Illinois is going to a bowl game!
The Illini will win the Big1G!
the list goes on and on . . .
Indiana 23, Illinois 20 Postgame
The Illini will win the Big1G!
the list goes on and on . . .
I am sure it has been talked about over and over about the catch by Hightower, but how in the world replay didn't see it and overturn the call on the field is beyond belief. There is a picture of Hightower holding the ball in his gut with knees down and it is secure. As Illini fans were leaving the stadium all that was said was the Purdue and Md game of last year. Is this the def coordinators short coming? They are going to have to put more pressure on the qb. Our run def is tremendous. Under 40 yards total rushing. We should won this game hands down. On to the next game. Lot of orange in the stands last night and a lot of ILL INI chants.
Been like this for a long time. It’s why I pay very little attention to Illinois football.can’t wait for basketball to start
Would this offense use Daniel Barker if he had not transferred???
Good question — and I have no idea. Not that familiar with Lunney’s offensive system. But seems like we might have. Possibly in the series where Illini turned ball over on Downs?
Looks like Illini targeted TE six times — Rieman had four of them and Ford and Marchese one each.
Yes. One problem is Rieman is our only go to and he has to be a better running the route and catching. Ford so far has been a disappointment for a 4* I really don't know what's going on there???
Only if they wanted to score and win.
Yeah, TEs did not have a productive day in the passing offense when targeted. Only a few targets but multiple drops and a fumble
Just watched a lot of the replay on FS1 (yes, i'm an idiot). Our players lack discipline. There were unnecessary shoves (one that cost us 15 yards down the stretch), some called, some not called, and there was plenty of unnecessary chattering. The thing I loved about the old school coaches is when they grabbed a kid by the shirt, got in his face as soon as he came off the field, and said don't ever do that again or your a$$ will be benched. The basis of any good team is discipline, and we lack that at this point.
I jumped on the Barry Lunney bandwagon a bit too soon, but I think he has serious potential. There were play calls where I absolutely cringed, but the 2 that stood out, which broke our backs last night, was the lateral pass, and the 4th and 1 at the goal line. Hindsight is 20/20 but these exact play calls should never have been made, and had either been different, may have changed the outcome.
Dropped passes....this speaks for itself. How may were our players going to miss?
Officiating. The Big 10 (I have zero faith in Kevin Warren and think he's awful for the Big 10...just my opinion) needs to review this and see that there were at least 10-12 blatant officiating errors on both sides, sadly mostly our side.
So there is a ton of criticism to go around. I have faith that Bret Bielema will turn this thing around. I love that we went for it on 4th and 1, but hated the play call. You have to tell other teams that you are going for the jugular sometimes. Back in the day, Tom Osbourne, Lou Holtz, Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno would all go for the jugular, and they would all go for it instead of taking ties (when ties were a thing).
This team will be ok, and needs to take this loss as a hard lesson, and learn from the mistakes.
Go Illini!!
I jumped on the Barry Lunney bandwagon a bit too soon, but I think he has serious potential. There were play calls where I absolutely cringed, but the 2 that stood out, which broke our backs last night, was the lateral pass, and the 4th and 1 at the goal line. Hindsight is 20/20 but these exact play calls should never have been made, and had either been different, may have changed the outcome.
Dropped passes....this speaks for itself. How may were our players going to miss?
Officiating. The Big 10 (I have zero faith in Kevin Warren and think he's awful for the Big 10...just my opinion) needs to review this and see that there were at least 10-12 blatant officiating errors on both sides, sadly mostly our side.
So there is a ton of criticism to go around. I have faith that Bret Bielema will turn this thing around. I love that we went for it on 4th and 1, but hated the play call. You have to tell other teams that you are going for the jugular sometimes. Back in the day, Tom Osbourne, Lou Holtz, Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno would all go for the jugular, and they would all go for it instead of taking ties (when ties were a thing).
This team will be ok, and needs to take this loss as a hard lesson, and learn from the mistakes.
Go Illini!!
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I agree with your points , but let's be clear about the bold type above.....that shove and the falling down by the receiver was worthy of an academy award........barely touched him after the player gave the Illini player a shoulder bump in the chest ......
I agree COMPLETELY that the taunting and showboating has to STOP.......OK , i get it ....you made a good to great play , but act like you have been there before....We are not good enough to display anything closely resembling unsportsmanlike conduct and give up 15 yards and a first down...........
My mind is still reeling and I still ask myself and NL # 3 , how in the h*ll did we lose that game........
The call on Hightower's TD reception ( and it WAS a TD ) and the decision to go for it on 4th and 1 at the goal line were backbreakers.......the lateral call was iffy and could have gone either way , but there were so many non calls on Indinia that it would take volumes of discertation to completely tell the full story of this nauseating loss........this will hurt all season long and if I EVER see another prevent defense displayed by the Illini trying to protect a lead I honestly will regurgitate en mass ............................
i'm listening to David Gilmour's "" ON AN ISLAND ""CD but it's not relieving the post mortem pain I am in.......
We have much to be proud of , but we also have many mistakes to correct or this will be a major step back from last season.........JMHO
On the fourth and 1 p;ay They could have spread them out with 5 recv and gave DeVito a chance to run it or pass it. IN put 8 in the box and dared them to run up the middle. The whole crowd knew the play. What is going on with Luke Ford. I watched a couple of plays with him in TE out for a pass and just doesn't run good routes. On to next week.
