, but I couldn't blame the crowd for doing it, and I don't think they were booing the players. I felt, at least where we were sitting, that we were all frustrated with the play calling. We have a stable full of amazing running backs, we have a mobile QB that can run, we have trouble providing protection in the pocket, so we drop back and try passing on first down. Again. and again? AND AGAIN? The running was working fine and they just refused to stick with it. Good lord that was frustrating to watch. We suck at third and long and we put ourselves in third and long over and over and over the first half. You want to try a bomb for six? Great, do that on 2nd and 3 or something. How about some easy passes and establishing a rythym and getting some confidence instead of trying to do the opposite? Brutal. So glad we adjusted eventually in the 2nd half and went with up tempo.</p><p></p><p>When I think back on the defense I think of two or three things. Our secondary looked over-matched. We had blown coverages and there were times when their receivers were all alone in an empty field. I wondered how that could be happening (I mean I knew we had a couple questions at linebacker but I didn't know we were starting all those freshmen at the time). And while our defense got gashed plenty on Saturday, they DID come through with some very key stands and grabbed some turnovers to boot. Those guys have a LOT to be proud of, especially when you think of how long those Fr had to practice and prepare with the 1's. And 7 of 11 were Fr and So with 3 tru Fr? That's nuts. Kent St was better than expected and our young D learned a lot and fast. Please bring back the starters for at least the second half this Saturday.</p><p></p><p>My takeaways were something like Rod Smith needed to get to know his kids and he did. Adjustments were made, the kids answered the call and we got a W (I mean if we lose that game almost everyone and I mean almost EVERYONE loses their #$@@ on this board and people are screaming hotseat). That W wasn't that big of a deal, but an L would have been catastrophic imho. I'm so sad to have learned Dudek is out. Nothing but respect for that young man. I wish him the very best. Williams or Stampley ready to pick up the slack?</p><p></p><p>Hope our D is back for game 2 and the youngsters can learn from a comfortable lead this time. That was a helluva an opener. BTN was nothing but complimentary which kind of freaked me out. I'm guessing none of them watched the game. =)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="lexwaldez, post: 1409269, member: 9817"] With regards to Saturday, I expected a LOT more out of the first half offense having been to most of the practices this fall. The second half is EXACTLY what I had been expecting to see. I didn't boo, but I couldn't blame the crowd for doing it, and I don't think they were booing the players. I felt, at least where we were sitting, that we were all frustrated with the play calling. We have a stable full of amazing running backs, we have a mobile QB that can run, we have trouble providing protection in the pocket, so we drop back and try passing on first down. Again. and again? AND AGAIN? The running was working fine and they just refused to stick with it. Good lord that was frustrating to watch. We suck at third and long and we put ourselves in third and long over and over and over the first half. You want to try a bomb for six? Great, do that on 2nd and 3 or something. How about some easy passes and establishing a rythym and getting some confidence instead of trying to do the opposite? Brutal. So glad we adjusted eventually in the 2nd half and went with up tempo. When I think back on the defense I think of two or three things. Our secondary looked over-matched. We had blown coverages and there were times when their receivers were all alone in an empty field. I wondered how that could be happening (I mean I knew we had a couple questions at linebacker but I didn't know we were starting all those freshmen at the time). And while our defense got gashed plenty on Saturday, they DID come through with some very key stands and grabbed some turnovers to boot. Those guys have a LOT to be proud of, especially when you think of how long those Fr had to practice and prepare with the 1's. And 7 of 11 were Fr and So with 3 tru Fr? That's nuts. Kent St was better than expected and our young D learned a lot and fast. Please bring back the starters for at least the second half this Saturday. My takeaways were something like Rod Smith needed to get to know his kids and he did. Adjustments were made, the kids answered the call and we got a W (I mean if we lose that game almost everyone and I mean almost EVERYONE loses their #$@@ on this board and people are screaming hotseat). That W wasn't that big of a deal, but an L would have been catastrophic imho. I'm so sad to have learned Dudek is out. Nothing but respect for that young man. I wish him the very best. Williams or Stampley ready to pick up the slack? Hope our D is back for game 2 and the youngsters can learn from a comfortable lead this time. That was a helluva an opener. BTN was nothing but complimentary which kind of freaked me out. I'm guessing none of them watched the game. =) [/QUOTE]
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Illinois 31, Kent State 24 POSTGAME
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