He is physically a freak but I just wish he hit the holes harder and ran more physical. Josh was limited physically but he has great vision and was a load do bring down. He ran angry and would deliver blows to the defense.
Illinois 45, Duke 19 Postgame
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He is physically a freak but I just wish he hit the holes harder and ran more physical. Josh was limited physically but he has great vision and was a load do bring down. He ran angry and would deliver blows to the defense.
blackdog
- Champaign
The downside of Valentine as RB1 we saw on Saturday during pass protection where he was in the right place but got absolutely blown up by the blitzer and it forced Luke to scramble. That was on the pass to Bowick down at the 1.
To Feagin's credit...
He had a couple runs today where it looked like he was beginning to figure things out.
But when he sidesteps or does any kind of pause in the backfield it looks slow and unnatural.
If his leg churning and ability to fall forward for a couple yards wasn't soo great ...
His 3rd/4th and short usage would be abysmal. Jordan Andersen deserves a shot at those carry chances IMO.
You'd think at his size he could really get a head of steam and ram through.
Maybe there is some timidness from the injuries keeping him from going all out?
He had a couple runs today where it looked like he was beginning to figure things out.
But when he sidesteps or does any kind of pause in the backfield it looks slow and unnatural.
If his leg churning and ability to fall forward for a couple yards wasn't soo great ...
His 3rd/4th and short usage would be abysmal. Jordan Andersen deserves a shot at those carry chances IMO.
You'd think at his size he could really get a head of steam and ram through.
Maybe there is some timidness from the injuries keeping him from going all out?
and 69 others
“Timeout South Carolina”
and 69 others
“Timeout South Carolina”
and 69 others
“Timeout South Carolina”
This is Ms. B’s lack of preparation in contradiction to her husband’s detailed prep. She’s gotta’ give him the, “Remember, you don’t tan like me and that North Carolina sun is going to be beating down on you for 6 hours; don’t forget the SPF 70 for faces I got you.”
and 69 others
“Timeout South Carolina”
I never thought I’d see the day that we’d be good enough to be called “overrated.” It made me so happy to hear that.
How many good backs want to be the 4th back at Illinois. Not to mention it’s not easy to rotate 4 different guys. Last year down the stretch it was basically Josh and Aiden.
It’s just a cop out for a bad prediction. We forced 5 takeaways and dominated the time of possession. All the keeps getting brought up is the yards.
and 69 others
“Timeout South Carolina”
I’d love to see if we could find a role for Anderson. He seems like a player.
and 69 others
“Timeout South Carolina”
I’m not disagreeing with you. I’m saying I think we could have used Josh yesterday, but Georgia did not feel similarly.
I’d still like to know the delta between what Illinois and Georgia offered him, if there was one.
Trust me in a huge Josh fan. I wish he stayed but it would be hard to split carries 4 ways and keep everyone happy.
Looking at the Georgia roster it looks like they returned one starting RB. Perhaps they looked at their roster and weren't convinced on the other guys so decided to sign another proven back. This "bad" decision, if it is one, is more on Georgia than on Josh.
Season is still young. Lots can change. I'm hoping for the best for him.
Season is still young. Lots can change. I'm hoping for the best for him.
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
(1) Biggest non-conference road win for Illinois since 2001
(2) Regardless of the complaints, frustration, points of weakness - beating a good team on the road with that level of decisiveness is practically unseen at Illinois.
(3) Ca'Lil Valentine fan bus is starting to get heavy. Join now before it's too late.
(4) Continuing the running back discussion: their pass blocking is so bad that playing Valentine is becoming more justifiable. He also can't block, but if Feagin and Laughery also cannot block, you just want Valentine dynamic play. But seriously, the RB pass blocking has been ghastly.
(5) Tough to face a great blitzing team like Duke/Diaz early on with the limited contact in preseason. Altmyer and the line struggled badly in the first half but it was so heartening to see the adjustments and excellent second half. Will make things a lot easier when good teams (Ohio State) introduce new blitz packages against Illinois to test the offense.
(6) An issue with the run game is that the right side has been surprisingly struggling. Both Henderson and Priestly have bad run blocking grades. Not sure if that is a tandem, feeling out process, but you hope they can improve moving forward.
(7) Beatty - wow - not much I can add from what hasn't already been expressed. Bowick is lethal in the end zone. I'm still concerned about the season-long WR unit performance (what happens when teams run more man press outside of the red zone? or that Bowick gets full attention in the red zone?) but Beatty is doing everything before the red zone and Bowick is cashing it in. Keep it up, boys.
(8) Looking at snap counts - holy cow did the Illinois defense rotate in a lot of guys. Is that because of the heat? Or the depth of quality players? Probably both, but it's worth noting!
(9) There is fan angst because the defense doesn't play more aggressively. I get the reaction, but focus on whether Illinois is achieving their objective. Are they maintaining gaps? keeping the QB in the pocket? Forcing Duke to check down? As long as those objectives are being fulfilled, do what works.
(10) Defensive line is shaping up to be a star (Jacas) and a bunch of solid cast members. Love the deep rotation and maximizing performance down the stretch.
(11) Since the 2024 Nebraska game, teams completely ignored throwing at Xavier Scott. Then Minnesota and Michigan State started throwing at him again, with MSU having a lot of success. So far in 2025, teams haven't been as shy throwing at him. He's had some hiccups but he's still the best Illinois coverage man.
(12) Both teams suffered some injuries in that game. We likely won't know if they are serious until this coming Saturday.
