Illinois at Michigan State, Saturday, October 10th, 2:30pm CT, FS1

#26      
Illini2010-11
the juiceman cometh said:
Nobody was cowering in fear of Purdue. You all treat Fitz like he's the the reincarnation of Bear Bryant. This MSU team is worse than Purdue. No guarantee we win it, but this is the most likely win left on our schedule. Even if Fitz decides to finally prepare his players.
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Yes, this game and then @Maryland. Those are really the two games that the Illini will have a real shot. Win those two and get to 4-4 going into November. That is really best case scenario.

We will be underdogs in all November games. Sad reality of this season.
 
#29      
Ander1345
Why are we favored? They have a great home atmosphere and we just replaced our DC.

We also have an injury list longer rhan Santa's naughty list.
 
#31      
Illini2010-11
Ander1345 said:
Why are we favored? They have a great home atmosphere and we just replaced our DC.

We also have an injury list longer rhan Santa's naughty list.
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Less to do with us and more to do with how discombobulated MSU has been the last two weeks.

We have looked really bad, but MSU has looked dead in the water, averaging less than 10 points a game the last 3 games, while allowing around 30.
 
#32      
Fly Illini Fly!
Ander1345 said:
Why are we favored? They have a great home atmosphere and we just replaced our DC.
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They’ve scored 8.6 points per game against Power Conference opponents.
Ander1345 said:
We also have an injury list longer rhan Santa's naughty list.
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They lost their star RB for the year, who was their only offensive threat.

You’re only looking at one side of the coin.
 
#33      
RabidDawgClassic
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#35      
RML
Sounds like if we play like we did against OSU, we can win. But if we play like we did against Purdue, we could lose. Seems to me the x factor is Hauser. Will he bounce back, or is his confidence rattled?
 
#38      
KBLEE
RML said:
Sounds like if we play like we did against OSU, we can win. But if we play like we did against Purdue, we could lose. Seems to me the x factor is Hauser. Will he bounce back, or is his confidence rattled?
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Such an x factor people can't even be bothered to spell his name correctly.
 
#40      
fatt lacosse
i'm around MSU people a lot and let me tell you the vibes are in SHAMBLES around that program right now

their high point so far is not getting completely blasted by notre dame. they never led, but it took long enough to get away from them that they left it feeling some semblance of hope.

they've lost their best offensive player for the season and they weren't any good when he was healthy

purdue had at least shown something on offense in a couple games. i genuinely think they felt better going into their game against us than MSU does right now.
 
#44      
Illini2010-11
kmunt09 said:
Going 3-3 would do the heart some good. Especially with 14 days off afterward to dwell on.

ILL gets the W
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Agreed. Last week was the most important game of the season to date, and we lost.

Now this game becomes a must win for any chance to salvage the season.

I stated in the Purdue pregame thread that the Illini had to go 1-1 at worst through this two-week stretch to have any chance at a bowl. The product on the field does not back this argument (we look like a 5 win max team), but getting to 3-3 at least puts you in position to make a bowl game with a couple of upset wins (and two of them are at home -- 3 if you consider NW being more neutral).

A realistic goal for the month of October is to get to the November grind at 4-4. That means likely beating Michigan State and Maryland. The backs are against the wall now (if it wasn't already). If we lay another egg, we are likely looking at the prospects of 2-6 entering November.
 
#49      
TGB
Why this week? why not last week? Lunney running up the middle and using clock when we need 2 scores is inexcusable. I looked at my son's, and said they do know we're losing the game? looked like they were winning, and using clock.
 
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