Indiana 63, Illinois 10 Postgame

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#301      
Juju
You ever wake up the morning after a really bad day and, for the first 10 seconds or so after opening your eyes, completely forget about all the bad stuff that happened the previous day and feel pretty good...then your memory of said previous day suddenly kicks in and you go from feeling pretty good to, "Aw crap, that happened" and an immediate wave of depression rushes over you? Yep, that was me this morning. I guess that's Illini fandom in a nutshell though huh?

Week Region GIF
 
#302      
Illiniindian
Genesis said:
This is a reasonable perspective only if you want to erase all context. There were recognizable patterns that contributed to the size of this beatdown that have existed for weeks and will contribute to our next losses if not recognized and corrected. Those are worth discussion here. As they say, hope is not a strategy.
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Great point. But can they be corrected? I really am not sure if we have the talent level to compete with the elite teams.
 
#303      
Calvin
I said in the pregame thread that Cignetti reminded me of Saban. Lotta posts defending the Illini chances didn't age well, that's for sure.

Anyway, I think 2 things can be true - we're a very good team with some holes that covered them, up to now, and laid an egg.
Indiana is legit and played their game.

This game is going to haunt guys. BB has his work cut out to for him to get them ready and their confidence built back up.
 
#304      
BrownTown
We haven't had good offensive line play in 5 years that Bret has been here. I'm sorry but it's just true.

Last year for a stretch run they played well. Pat Bryant heroics, a routing of Northwestern and an overrated USC team helped us forget what was very mediocre last year.

As for selling your returners making a better case for their pro career.

-JC Davis is destroying his draft stock by coming back.
-Melvin Priestly ....well does Melvin stuff
-Kreutz may get a camp invite at best for his name recognition.
-Gabe feasted on FCS and has been non-existent in the Big time.
-Xavier Scott further cemented his injury prone reputation
-Bailey has been good but will the league want him as an early entrant? Saw quite a few plays he gave up on expecting the Cornerback to make the tackle
 
#305      
SummerofGeorge
Would love to be a fly on the wall of the IU coaches room. They saw things that they schemed for that we were unprepared to deal with. If they saw it why couldn’t we? Better see it pretty freaking soon. And I used to give kids grace for performances like this but with millions of dollars going into your bank account comes millions more expectations to produce. Want to make big boy money, step up and produce like a big boy.
 
#306      
foby
My playoff dreams walked down the halls of my high school in it's underwear last night. Now my dream ceiling is 9 wins...and that is the ceiling.
 
#307      
Redbull
Pikeillinifan said:
I know these are young kids, and until today the staff has helped us become respectable, but with tens of millions of $ going into this team, this kind of performance isn’t something that can be accepted.

This is a whole new level of college football, and crazy amounts of $ are involved - and I’m sure that means all new levels of accountability.

Beat USC.
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Tens of millions of $ ?? Illinois fb was in the bottom third of NIL and only this year broke into the top half. Accountability yes, but tens of millions I think is an overstatement
 
#308      
rdk573
SummerofGeorge said:
Would love to be a fly on the wall of the IU coaches room. They saw things that they schemed for that we were unprepared to deal with. If they saw it why couldn’t we? Better see it pretty freaking soon. And I used to give kids grace for performances like this but with millions of dollars going into your bank account comes millions more expectations to produce. Want to make big boy money, step up and produce like a big boy.
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Hmmm..Their coach mentioned pre-game that they saw (paraphrasing) that our lines were awful..When you can dominate the line of scrimmage on each side of the ball, basically you can do anything you want on offense and defense..And that's pretty much what they did..
 
#309      
Illini2010-11
Calvin said:
I said in the pregame thread that Cignetti reminded me of Saban. Lotta posts defending the Illini chances didn't age well, that's for sure.

Anyway, I think 2 things can be true - we're a very good team with some holes that covered them, up to now, and laid an egg.
Indiana is legit and played their game.

This game is going to haunt guys. BB has his work cut out to for him to get them ready and their confidence built back up.
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The biggest issue is that the Illini B1G schedule is heavily front loaded (even the "should win" Purdue game is on road). There really isn't the get right game available.

The schedule is still relatively manageable, but having your four hardest games in a 5 game stretch to open conference play was the major question I had going into season. The season could come off the rails if not careful.

I always said splitting Duke/IU would be acceptable. The problem is that I did not envision what we witnessed last night and the mounting injuries.

I said we would know more about this team after the game last night (and we do...floor has been lowered). We will know even more next week about the culture of the program. Last night reminded me of a worse nightmare of the Oregon game (and we laid a goose egg a week later at home to Minnesota). I expect a cleaner product next week, and we need to figure out a way to keep a cleanish pocket for Altmyer. Otherwise, this season can start slipping away fast.
 
