Recall the warnings of Sellers’ ability to run, the threat that never materialized in the Citrus Bowl? I presume we’re planning for Mensah too.
Pregame: Illinois at Duke, Saturday, September 6th, 11:00am CT, ESPN
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I always wear Orange to games. The guys in blue just look like an everyday man on the street.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Another virtue of orange: it soaks up less of that relentless NC sun than navy does.
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Look forward to making the drive up from Charleston for the game. It is supposed to be sunny and hot, with highs in the upper 80's. Duke is a good team, and even though Diaz is a bit of a meathead he did pretty well with them last year. This is one of those toss up games that we have to win if we want to have a good to great season
Krombopulos_Michael
- Aurora, Illinois (that’s a suburb of Chicago)
100% agree even if I don’t like their final predictions. The things from years past they reference are primarily schematic aside from discussing sack totals from two years back which I find to be less relevant to what we’re seeing. Give me level headed discussion over the take-o-sphere that dominates sports media today
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Very interesting. Thx!A guy I respect who bets college football very well shared his power ratings for this week and his numbers have Illinois 7 points better than Duke on a neutral field. Makes the 2.5 on Fanduel enticing, particularly given Duke's "home field advantage". Giving them 3 points (for home field advantage) feels generous.
I've been talking with him in the lead up to the season, as he has not been overly high on Illinois this year, he has us #29 in in the country based on his model. I asked him about the discrepancy in power ratings between us and Duke, and his response was simple. "Duke stinks."
I'm feeling better about this game.
This is also my annual reminder that no, lines are not made up to generate 50% action on either side. If the public bets 1 million on Duke at +3, moving the line to +2.5, and a group of respected bettors bet $10K on Illinois at -2.5... that number is going to move back to 3. The respected 1% of action will influence a number more than the 99% of public action. Carry on!
Although 2.5 to 3 pts may be the average home field advantage, the advantage for the first road game is probably more like 5 or 6 pts just for that game. While I expect Mensah to provide a number of highlight plays, the beloved will win because we're a better team across the board.
blackdog
- Champaign
It seems with Mensah the danger isn't necessarily running to gain yards but that he can be dangerous making throws outside the pocket. Have to pressure but not let him break contain.
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
If you needed a new villain, Pete Yanity with Clemson media is your man.
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James Madison, Liberty, and Navy round out his top 25...If you needed a new villain, Pete Yanity with Clemson media is your man.
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I do enjoy the PFF previews usually and those guys do a good job breaking down the relevant PFF stats usually, which I appreciate, not being a PFF subscriber myself. Last year they were on the Luke under pressure vs. clean pocket disparity early in the season and it played out that way in the games we won vs. lost.
My issue with their conclusion is, they seem to be betting that Luke won't have time to throw in this game. Which might be fair, but they ignored that Duke's run D isn't very good, so why wouldn't we just run it down their throats and make them respect the run first or if we get a lead, force them to stop the run by moving more into the box, then play action and deep passes should be open. If Duke forces us into a bunch of third and longs then I agree we're in trouble, but that goes for virtually every game. If we have a good offensive gameplan, we should be able to move the ball and score against Duke - they seem to think both sides will have trouble scoring, which seems odd
I think they'll be seeing Blue by the end of the day.
I think until proven otherwise, we’re going to need to be an offensive first team. Which isn’t necessarily a knock, but I just (obviously) haven’t seen enough to think this defense can hold a good offense to under 20.
I do think given the apparent quality of Dukes defense, that a high scoring game probably favors us.
Limit mistakes and we win—honestly feels that easy.
I do think given the apparent quality of Dukes defense, that a high scoring game probably favors us.
Limit mistakes and we win—honestly feels that easy.
Pete Yanity is a sportscaster for a TV station in a smallish town in South Carolina (Spartanburg, although it is part of a larger metropolitan area). Although that list says he is affiliated with Clemson, I am guessing that he is involved or a fan of South Carolina as well, and perhaps he is being petty because of Illinois beating SC in the Citrus Bowl. Still, pretty petty if true, and certainly not a good look for a TV sportscaster. He should have a little objectivity.If you needed a new villain, Pete Yanity with Clemson media is your man.
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For all the SEC bias people, here are the number of top-10 ratings we have based on the conference affiliation of the pollster:If you needed a new villain, Pete Yanity with Clemson media is your man.
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Big 10: 5
SEC: 5
ACC: 1
Big 12: 0
Other: 1
And the lower rankings we have appear to mostly be from other Big Ten people, or ACC/Big 12 people. Our rankings from SEC people seem to be pretty high comparatively. A South Carolina guy has us at #15 (shocker) but compared to the Nebraska guy who has us at #22, that's not half bad.
He's also graduated with a degree in finance.
Don't forget that we owe Manny Diaz a pantsing after the whole Jeff Thomas Fiasco: https://saturdaytradition.com/news/...inois-saga-weird-frustrating-not-normal-2019/
Krombopulos_Michael
- Aurora, Illinois (that’s a suburb of Chicago)
As if I didn't have enough reasons to want Illinois to give Duke the Big Ten Belt...
Run the score up Bret.
Xavier Scott in two week 2 games in his career (both vs KU): 16 Tackles, 3 INT, 1 sack, 1 FF, 1 TD.
Would not be surprised one bit at another big day.
Would not be surprised one bit at another big day.
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Rip their hearts out ... Stomp them like they stomped us in basketball41-13 Illinois
We need more Bielevers.
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