Illinois 52, Western Illinois 3 Postgame

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#51      
Perfect opening game for the fans and coaches. Covered and took care of business but still plenty to coach up on film and for Bret to light there you know what’s up.

First drive their motions and shifts gave us fits really just with our communication which was good for us to see. Linebackers got that shored up real quick.

I’ll have to go back and rewatch it but I’m pretty sure we ran Cover 1 the entire game haha. Very vanilla, a few D line stunts but mostly just letting Gabe do his thing.(which you can do against western)

The starters stayed in on offense because Bret was pissed at some of their effort(up front mostly).

Some good stuff all around from Luke, the RBs and Receivers. Some stuff to clean up too. Justin can’t assume Luke isn’t throwing that ball just because he’s still holding it as he’s splitting the safeties. Luke also messed up some timing on a couple other deep balls but not too concerned.
Any word on the Clark injury?
 
#53      
Waaaayyyyy tooo early to say that. If Patterson doesn't step up then we got Juice Clark and Heckel right there.
 
#54      
Obviously a nice game by Illini and a lot of good things to build upon. I’m not going to get too carried away though. It is Western Illinois after all. Last year NIU, which finished 4-4 in MAC, beat WIU by 39 in its opener. And Indiana beat them 77-3 and had 6 sacks. That said, looking forward to seeing the Illini continue a successful year with a win over Duke.
 
#56      
Feagin is to slow at line of scrimmage. I love the young man. But should be playing a different position. For the love of Football slide Luke , slide.
 
#60      
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A glorious start to a much anticipated 2025 season result's in a 52-3 victory over Western Illinois..................The lads were up for this game from the opening kickoff and led 31-0 at the half....................

Luke Altmyer with a 17-21 night , didn't catch how many yards..................
Laughery with a 100 + yard rushing total.......
Bowick with 2 TD receptions in his Illini debut......................
Hank Beatty with a Red Grange record breaking punt return total of 133 yards and a TD.........
Defense played tough all game long especially on that goal line stand on a 1st and goal from the half yard line keeping wiu to a FG........
Jacas was a beast with 5 tackles and I think 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble..............
The pass defense was tight all game long also.............................

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great game pru............we kicked some arse as you said we needed too.........we really really did....call you later babe..........

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yes babe , we punched them in the mouth and they whimpered big time.....I await your call my love.................

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now the competition level will get tougher especially on the road next week but I saw a complete team win tonight .........................

1-0 guys and gals..........................

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I'm basking in the afterglow of this new season starting off with a 52-3 thrashing by the Illini.......been a while saying something like that hasn't it ?
Excellent spiral🤠
 
#62      
It seems our D shook off the rust after it got a couple series in. I was a bit concerned at the beginning of the game.
 
#63      
Same official who called offensive PI in the end zone. Another reason we need AI and robots.
 
#65      
Yeah, but the refs made up for it with the Jacas strip sack.
 
#66      
I don't know where to start. Kaden is huge and chiseled and super strong. That short TD run showed intense strength and power. Laughery is faster than I thought. Two targets to Elzy and two catches. He has more size and strength than a typical wideout. Let's hope he gets more and more involved in Altmyer's playbook. We have a super tight end. Luke was on target with his passes, but then he had so much time to wait till somebody got open.
 
#68      
How can one be called for a late hit out of bounds if their feet are both in bounds (which they clearly were). I don't tend to complain about bad calls, but that one was atrocious!
Someone asked earlier if a targeting call will ever go our way. I totally understand that sentiment.

But on this play there was also helmet to helmet contact, uncalled. I felt the same as you about the late hit call but wondered if it was a ref calling a lesser penalty because he (or she, had some female officials last night) did not feel a full target was warranted.

Analogous to a cop saying you were doing 20 over but he was going to ticket you for 10 over.
 
#70      
^^ btw the 2009 home opener was not on Labor Day weekend, it was the week after Labor Day.

I believe the WIU game was the biggest Labor Day Weekend crowd in 30 years (1995 vs Michigan, 70,193, in pre-renovated Memorial). Go Illini

Took quite awhile for everyone to get in which is understandable for a Friday game but it filled up pretty nicely and there was definitely a lot more energy compared to other early season games from years past. I've been to so many game where everyone sits on their hand quietly the whole game but even against a team everyone knew we would dominate there was more crowd engagement which was awesome to see. Can't wait for Western Michigan!
 
#72      
I think I’m really to excited to call Justin Bowick J-Bow from here on out.
Good win last night. Very vanilla, but got done what needed to be done. I thought you could tell when the intensity was ratcheted up especially on the lines. I’m not worried, but it looked like the secondary was really going to through the motions. Hard to really get much of a read from a game like this.
 
#73      
Looks like some of the Western receivers were wide open? A couple of first half passes , with no Illini backs near. Great victory, but this secondary coverage needs to improve.
 
#74      
Took quite awhile for everyone to get in which is understandable for a Friday game but it filled up pretty nicely and there was definitely a lot more energy compared to other early season games from years past. I've been to so many game where everyone sits on their hand quietly the whole game but even against a team everyone knew we would dominate there was more crowd engagement which was awesome to see. Can't wait for Western Michigan!
They are gonna have to figure out this new addition of metal detectors. Took at least 4 times as long to get in. Whether it’s more scanners, more detectors, more help. Whatever. The attendance is only going to be higher.
 
#75      
They are gonna have to figure out this new addition of metal detectors. Took at least 4 times as long to get in. Whether it’s more scanners, more detectors, more help. Whatever. The attendance is only going to be higher.

I didn't think the metal detectors slowed things down much, we went right on through them. What slowed it down a lot was a couple things, bag checks, ticket scans, and everyone showing up right before game time. The first game with a lot of new people tends be slow since a lot of folks aren't prepared and normally for a Saturday game entrance times are a little more spread out.
 
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