I see 5-7 looking at that schedule, assuming week one is a lower opponent.
Looking ahead to 2024
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Caleb Griffin was a member of the 2018 Class
BZuppke
- Plainfield
Michigan is putting 15 plus guys in the nfl and may be under some kind of punishment. We’ll have them at home on the 100th anniversary of Red Granges big day. Winnable game.
Need to hit the portal hard. Need another decent backup QB. At least a couple OL. A WR. At least a couple DL. A LB or 2 and a couple of DB's. A lot to ask but BB and staff can't rely on returning talent to turn this around. If 2024 is not good BB will be on the hot seat for 2025 and any recruiting momentum will be gone. Critical year coming up.
illini80
- Forgottonia
Bret has probably been wise in using NIL money to keep our best players, but top portal players aren’t coming here without a paycheck. Unless we have a significant boost in money coming in I agree with you about our chances. Sadly, winning a couple more games this year could have made that much easier.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
it’s a reason to draw fans to an otherwise lousy draw opponent
Agree, at least matching 2022 success was key. It gets harder from here.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
You really have to be patient. What we have now that we haven’t had in a very long time is a very competent coach and a great AD. I don’t say this lightly. When you compare our modern history to Iowa and Wisconsin, it is dramatically different. Getting where we want to go will take some time. How much time? Who knows. We have gone from an inept embarrassment to a competent and competitive program. We went on the road last year and had scUM on the ropes. Same with Iowa this year. We are competing with our peers. That’s significant progress.
For those doom and gloomers look around our conference. Who would you trade Bret for? I’m confident he can out coach most all of them.
For those doom and gloomers look around our conference. Who would you trade Bret for? I’m confident he can out coach most all of them.
We don’t need to hit on every 4 star recruit but we need to hit the portal to find some talent and possibly some hidden gems. Look at Witherspoon as an example. We developed him into a top 5 draft pick so someone on the Illini staff after 2019 developed him into that. We may need to go out and look for an assistant or two that can evaluate talent, recruit and develop players.
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Until we see who comes back or transfers it is hard to say how good we can be. Also I expect some of our opponents losing a lot of talent. Transfer portal will be telling
I feel good about Luke at QB. I think him starting and then watching could be beneficial
RBs should be healthy and we should have 3 good backs
Wrs I am a little concerned with losing Washington and who knows what IW will do.
OL we will see but we return a lot
DL lots of talent leaving and we didn’t have much depth
Lbs I was hard on them earlier in the season but I think they could be a strength
Secondary should be a year older and better
Kickers we will see
We have the talent to compete. Now we need to focus on eliminating stupid mistakes
I feel good about Luke at QB. I think him starting and then watching could be beneficial
RBs should be healthy and we should have 3 good backs
Wrs I am a little concerned with losing Washington and who knows what IW will do.
OL we will see but we return a lot
DL lots of talent leaving and we didn’t have much depth
Lbs I was hard on them earlier in the season but I think they could be a strength
Secondary should be a year older and better
Kickers we will see
We have the talent to compete. Now we need to focus on eliminating stupid mistakes
Aaron Henry needs to go. Promote Leonard and hopefully we can address the many holes in our lineup with recruiting and some portal help. I don't love the portal. The grass is not always greener. Plus we are also likely to lose someone who could help us.
We also need depth. For example, injuries to our running backs were devastating. Our OL needs so much work.
We went 5-3 in one score games this year. We blew no one out. We need someone we can beat up on to make ourselves feel better and give some guys a chance to play. When you look at the schedule and there are no gimmies, you are the gimme.
C'mon Bret. Be better!
We also need depth. For example, injuries to our running backs were devastating. Our OL needs so much work.
We went 5-3 in one score games this year. We blew no one out. We need someone we can beat up on to make ourselves feel better and give some guys a chance to play. When you look at the schedule and there are no gimmies, you are the gimme.
C'mon Bret. Be better!
I would give BB some more time to get this to where we are consistently having winning seasons. More patience than urgency at this time.
illini80
- Forgottonia
I hope so, but I don’t see it happening soon. It will take congressional action imo and the courts will likely have to weigh in again. Both situations move like molasses.
Nick Saban says that because it makes the “haves” work harder to continue having.
The next big battle affecting college football (and basketball) is the court battle to have college athletes declared employees of the universities. Another step on the road to perdition and the loss of college athletics for all.
FBSchedules has EIU as the opener. Did they jump the gun?
I must admit I'm feeling as down as ever about the future of our football program. I like Bret but wish we could have hired him a few years sooner. It's a hell of an uphill battle to undo the decade plus of humiliating play. This season was good by our standards, but the big changes coming to the league just move the goal posts a little further
Ehh time will tell. I would give BB some time to get it going. Remember this program was in the dumps for a while so winning consistently just doesn’t happen overnight. It’s going to take a while.
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We missed a golden opportunity this year. With the conferences additions....it would benefit us to make our preconference schedule ridiculously easy from here on out. Finding 6 wins is going to be an issue. Three cupcakes, then find three winnable conference games.
Disheartening that Northwestern passed us up after one year.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Baby steps. 1. Achieve competence. 2. String together multiple bowl games. 3. String together multiple relevant bowl games and aim for B1G titles. 4. Then shoot for the moon. Each step is tougher than the last. We are just starting to achieve Step 1.
Stop with the common sense and reality check....s/
- Status