Penn State 21, Illinois 7 Postgame

#151      
altgeld88
Morning after thoughts: I had no idea a month ago we were anywhere near this good a team. That game last night was the Illini's to win. Absolutely no excuse not to score a TD on first-and-goal at the end of the half. And then not even to notch a FG. Terrible execution. That should have been a 14-14 tie going into the final 5 mins. Instead of that near pick-six on Luke's rushed throw on fourth (our third attempt at that fourth down play given two penalties, one on PSU and one on us) Hugh would have pinned them deep, and it would likely have gone to OT once again.

Oh, what might have been...

16 years ago on the final weekend in Sept. I sat in that stadium on a Saturday night and watched what was a slightly better PSU team than the Illini that night win 38-24. We were #22, they were #12. IIRC it was one of the ESPN night games. Almost identical day: rain on and off all day drying up a couple hours before game time. The game was in doubt until they scored midway through the 4th qtr and then stuffed us. A really similar feeling all around, though a much higher-scoring affair.

I'm focused on the bright side. We have a very good team, though our O line is going to struggle against the big boys. The guys will clean up the problems and I believe we'll thoroughly enjoy October, win or lose. We're competitive every Saturday now. Last night the outcome was in doubt until 2 mins left in the 4th. National TV in prime time Saturday night. Great exposure for the program, and a gritty game. I feel positive about the future of Illini football.

Now take the bye week to reflect and improve, then go out and absolutely stomp Purdue.
 
#152      
fulton steamer
LvilleILL said:
Can't be too mad. Program is in a very good spot-just need to recruit more elite athletes for next year. 9-10 wins is attainable, let's win our next 2 going into Oregon
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I don't follow football recruiting as closely as I do basketball recruiting. In your opinion, are we recruiting more elite athletes for next year? In general, do you guys fee we are improving our roster going forward?
 
#153      
altgeld88
Illini2010-11 said:
It was a good game, but I would argue the score is less indicative of how much Penn State dominated the second half.

I honestly couldn't believe Illinois was driving to try to tie game in mid 4th quarter.
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I honestly couldn't believe that we were NOT driving to WIN the game in mid-4th qtr.

Let's focus on the fact that even though they dominated us in the second half, and have way more dudes than we do, our D stuffed them in the red zone. That game is going to OT if we get the TD at the end of the first half.

That's what should impress us IMO.
 
#154      
BZuppke
Clearly their lines dominated and that was the story of the game. However, what might have been had we scored a TD before the half? Would Franklin’s odd play calling have gotten more odd? Throw the ball more? Possible picks by our guys? Our failure to go up 7 allowed them to grind it out in the second where had we scored they might have tried too hard and given us some defensive opportunities.
 
#155      
SAELION
Brosky said:
our upfront defense was exposed. I can't think of a reason PSU needed to throw a single pass. Penn State is too good. That level of play is what we have to shoot for, and I'm sure BB knows it.
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Penn felt that Illinois got overwhelmed. Quote from a Penn lineman:
Vega Ioane, the Penn State guard who is playing at an elite level this season, looked across the line of scrimmage in the second quarter and saw a wearying Illinois defense.

"Every block I made, it seemed like they didn't even want to try against me anymore," Ioane said late Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.
 
#156      
therealmiket86
Mr. Tibbs said:
indeed they were
Luke had so little time . on more than a few plays , a PSU defender came after him from the LOS untouched
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Even when we tried to run screens to slow them down it would get blown up. The one thing I don’t get is not staying under center when we got down to the 2. Pound the ball and eat up clock. Who go into halftime with a lead and it a different game. It was a big momentum swing when we get points
 
#158      
altgeld88
SAELION said:
Penn felt that Illinois got overwhelmed. Quote from a Penn lineman:
Vega Ioane, the Penn State guard who is playing at an elite level this season, looked across the line of scrimmage in the second quarter and saw a wearying Illinois defense.

"Every block I made, it seemed like they didn't even want to try against me anymore," Ioane said late Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.
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Is he really a reliable narrator? The fact that our D stuffed them several times approaching the red zone indicates otherwise.
 
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#159      
EyeoftheIllini
Illini2010-11 said:
It was a good game, but I would argue the score is less indicative of how much Penn State dominated the second half.

I honestly couldn't believe Illinois was driving to try to tie game in mid 4th quarter.
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Agree. Not soon after the kickoff to open second half, it became apparent to me pretty quick that it was going to take some big time self destruction by PSU for Illini to win. Frontline of D was getting gashed consistently, and O-Line and offense didn’t seem to have any answers for PSU’s penetration.