Who ever the play caller is, should own up to, not knowing much, please…….JFL coaches know better!
We HOPE!
great quote from BB's presser- 'before you can win you have to stop losing' - sums up so much. they need to believe they are the better team and execute, coaches need to look in the mirror too (though i think more falls on the players executing than the calls themselves).
if you need help to pick yourself up, our team stats through 2 games (-small sample, wyoming not great, etc etc, i get it but still-) are significantly better almost across the board for offense and defense. so far, we have played better but still lots of work to do.
BB is turning this thing around but this isn't 3 pt turning a Honda Civic in a cul de sac, it's a container ship in open water (can take up to 1.8 miles to turn!).
i suppose in this analogy Big10 refs are left over, unmapped mines that randomly threaten to sink your ship
what irked me was that lateral was originally called incomplete. on replays no ref was on the line of sight and the ref that reversed and called fumble was several yards downfield. Not in a postition to overrule. The ref was also not in position on TD. Both the lateral and the Hightower TD were 'call stands' and the call on the field should have been TD and incomplete. that said, Devito needed to drop back another step to make sure it is forward
Cook
- Richmond, VA
We can lament pass drops, but Devito was off target and behind receivers on most of his throws. His throws were directly responsible for 2 TOs. The Ford fumble doesn't happen if the ball is delivered in front of him and in stride. Same with the one that IW tipped and got picked.
GallopingGhost
- Denver, CO
I don’t think Luke ford is ever going to pan out
What was worse last night? The announcers or the officiating?
-Brando didn't know what planet he was on.
-On more than one occasion, the refs would call a holding penalty on us and the slow mo replay would show an Indiana hand grabbing onto our face mask. Then there was the play that our defensive lineman had his helmet completely torn off. Then a blatant late hit on Devito. Culminated by the missed TD.
Disappointedly, just like last year we get a lead into the 4th quarter and the staff calls plays like we are up 3 TD's, with their main concern using up the clock. No killer instinct. We just get Chase beat up play after play.
-Brando didn't know what planet he was on.
-On more than one occasion, the refs would call a holding penalty on us and the slow mo replay would show an Indiana hand grabbing onto our face mask. Then there was the play that our defensive lineman had his helmet completely torn off. Then a blatant late hit on Devito. Culminated by the missed TD.
Disappointedly, just like last year we get a lead into the 4th quarter and the staff calls plays like we are up 3 TD's, with their main concern using up the clock. No killer instinct. We just get Chase beat up play after play.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
In regards to the officiating, I can understand missing calls in live action when you have 50 plus year old officials trying to keep up with the action of 18-22 year old football players. What I don’t get is the replay screw up. It was so obvious to any and all watching the game that it was a TD. How can you have that level of incompetence in the replay booth? Or is something else going on? Bizarre to me.
respectfully disagree. he completed 60% of his passes, add in the 3-4 balls that literally hit receivers on the hands it goes close to 70%. the majority of his passes were catchable; if you want off target and behind receivers watch last years replays. through 2 games, he's at 67% completion which is almost a standard of deviation better than last years QB play (closer to 50%).
DeVito is clearly the best QB we've had in years- does he need to get better? yes. did he make some bad throws? yes. (and while placement could have been better IW had a really weirdly mistimed jump that led to a bump, set, INT on a silver platter)
its only 2 games but so far i have 0 doubt we are in a better position to win from QB position with him behind center c/w any other recent option (also, he wisely threw the ball away, converted multiple key 1st downs scrambling)
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
The dropped pass by IW when he clearly was wide open and had a first down was a killer ................Devito did miss 2-3 passes by a wide margin....the pass to Ford and resultant fumble was poorly thrown and the tipped pass that was an interception in the red zone was also a killer........
He is a big upgrade from Peters and Art , but he has flaws .....I like his running skills also................
I believe all one has to do is to consider if this same replay was being conducted for a potential TD catch by a Michigan, Ohio St, Wisconsin, or Penn St receiver would the result have been the same? I think we all know the answer. I know some are going to disagree and dismiss what I am going to say, but IL just has zero respect in the B10 conference and has not at any point during my fandom (pushing 50 years). This issue now falls squarely on Josh Whitman. Now, granted, none of his predecessors were able to garner much respect for our program. And I also understand that it primarily comes from recruiting successes, coaching, and results on the field. But let me ask you; did the officiating of Kofi, as an example, ever improve from his first year here? I know Coach U referenced it many times. I also understand that Whitman has a huge hill to climb in this area. But at some point, an AD and administration have to change the perception of their programs with the league. Do you think someone like Barry Alvarez did not do that? Wisconsin was at the very bottom of the B10 conference for the first half of my life, they were automatic w's in both sports; but look where they are now. It can happen, but it takes a program - top to bottom - to change that perception. JMHO
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
It's not just internal pressure from Whitman. It also depends on how much sports media talks about it. How much traffic it gets on Twitter. They can ignore an internal dispute from a team that doesn't have much national pull, but likely won't want the embarrassment of having it aired out for a week. I remain convinced that that's the only way to apply meaningful pressure