Looking ahead to 2018

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#152      
Deleted member 2438
Thanks Dan, it is nice to get the side of sports that has the feel good moments. I hope some of the professors read that news and watch the video.
 
#153      
thunderwear
Hey all, a friend and I have different perspectives on the upcoming football season, I think we win 3, he thinks we go bowling. His argument is that without injuries to key players through random parts of the season and bad offensive play calling we could have won several more games. Add to to it a year of training, new talent, and a more experienced cam thomas we win a few more games. What do you all think?
 
#154      
BananaShampoo
thunderwear said:
Hey all, a friend and I have different perspectives on the upcoming football season, I think we win 3, he thinks we go bowling. His argument is that without injuries to key players through random parts of the season and bad offensive play calling we could have won several more games. Add to to it a year of training, new talent, and a more experienced cam thomas we win a few more games. What do you all think?
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I'd veer more towards your prediction myself. We still little depth at key positions, QB is a question mark, and we'll still be one of the youngest teams in the country. I'm thinking four wins this year and we make a minor bowl game the next.
 
#155      
BZuppke
Nope. This is a bit of a break out year. Things click and we win a few close ones on the strength of our D. We break into the bowl scene and set the stage for 2019 and 2020 which will be big years. #WeWillWin!
 
#156      
FiveStar
thunderwear said:
Hey all, a friend and I have different perspectives on the upcoming football season, I think we win 3, he thinks we go bowling. His argument is that without injuries to key players through random parts of the season and bad offensive play calling we could have won several more games. Add to to it a year of training, new talent, and a more experienced cam thomas we win a few more games. What do you all think?
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The problem is, it’s football, so you’re gonna have injuries to key players. You have to have guys who can step in and maintain solid production when it happens.

Exhibit A: Philadelphia Eagles QB situation
 
#157      
Deleted member 654622
thunderwear said:
Hey all, a friend and I have different perspectives on the upcoming football season, I think we win 3, he thinks we go bowling. His argument is that without injuries to key players through random parts of the season and bad offensive play calling we could have won several more games. Add to to it a year of training, new talent, and a more experienced cam thomas we win a few more games. What do you all think?
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I am leaning more toward 2-4 wins. In the end, these are still kids pretty fresh out of HS playing against more physically and mentally developed players. 30 more pounds of muscle goes a long way on the football field
 
#158      
Ga65
Seems to me a huge amount will depend on quarterback play.
 
#159      
blmillini
thunderwear said:
Hey all, a friend and I have different perspectives on the upcoming football season, I think we win 3, he thinks we go bowling. His argument is that without injuries to key players through random parts of the season and bad offensive play calling we could have won several more games. Add to to it a year of training, new talent, and a more experienced cam thomas we win a few more games. What do you all think?
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I think your friend, like many others, is setting himself up for disappointment. I wholeheartedly believe the train is moving in the right direction, but we are simply too young, inexperienced and undeveloped to make a push for a bowl this soon. I hope your friend is right but I tend to think 2-4 is about all we can expect next season.
 
#160      
KBLEE
blmillini said:
I hope your friend is right but I tend to think 2-4 is about all we can expect next season.
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2 would be a major disappointment. Put me in the 3-5 camp.
 
#161      
thunderwear
FiveStar said:
The problem is, it’s football, so you’re gonna have injuries to key players. You have to have guys who can step in and maintain solid production when it happens.

Exhibit A: Philadelphia Eagles QB situation
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That was my argument.

But for his point, its not unheard of to keep Epstein, Williams, Phillips, and Cam Thomas for example (Cam Thomas for the first half of the season until someone else could step in).
 
#162      
UIGrad03
Sure, I would like to see a jump in the W column. But I think improvement in the product on the field, player IQ, competitiveness, execution of schemes, etc is going to be more important than some arbitrary number of wins.

2018 is a building block towards what we can all hope is a bowl appearance year in 2019.
 
#163      
mhuml32
4 wins and I'll start to see the progress. Need to find a way to win 2 B1G games.
 
#164      
BWBW
Two non conference wins, two conference wins, perhaps a lucky break and another win. That's all I'm looking for this season. If our bad luck continues, maybe only three total wins. 2018 is the transition year to a solid Big Ten team in 2019 and beyond.
 
#165      
thunderwear
I am curious as to the take of people in here:

I was talking to a prominent person inside a top BIG program athletic department and asked if Lovie would be able to turn around Illinois' program. Without hesitation he said no. He said that Lovie would be able to consistently win bowl games and once in awhile compete for the Big West, but suggested that Illinois' fanbase would not accept that.

When I asked him why he was so sure, he said it is mostly administrative. He said that when he had worked at Illinois, it was by far one of the slowest moving administrations at any school he has been with and he has been with a lot of schools.

I don't know much about this, but it starts me wondering if this is why it seems like our coaching searches are taking forever. Any thoughts on this?
 
#166      
blmillini
thunderwear said:
I am curious as to the take of people in here:

I was talking to a prominent person inside a top BIG program athletic department and asked if Lovie would be able to turn around Illinois' program. Without hesitation he said no. He said that Lovie would be able to consistently win bowl games and once in awhile compete for the Big West, but suggested that Illinois' fanbase would not accept that.

When I asked him why he was so sure, he said it is mostly administrative. He said that when he had worked at Illinois, it was by far one of the slowest moving administrations at any school he has been with and he has been with a lot of schools.

I don't know much about this, but it starts me wondering if this is why it seems like our coaching searches are taking forever. Any thoughts on this?
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First, sounds like a pretty stupid comment since he said it could not be turned around but then said he would be able to consistently win bowl games and compete in the West. Umm... that is turning it around. We are never going to be consistently at the top of the big ten or competing for national championships.