#310      
BrownTown
foby said:
My playoff dreams walked down the halls of my high school in it's underwear last night. Now my dream ceiling is 9 wins...and that is the ceiling.
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USC win is a pipe dream short of Bailey getting cleared from a concussion (not happening)
Xavier Scott making a miraculous comeback (😒)
Cox should be okay
Patterson may be alright? Is that a win?
Juice isn't playing this year. I have no optimism about 4 weeks of "maybe next week" talk.
Mac Resetich learns to tackle?

Purdue is gonna be a dogfight.
Ohio State could be done before halftime.
 
#311      
The Dying Illini
aiwpfan said:
Worst performance by an Illinois team since 2005.
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People forget Lovie lost 63-0 at home vs Iowa.

This is easily the most embarrassing loss of the Bielema era and they have serious questions they need to ask and coaches/players they need to evaluate.

(FIRE BART MILLER WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE 3 YEARS AGO)

But they have a huge opportunity to respond next weekend Big Noon kickoff or not.

All off season they preached depth and development down the pipe… well let’s see it.

Good teams play 1 week at a time and move forward. We’ll see if they are a good team or not next Saturday in Champaign.
 
#312      
Old.Edgy
Well that probably means we won't have to worry about BLj getting hired for a HC job then...
 
#313      
Pikeillinifan
Redbull said:
Tens of millions of $ ?? Illinois fb was in the bottom third of NIL and only this year broke into the top half. Accountability yes, but tens of millions I think is an overstatement
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It's not just the roster; there are coaches' salaries, funds to feed the kids elite nutrition, and investment into the stadium and facilities. I haven't even mentioned the $100M donation for Gies Memorial Stadium. Rev share is happening; it's about $20M this year, with 75% or so of that going to football players—NOT including NIL money.

The football team funds the entire athletic department, saying revenue growth is critical to all sports at Illinois in an understatement.

The critical nature of our performance can't be overstated. In a few years, a new TV deal will need to be negotiated, and that will determine massive revenue streams for us. We are at a significant disadvantage if we're not in the top 4-6 teams. There are whispers of uneven rev share, with the top teams getting more of that media deal; that could equate to tens of millions $ a year.

So, the investment is enormous and way more than people realize, and its critical need for it to pay off is massive.
 
#314      
Old.Edgy
BrownTown said:
USC win is a pipe dream short of Bailey getting cleared from a concussion (not happening)
Xavier Scott making a miraculous comeback (😒)
Cox should be okay
Patterson may be alright? Is that a win?
Juice isn't playing this year. I have no optimism about 4 weeks of "maybe next week" talk.
Mac Resetich learns to tackle?

Purdue is gonna be a dogfight.
Ohio State could be done before halftime.
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I think we can still make a bowl game !
 
#315      
The Dying Illini
BrownTown said:
For a guy that rests his hat on his ability to produce top O lines...it just astounds me he hasn't moved on from Miller.

Henry should be firmly placed on the hot seat, however, I think he'll be allowed a long leash to earn that back.
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I’ll continue to scream it from the mountain top but Bart Miller absolutely cannot be on the staff next year.

If he makes it to the end of the season I’ll be surprised. Multiple years of being bailed out by skill positions playing Superman. Against real competition (and even lesser to an extent) they have continually struggled to consistently establish a run game.

Ask yourselfs is Bart Miller the best you can do at the OL position coach (arguably the most important behind QB)?

For Christ sake Greg Schiano pulled Pat Flaherty from the New York Giants. They can ABSOLUTELY do better than Bart Miller.
 
#316      
Todd99
Chase321 said:
I am always fascinated by the number of fans that scream about how this is "unacceptable" or there must be greater "accountability." Do they think that BB, Whitman or others find it acceptable?

On a different note, what does this do to attendance next week? I fear tickets to the USC and OSU games will be flooding the secondary market.
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I’ll be there!
 
#317      
BrownTown
The Dying Illini said:
I’ll continue to scream it from the mountain top but Bart Miller absolutely cannot be on the staff next year.

If he makes it to the end of the season I’ll be surprised. Multiple years of being bailed out by skill positions playing Superman. Against real competition (and even lesser to an extent) they have continually struggled to consistently establish a run game.

Ask yourselfs is Bart Miller the best you can do at the OL position coach (arguably the most important behind QB)?

