I know this thread is about looking ahead to 2018, but here are some things I found interesting about 2017 that we can hopefully build upon in 2018 and beyond. There's a lot of detail, but I'll keep it high level. I'll try to provide additional information if anyone is interested.
1. The Illini lose big overall, but that doesn't tell the whole story...
The Illini were outscored by an average of 16 points this year. They managed to keep thing close at home, losing by an average of 11 points. Away games were a different story, with the Illini losing by an average of 23 points. Home B1G games were lost by an average of 18 points and away B1G games were lost by an average of 23 points.
Now here's where things get interesting. The Illini aren't getting blown out every quarter. When looking at all games played, the Illini are only outscored by an average of 4 points per quarter
I'm likely preaching to the choir here, but the Illini aren't playing horribly at home. Here's a breakdown for this past year's performance at home:
Q1: Outscored by 1
Q2: Outscored by 5
Q3: Outscored by 3
Q4: Outscored by 2
Things aren't as rosy for away games:
Q1: Outscored by 8
Q2: Outscored by 4
Q3: Outscored by 5
Q4: Outscored by 7
Slightly better showing for home B1G games:
Q1: Outscored by 2
Q2: Outscored by 11
Q3: Outscored by 3
Q4: Outscored by 3
Some work to be done regarding away B1G games:
Q1: Outscored by 8
Q2: Outscored by 3
Q3: Outscored by 3
Q4: Outscored by 10
Something that immediately jumped out to me was the pattern our opponents displayed. It seems the Illini come out hot at home, lose some traction in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and finish respectably, albeit leaving the match up with a loss.
The opposite is true on the road. The Illini come out sloppy, get it together in the 2nd and 3rd, and close poorly. This gives me hope! It tells me that our guys have the talent to hang with the B1G, we just have no depth. Obviously our lack of a true P5 offense really screwed us this year.
2. Our offense is particularly bad, but our defense needs work too...
As you'd know if you watched any of the games this year, our offense is particularly bad. Our lack of talent and depth at QB has allowed our opponents to out-gain us by over 25 passing yards for all games. Our opponents have thrown for 20 TDs across all games whereas the Illini have thrown for 8. We've also thrown nearly twice as many interceptions as our opponents across all games (19 for the Illini, 9 for opponents).
Our receivers are better than our QB. They're averaging 12.5 yards per reception where as our opponents have averaged 11.9 yards for all games. I cannot state this enough: We
really need a
real QB.
Our run game is just as lackluster as our passing one. We're getting beat on the ground by an average of 114 yards per game. Across all games, the Illini have ran the ball for 11 TDs whereas our opponents have ran for 27. It's not all bad news though! Our opponents run the ball for an average of 5.0 yards while the Illini run for an average of 3.4. If we can improve to average 4+ yards per run, that should give us enough wiggle room to run the ball for a first down against most defensive lines.
Again, our offense needs quite a bit of work, but I think the dysfunction on the offensive side of the ball masked a lot of issues on the defensive side. The Illini made 18 sacks across all games compared to 41 for our opponents
. Our defense managed 9 interceptions whereas our opponents made 19. Our offense can't move the ball and our defense isn't great at stopping our opponents from doing so, either.
3. The Fighting Illini "energy" is all but gone...
This is something that's a bit more challenging to address. Admittedly, I was not an Illini fan prior to enrolling. I'd been to maybe two or three football games as a kid in the 90s and early 00s and watched the '05 basketball team. Maybe it's just me romanticizing the past, but I vividly recall the fans being significantly more engaged back then. During my time in school, we had mostly awful football seasons, including the 2011 6-0 start, 0-6 finish. Even then, the fans were still mostly engaged. Games were fun, fans were loud, and people seemed to care. We weren't selling out all or even most of our games, but the stadium was still full enough that the cameramen could take sweeping shots of the stadium.
I've only made it down to Champaign for a football game a handful of times since graduating, but outside of the North Carolina game in 2016, the stadium has been mostly empty each time. The student section has looked depressing. The energy I witnessed 5 to 6 years ago is gone. The band doesn't seem to have the same effect on the crowd it did. The product on the field certainly doesn't help. There aren't swarms of orange-clad individuals outside the stadium. Most of the students on Green aren't even wearing orange as they barhop between Kam's and Joe's. They just don't seem to care at all. I understand that retiring the Chief and War Chant have really stripped the identity that had been built around the program, but no one seems interested in creating new traditions. I get these are things that take time, but I feel like things are already so different from when I was there, and I've only been out for 5 years. It just seems like there's a cultural divide between current Illinois students and alumni who were students as few as 4 years ago.
I think if we're truly interested in rehabilitating our football program, we need to begin the healing process and have an honest discussion about the identity of our athletic department. The athletic department talks a big game about tradition, but the Illini don't really have any tradition at this point. It just feels like we're in an awkward in between in all aspects of our revenue sports and identity. I don't know how we can fix one without addressing the other. The Chief is gone and I can live with that. I do think we should keep the 3-in-1 and I actually really enjoyed the War Chant, but I think it's time to stop harping on these issues and just move on. I'd be okay with rebranding Fighting Illini around US army vets and using Abe Lincoln in some fashion. Would also allow for the continued CHIEEEEF chants during the 3-in-1 as Abraham Lincoln was Commander in CHIEEEEF
.
I've also thought about using the Illuminati in some fashion since our administration is so "woke" and enlightened
. I haven't ironed out the details, but Illuminati isn't a stretch from Illini. I think we should remain the Fighting Illini, but incorporating some aspects of the Illuminati could get interesting. It seems a lot of younger adults are into wild conspiracy theories such as this. If we can get the students engaged and interested in attending games, it will delver a much needed booster shot to this program. Illinois is not sexy ATM. We need a passionate fan base if we ever want that to change.