(2) Regardless of the complaints, frustration, points of weakness - beating a good team on the road with that level of decisiveness is practically unseen at Illinois.
(3) Ca'Lil Valentine fan bus is starting to get heavy. Join now before it's too late.
(4) Continuing the running back discussion: their pass blocking is so bad that playing Valentine is becoming more justifiable. He also can't block, but if Feagin and Laughery also cannot block, you just want Valentine dynamic play. But seriously, the RB pass blocking has been ghastly.
(5) Tough to face a great blitzing team like Duke/Diaz early on with the limited contact in preseason. Altmyer and the line struggled badly in the first half but it was so heartening to see the adjustments and excellent second half. Will make things a lot easier when good teams (Ohio State) introduce new blitz packages against Illinois to test the offense.
(6) An issue with the run game is that the right side has been surprisingly struggling. Both Henderson and Priestly have bad run blocking grades. Not sure if that is a tandem, feeling out process, but you hope they can improve moving forward.
(7) Beatty - wow - not much I can add from what hasn't already been expressed. Bowick is lethal in the end zone. I'm still concerned about the season-long WR unit performance (what happens when teams run more man press outside of the red zone? or that Bowick gets full attention in the red zone?) but Beatty is doing everything before the red zone and Bowick is cashing it in. Keep it up, boys.
(8) Looking at snap counts - holy cow did the Illinois defense rotate in a lot of guys. Is that because of the heat? Or the depth of quality players? Probably both, but it's worth noting!
(9) There is fan angst because the defense doesn't play more aggressively. I get the reaction, but focus on whether Illinois is achieving their objective. Are they maintaining gaps? keeping the QB in the pocket? Forcing Duke to check down? As long as those objectives are being fulfilled, do what works.
(10) Defensive line is shaping up to be a star (Jacas) and a bunch of solid cast members. Love the deep rotation and maximizing performance down the stretch.
(11) Since the 2024 Nebraska game, teams completely ignored throwing at Xavier Scott. Then Minnesota and Michigan State started throwing at him again, with MSU having a lot of success. So far in 2025, teams haven't been as shy throwing at him. He's had some hiccups but he's still the best Illinois coverage man.
(12) Both teams suffered some injuries in that game. We likely won't know if they are serious until this coming Saturday.
When’s the last time we won our first road game back to back years? It was a very big talking point before last year’s Nebraska game.
Eli Coenen just had an 80 PFF grade against Duke and didn’t start for Bemidji State last year
Talk about an eye for talent and a diamond in the rough- this staff is doing some good things
Talk about an eye for talent and a diamond in the rough- this staff is doing some good things
4th floor for me, too but in 1970, the year they tried the idiotic lottery idea (because UI was getting too elitist! like that's a bad thing), then just admitted everybody they were going to weed out using the lottery. Made for huge classes and lots of pressure for profs to flunk people out. There was a lottery for the Army draft that year as well that got me when I ran out of funds after my frosh year and I had to join the Navy, then used the GI bill all the way to second year of grad school because I'd already done my frosh year. No women there in the dorm back then, unfortunately and certainly very few in my STEM classes.
Still too small to effectively pass block IMO
yes but so much more dynamic than anyone else. would love to see more screens/swing passes for KV to get him in space though it was awesome to see him score on a run up the middle too.
just need to get him to the 2nd level and let him go to work
The name of the game as a RB is as a runner. Way too dynamic to not get at least 10-15 carries IMO.
I think there has been success pitching it to him. He gets a running start.
100% this. It's exactly what separated Dayne, Bettis & Derrick Henry from others.
This team is pretty good, but I have 3 points to make.
1. Cleanup the silly penalties
2. They better start protecting Luke or they will wind up losing him for the season. He took some hard hits.
3. I don't know who was playing on the left end on offense but he got beat 5 times by the defender and all he could do was try to grab him, thus Luke wound up with the defender in his face most of the day.
1. Cleanup the silly penalties
2. They better start protecting Luke or they will wind up losing him for the season. He took some hard hits.
3. I don't know who was playing on the left end on offense but he got beat 5 times by the defender and all he could do was try to grab him, thus Luke wound up with the defender in his face most of the day.
Eddie George
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Yep. Spot on IMO. Announced attendance was 24k in a 35k stadium. Lol. No way. There may have been around 15-17k top and we composed a large part of that. On the visitors side of the stadium it felt like an Illini home game.
BTW, the Duke partisans we encountered were gracious. Nice group of guys behind us who congratulated us on the win. Then, as we were leaving the horseshoe end of the stadium afterward near Cameron Indoor, several guys who looked like basketball players intersected our path in the end zone plaza and, seeing our orange attire, offered a sincere "Nice win, guys" and props.
On the flip side there was an obnoxious group of 8-10 Duke supporters in the next section over (maybe a dozen rows up from the sideline) who heckled our bench continuously. I felt badly for anyone in O&B around them. Early in the 4th I looked over at one of the most vociferous of this group, who had been using a small cheerleader megaphone to amplify his catcalling all afternoon, and he's berating our players loudly while holding an infant in one arm. In the blazing 90+ degree sun. Combination lol/SMH.
Really glad we went. Although we looked largely meh in the first half, the salient difference in the BB era is that we're very well-coached, force mistakes, and capitalize on them. I kept marveling at how good our special teams are, then thought back to the ST nightmare of the Zook era, and gave thanks anew for where we are. And when we finally started wearing them down our O&D were like hot knives through butter. That fourth quarter was fun.
It's pretty great to see how well our fans travel. Can't wait for our Bloomington road trip in 12 days.
- Status