For Christ sake Greg Schiano pulled Pat Flaherty from the New York Giants. They can ABSOLUTELY do better than Bart Miller.
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We would have been calling for his job last year if it hadn't been for Luke having JUST enough time to deliver the ball to Pat Bryant at Rutgers.

That one play (though he barely had time to get the ball off) really helped us forget that he had NO TIME in the pocket all day before that play.

If there is any good thing that comes from this embarrassment? Bret will have to look internally-- and seriously-- at this staff, our depth, our recruiting, etc. and make some hard decisions that could be pushed off with a run of the mill 27-20 loss.
 
#318      
gibb52
I get the criticism of Lunney but what play are you going to call when you can't block anybody? We couldn't run the ball. We couldn't pass protect. Their DL lived in our backfield the entire night. Pretty hard to scheme any kind of offense when you're getting run over on every snap.

There had better be some real competition for Oline spots at practice this week. And if we don't have anyone better than the 5 that were out there so far this year we've got big problems going forward keeping any kind of momentum.
 
#319      
BrownTown
Old.Edgy said:
I think we can still make a bowl game !
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The remaining teams on the schedule certainly make that attainable. Though I think we lose one of these games.

Purdue
Rutgers
Maryland
Wisconsin
Northwestern
 
#320      
STLflyinIllini
Old.Edgy said:
I think we can still make a bowl game !
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sure, but based on expectations....6-6 would be disappointing.
Unless something drastically changes, we will be scratching and clawing to 6-6/7-5.
Purdue and Rutgers - we should have a decent chance.
Wisconsin and Northwestern - we should hopefully be favored.
Mayland looks better than last year. If we don't improve, I doubt we will beat them.
I don't think we have a realistic shot vs USC, OSU, @Wash unless we see significant improvement in a short amount of time.
 
#321      
BrownTown
gibb52 said:
I get the criticism of Lunney but what play are you going to call when you can't block anybody? We couldn't run the ball. We couldn't pass protect. Their DL lived in our backfield the entire night. Pretty hard to scheme any kind of offense when you're getting run over on every snap.

There had better be some real competition for Oline spots at practice this week. And if we don't have anyone better than the 5 that were out there so far this year we've got big problems going forward keeping any kind of momentum
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You're not wrong. I would say we need to get Luke out on play action or roll outs. He looks to be seeing ghosts in the pocket even when there is adequate protection or the option to step up
 
#322      
Illini2010-11
BrownTown said:
You're not wrong. I would say we need to get Luke out on play action or roll outs. He looks to be seeing ghosts in the pocket even when there is adequate protection or the option to step up
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I would add that we need to find a way to get the ball in our best playmaker's hands. Beatty only had two touches last night. Lunney might need to get creative to get him more touches, especially if the line does not hold up to allow downfield throws.
 
#323      
Illinifan533
One loss and Illini fans are ready to jump off the ledge. The USC thread is already miserable. After thinking about last night, it’s established that Illinois is a second tier Big Ten team, which means they could win anywhere from 6-9 games depending on their schedule, health, and favorable bounces. Last year, the Illini had good fortune in all 3 phases. Got dominated by Oregon, and offensively outside of 2 drives struggled against Penn State who committed several mistakes to keep the game close, but otherwise we were good enough to compete with everyone else we faced. It’s a hard truth for us to accept but Cignetti is a top 5 coach and he has already made Indiana a top tier program, which we have struggled against the last few years. Bielema and the staff have done a good job developing the current roster into a competitive team, but they’re just not good enough to hang with the big boys because the talent isn’t there…yet. We need to have a solid season to retain the talented recruiting class we have coming in and build on that if we want the program to take the next step. This year may end up a lot like 2021 Iowa State, a team that returned almost all its starters and was considered a Big 12 and playoff favorite only to finish 7-6. If that does happen to the 2025 Illini, hopefully we don’t follow the steps of that Cyclone team that followed up 2021 with a 4-8 season before rebounding the next 3 seasons because I cannot bear to see the Crying Illini fans b*tch and moan about how Illinois is the only program in the world that loses football games and disappoints its fans.
 
#324      
ChiefKingfisher
I’m wondering if odd years are cursed for the Illini. 2022 and 2024 we exceeded expectations. 2023 and (thus far) 2025 we have not lived up to expectations. Not giving up on the season yet though. Performances against USC and Purdue will tell us who this team really is.
 
#325      
Illinifan533
People expecting another blowout loss to USC and expecting one against Ohio State, here’s this factoid. Indiana last year gave a similar beat down to Nebraska, who then gave Ohio State a fight in a 21-17 loss. Ohio State then later went on to easily handle Indiana. Bad games happen.
 
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