Second, with respect to coaching searches/administration, I don't think that is a big revelation. We are always slow with respect to coaching searches due to the state of Illinois requirement to have the positions posted for so long before someone can be hired. However, I suspect the slowness now is more about Lovie taking his time and performing a full evaluation. Sometimes that might mean you miss and sometimes it just means you didn't do anything hasty.

Who knows if Lovie will be able to make it happen or not but it sounds to me like your contact might have been a bitter, babbling fool because his statements sound contradictory.
 
#167      
TheGMan
thunderwear said:
I am curious as to the take of people in here:

I was talking to a prominent person inside a top BIG program athletic department and asked if Lovie would be able to turn around Illinois' program. Without hesitation he said no. He said that Lovie would be able to consistently win bowl games and once in awhile compete for the Big West, but suggested that Illinois' fanbase would not accept that.

When I asked him why he was so sure, he said it is mostly administrative. He said that when he had worked at Illinois, it was by far one of the slowest moving administrations at any school he has been with and he has been with a lot of schools.

I don't know much about this, but it starts me wondering if this is why it seems like our coaching searches are taking forever. Any thoughts on this?
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Umm I'll take that "non-turn around" any day of the week. That's all I want or expect from Illinois football.

Also, I am by no means an insider, but from everything I've seen/heard about Whitman, slow does not sound like it will be acceptable. Let's not forget that along with our coaches, Whitman is also in the middle of changing the culture to a winning culture.
 
#168      
Deleted member 654622
TheGMan said:
Umm I'll take that "non-turn around" any day of the week. That's all I want or expect from Illinois football.

Also, I am by no means an insider, but from everything I've seen/heard about Whitman, slow does not sound like it will be acceptable. Let's not forget that along with our coaches, Whitman is also in the middle of changing the culture to a winning culture.
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I think that is the key here. It really seems like JW is the right guy for this gig and is really moving us in the right direction
 
#169      
Illiniaaron
thunderwear said:
I am curious as to the take of people in here:

I was talking to a prominent person inside a top BIG program athletic department and asked if Lovie would be able to turn around Illinois' program. Without hesitation he said no. He said that Lovie would be able to consistently win bowl games and once in awhile compete for the Big West, but suggested that Illinois' fanbase would not accept that.
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This goes down as an early entry in "dumbest comment of 2018" contest. We would all be hopping around and cheering if this happened. Does this idiot not know what has gone on here the past 6-7 years?
 
#170      
Illini_1979
TheGMan said:
Umm I'll take that "non-turn around" any day of the week. That's all I want or expect from Illinois football.

Also, I am by no means an insider, but from everything I've seen/heard about Whitman, slow does not sound like it will be acceptable. Let's not forget that along with our coaches, Whitman is also in the middle of changing the culture to a winning culture.
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I would argue that that JW is still in the early stages of changing the culture. But it is happening!
 
#171      
thunderwear
blmillini said:
First, sounds like a pretty stupid comment since he said it could not be turned around but then said he would be able to consistently win bowl games and compete in the West. Umm... that is turning it around. We are never going to be consistently at the top of the big ten or competing for national championships.

Second, with respect to coaching searches/administration, I don't think that is a big revelation. We are always slow with respect to coaching searches due to the state of Illinois requirement to have the positions posted for so long before someone can be hired. However, I suspect the slowness now is more about Lovie taking his time and performing a full evaluation. Sometimes that might mean you miss and sometimes it just means you didn't do anything hasty.

Who knows if Lovie will be able to make it happen or not but it sounds to me like your contact might have been a bitter, babbling fool because his statements sound contradictory.
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In fairness to him, I know nothing about the world of college athletics and so any misconstrued language is my lack of knowledge.

In regards to the turn around, he thinks we can get to the 6-8 win category of teams, which means that every once in awhile, the stars align and we compete for the west. He definitely does not think that Illinois will compete with the likes of Ohio State/Alabama/etc. Given his stature and where he is, competing means competing for national titles.
 
#172      
the Castle on Daniel
Consistently winning bowl games would very much be considered turning this program around! I wonder what our record would need to be for Memorial Stadium to consistently sell out. It's not a very big stadium, so I'd think regularly achieved 8-4 seasons would do the trick. 7-5 would fill it up enough to make pano shots possible on TV without totally embarrassing the program's lack of a following.
 
#173      
thunderwear
Illiniaaron said:
This goes down as an early entry in "dumbest comment of 2018" contest. We would all be hopping around and cheering if this happened. Does this idiot not know what has gone on here the past 6-7 years?
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I am not sure that most of our fanbase would be content with perennial bowl game qualification. Although I can only speak for the handful of big donors that I am friends with, they aren't content with a consistent bowl team. Most of them want National Title competition. If we have it in Basketball, but not football, I think it does alleviate the pressure.
 
#174      
illinoistradition
Illinibatt said:
The team won back-to-back bowls in 2010-11 and 2011, was selling out the stadium up until at least early November on the last season, but it still got the entire coaching staff fired.

So, I can see why an outsider would confuse what our 'fanbase would accept' or consider a 'turnaround' at this point.
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There was not a single sell out in either of those seasons. Even the OSU game, with being 6-0, ranked #17, and playing against a fan base that travels as well as any other in the nation, still had a few thousand empty seats. The last sell out (at least legitimately) would have been either the Michigan game in 2007 or the EIU game in 2008 (though that one may not have quite reached it)
 
#175      
the Castle on Daniel
Wasn't the 2016 game vs UNC also a sell out? They don't happen often, but they do happen :D. No sell outs from 2012-2016 is depressing though.

I haven't watched much basketball this year, but from the games I have seen, doesn't seem like the crowds are filling up Assembly Hall either. Dark times for us devoted to the O&B...
 
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