Someone earlier posted that Illini are fine at “skill positions,” but have a lot of work to do when it comes to both lines. Couldn’t agree more. That said, Illini showed they are a solid team. Long ways to go to get to next level, but an easy team to root for and watch. And I think they’ll give us more good memories as season goes along.
 
#160      
RoundBalcs
Color me extremely disappointed in this one. We were physically outmanned and obviously less talented in many places on the roster. That said, we still shot ourselves in the foot with mistakes and blew a chance to win this one. It’s frustrating - had we not beaten ourselves too, what would the end result look like? Probably still ends in a loss, but it’s the ‘what ifs’ that will eat away at me.
 
#162      
Rammer34
Illini2010-11 said:
It was a good game, but I would argue the score is less indicative of how much Penn State dominated the second half.

I honestly couldn't believe Illinois was driving to try to tie game in mid 4th quarter.
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Had the Illini not botched the end of the half (goal-to-go from inside the five), this might have been a different game. My hope is that Lunney will abandon shotgun inside the five.
 
#164      
LJ22
Rammer34 said:
Had the Illini not botched the end of the half (goal-to-go from inside the five), this might have been a different game. My hope is that Lunney will abandon shotgun inside the five.
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I can't hate the outcome, and I don't think it would have changed the final result, but being a few yards from the end zone and coming away with zero points going into halftime literally haunted my dreams last night.
 
#165      
skyIdub
#170      
TheFlyingIllini1317
BZuppke said:
Clearly their lines dominated and that was the story of the game. However, what might have been had we scored a TD before the half? Would Franklin’s odd play calling have gotten more odd? Throw the ball more? Possible picks by our guys? Our failure to go up 7 allowed them to grind it out in the second where had we scored they might have tried too hard and given us some defensive opportunities.
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I keep thinking about this, if we score that TD I think we would of had a 75% chance of closing it out. Disappointed like everyone, but Bret has had this program come a long way. We have a must win vs. Purdue and if we win that we are 5-1 going into Michigan, BEAT PURDUE!
 
#171      
Illini-Rule
OskieWowWow said:
I respect the mentality. Iowa built a program that wins minimum 9 games a year, so can we. There's nothing special about Iowa
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Not to take anything away from, because they are a very good program. But every year they seem to have on of the easiest schedules in the Big 10.
 
#172      
Illini-Rule
and 69 others said:
How the hell did Bowling Green score 24 points in a half against that defense?
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Penn St. figured out that by pressuring our QB and pinning their ears back and going after Luke every down was more than we could handle. I hope that doesn't give other teams the cheat code for beating us. It doesn't seem as if we have the ability to counter that, whether with our offensive linemen or play calling.
 
#173      
lstewart53x3
The better team won. Overall though, I’m encouraged by the result.

Looking at KFord’s stats, we moved up 0.5 points in his model pushing us up 3 spots from 44 to 41. So we performed better than his model expected.

Compare that to our B1G foes who also played top 15 teams:

Michigan St lost at home to KFord #2 OSU and fell 0.8 points and 4 spots in the rankings (61-65).

UCLA lost 34-13 at home against #9 Oregon and fell 0.4 points and stayed the same in the rankings (75).

Wisconsin lost 38-21 on the road at #10 USC and fell 0.6 points and 3 spots in the rankings (55 to 58).

Each of those teams underperformed model expectations, whereas we over-performed. Which bodes well for the rest of the season.
 
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#174      
bleedorange and blue
Illini2010-11 said:
I want the coaches, staff, and players preparing through practice to have an expectation of winning.

For me, as fans, we need to expect the team to be competitive each and every time the team takes the field (at this part of the rebuild), and we are beginning to do that. And most importantly, fans need to fill Memorial Stadium each and every home game. I believe unrealistic expectations is what leads to less fans packing the stadium.

With that said, I  expect this team to get to at least 8 wins this year, and I expect this coaching staff to continue to hit recruiting hard to make this team championship quality in the years ahead.
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I have expected to win every game since Bob Blackman, I have suffered
 
#175      
IlliniReb
Illini2010-11 said:
I want the coaches, staff, and players preparing through practice to have an expectation of winning.

For me, as fans, we need to expect the team to be competitive each and every time the team takes the field (at this part of the rebuild), and we are beginning to do that. And most importantly, fans need to fill Memorial Stadium each and every home game. I believe unrealistic expectations is what leads to less fans packing the stadium.

With that said, I  expect this team to get to at least 8 wins this year, and I expect this coaching staff to continue to hit recruiting hard to make this team championship quality in the years ahead.
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Pin this. Exactly right
 
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