Seriously, what is it that gives some of you hope? The team has been pretty bad in BIG play, recruiting is littered with 2-3 star players, and we have no electric playmakers in the system. I hate to be a Debbie Downer but I am not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
I like what I'm seeing on the defensive side of the ball for the most part.
Today was a nightmare match-up for us as we struggle with up tempo offenses. However, this group can and has made us competitive in some conference games. They also force TOs which is something we haven't seen from a lot of Illinois defenses in recent memory.
The play on the line needs to improve as we get almost no pressure on the Quarterback but a few years of experience and S+C should help with guys like Roundtree, Gay and Carney. I like what I'm seeing out of the DTs for the most part and they'll all be back.
It remains to be seen how the Cover 2 defense can do against the Read Option Offenses, which almost every college team runs now, However, getting pretty good athletes on the defensive side of the ball helps. I like the secondary and the guys they have recruited. A more athletic group of LBs would help since the current group gets killed on a lot of passing routes. I think this is why the staff is targeting smaller, more athletic LBs in the Class of 2018 and beyond. The current group, with Hansen hopefully back fully healthy next year, has been fine. Injuries have just really hurt us with that group and it showed against Rutgers.
I've liked what the secondary has done this year, especially the Safeties.
The offense is a major problem.
I don't see how we can correct the problems on the Offensive Line in the short term. Just one extra year isn't going to make them that much better so I'm really concerned in the short-term. Guys really need to be in a system for three years before they are even considered for the depth chart and we are starting four Freshmen. Even then we're seeing problems with a highly rated player like Megginsen. How many times have we seen the QBs get literally no time to even throw the ball away?
The QB situation is obviously also a major concern although it's a moot point against a lot of teams since almost any QB this year would not consistently have the time to get set, look down field and complete a pass enough times to establish a rhythm. The quick hitters and QB draws are about the only option at this point and that takes a lot of our play makers out of the game.
The lack of a TE that can block AND catch the ball is also a problem since we've gone to 6 OL at times which just takes another potential play maker off the field.
We've scored 20+ points four times this year and that's no where near good enough to get us to a point where we can even be in a position to win 5 or 6 games. One of those games had a defensive TD (Western Kentucky) so the offense really only gave us 13 points in that game. Two of those games were blow outs with meaningless fourth Quarter TDs (USF and Rutgers). Just look at how many points Ball State has given up this year and this offense struggled to sustain drives against them.
McGee and Butkus really need to show us something next year because we're not going to win more than a few games next year unless the offense takes a major step forward. I would like to see a leap similar to what we saw from 2012 to 2013 but i just don't think that's possible since we won't have a QB that had the talent and experience that Scheelhaase had.
I am happy that the players continue to play hard and keep their heads up in spite of the losses. This makes it so much easier for me to cheer this team on from the stands or at home. I know this doesn't matter to a lot of people and may be concerning to some since they probably want to see more anger and frustration out of the players and coaches. However, we're seeing a team that still appears to respect the coaching staff and give it their all in spite of their lack of experience and the lack of depth at a number of positions. I don't know if this will translate in to future success but it's at least
something to take away from these games.