Maryland 20, Illinois 17 Postgame

#52      
Walking by the new Smith Football Center after this train wreck. What is the point of spending millions on facilities when you have players who quit and coaches who are brain dead?
 
#54      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Only in weirdo last 30 seconds of half type situations should you even consider punting on 4th and 1 in plus territory. It's not clever, savvy math, it's smack-on-forehead undeniable math.

Punting on 4th and 1 in plus territory is the football version of avoiding taking a walk when there's first base open and a runner in scoring position, it's just a plainly incorrect fallacy that gained legitimacy because decades of coaches had bad ideas.

Everything was against us there. We absolutely get stuffed and lose the game anyway. Doesn't matter, that was not even close to a close call.
 
#55      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
I haven’t felt this bad after a football loss in quite some time. I guess I was expecting more with all the experience coming back, and was not thinking I would see such poor coaching as tonight.
 
#57      

Serious Late

Peoria via Denver via Ann Arbor via Albuquerque vi
I am struggling to conceive how this loss could be on anyone other than Bielema. Our players are who they are at this point. Yet STILL, we had them right where we wanted them.

-We didn't go for it on 4th and 1 in Maryland territory with an eternity left on the clock.

-We ran a prevent defense with an eternity on the clock.

-We called timeout on 2nd and 21 deep in our own territory with 1 minute left in the game.

-We threw on 3rd and forever, saving Maryland a timeout and burying us deeper in our own end.

-We threw out whatever defense that was that resulted in a receiver WIDE OPEN in the middle of the field, setting up a chip shot field goal.

The last 5 minutes of the game, every bad decision that could be made, was.
 
#60      
Pure and simple - the players aren't here to be a Big Ten caliber football team. We have some nice running backs, a decent kicker and a pretty good punter. That's it. Unfortunately, the rest are MAC level. It will take several recruiting classes just to get to fair.

We can hammer the coaching, and it was questionable at the end, but what plays can you call that you know will work when your slower and smaller across the field. Lovie built this. We are starting from itch (which comes before scratch). Basketball is coming.
 
#61      

GrayGhost77

Centennial, CO
we suck lisa kudrow GIF by The Comeback HBO
 
#63      
No, it wasn't pretty, but it was a heck of a lot closer of a game than I thought it was going to be.
Onward to Purdon't.
 
#65      
So we can look forward to a few more years of football misery, until Bieliema gets his players? Stands will be pretty empty from here on out
 
#67      
Sorry all. My Illinois fandom is officially finished. I’ve been a fan for over 30 years. This program has no hope and what I witnessed tonight and especially last week is an embarrassment. I’m going to see if I can sell my apparel on eBay if I’m lucky enough to find someone to buy it. Best wishes to you all.
It’s more cathartic to just toss it in the fire pit while being fairly intoxicated.
You really don’t want to support someone else going through what you have experienced.
 
#68      
Sorry all. My Illinois fandom is officially finished. I’ve been a fan for over 30 years. This program has no hope and what I witnessed tonight and especially last week is an embarrassment. I’m going to see if I can sell my apparel on eBay if I’m lucky enough to find someone to buy it. Best wishes to you all.
We’ll see you here next week!
 
#69      

RedRocksIllini

Morrison, CO
Was honestly pleasantly surprised by how well our guys competed. Nice to see the dline get some pressure at times. Brown and McCray could be a very nice one-two punch. Unfortunately, it's going to be tough to win many games without any sort of passing attack. And when it mattered tonight, our dbacks were exposed. We still have some talent gaps that are going to be difficult to hide. Just hope we continue to find more young guys like McCray that we can start building a team around.
 
#73      
We had every reason to get smoked in this game and we didn’t, sorry if any of us thought this was gonna be easy but this is better than I expected
No, it wasn't pretty, but it was a heck of a lot closer of a game than I thought it was going to be.
Onward to Purdon't.
go back and re-read the pregame thread; most were thinking blow out double digit loss. i get it, we could and should of won this but if you can't see improvement compared with the last 2 weeks look again- defense played much better, even with the late melt down. we all need to temper our expectations and realize how big a hole this program was in when the new staff took over
 
#75      
Offense was terrible. Just don't have the weapons. This is going to be a long haul. I think we do have something with the DC, just need to get the mentality. JH has been bad, which is disappointing.