Pregame: Illinois at Kansas, Friday, September 8th, 6:30pm CT, ESPN2

SixthandWhite · Sep 5, 2023

OskieWowWow said:
Did Adams take any reps in spring or fall at tackle? Sounds like a last resort plan if none of the RT options work out. I'd want to see Henderson get a shot before we make that switch

When Crisler got hurt early in the 4th quarter, they put Adams at RT and Slaughter replaced him at LG, so it's clearly something they had prepped. The next series, Crisler was back at RT and Slaughter stayed in at RG, replacing Gesky, and Adams went back to LG. The final series, Crisler was out again and Adams was back at RT (with Gesky at RG and Slaughter at LG), but he got hurt on the first play. So down the stretch the line left to right was Pearl-Slaughter-Kreutz-Barlev-Gesky, I have to assume that the coaching staff at that juncture saw Adams as the primary backup at RT (since our 6th man Slaughter primarily plays guard) and Gesky as the secondary backup (since our 7th man is Barlev, I guess best suited to guard as well).

I guess my point is it would make more sense to me to swap Adams and Crisler rather than bench Crisler for our 8th lineman, especially considering Crisler was excellent at guard last year.

On the other had, it was one game, and the line has a lot of room for improvement as a unit (can't pin it all on one player). So who knows what the staff will do.

IlliniKrush · Sep 5, 2023

Battle89 said:
The primary reason I usually don't go to the game threads is because I'm watching the game via DVR. I'm watching 'semi-live' and often will be caught up by the end, but in any case I cannot abide the endless commercials. Toledo was an exception and I carped about Millen a bit, but agree that overall that thread wasn't nearly as bad as some I've seen.

My suggestion to Dan is to name it correctly
Group Therapy: Illinois vs Toledo
Writing it makes me feel better and it doesn’t matter if anyone reads it or agrees
Besides it keeps from yelling at the TV and cursing in front of my kids

Illini2010-11 · Sep 5, 2023

IlliniKrush said:
My suggestion to Dan is to name it correctly
Group Therapy: Illinois vs Toledo
Writing it makes me feel better and it doesn’t matter if anyone reads it or agrees
Besides it keeps from yelling at the TV and cursing in front of my kids

BZuppke · Sep 5, 2023

“This year, MSU (Missouri St) was picked to finish eighth in the Missouri Valley out of 12 teams.”

So makes you wonder how impressive is scoring 48 against this team was. Doesn’t mean a lot but not much of a test for KU.

Ander1345 · Sep 5, 2023

BZuppke said:
“This year, MSU (Missouri St) was picked to finish eighth in the Missouri Valley out of 12 teams.”

So makes you wonder how impressive is scoring 48 against this team was. Doesn’t mean a lot but not much of a test for KU.

Independently of how good or not Missouri State is, my concern is that this Kansas team is pretty athletic. They will test us in a lot of the same ways but even more so in the passing game. We can't gift them penalty yardage or let the QB have time to make reads/have players come open.

lstewart53x3 · Sep 5, 2023

BZuppke said:
“This year, MSU (Missouri St) was picked to finish eighth in the Missouri Valley out of 12 teams.”

So makes you wonder how impressive is scoring 48 against this team was. Doesn’t mean a lot but not much of a test for KU.

That was also a 27-17 game in the 3rd quarter.

GILL-INOIS · Sep 6, 2023

BZuppke said:
“This year, MSU (Missouri St) was picked to finish eighth in the Missouri Valley out of 12 teams.”

So makes you wonder how impressive is scoring 48 against this team was. Doesn’t mean a lot but not much of a test for KU.

You are correct Missouri State wasn't going to win the game. I would love to see Illinois score 48 points vs any opponent. We haven't reached 48 points in a long time and barely reach the 40 point mark lately. Thank goodness for Northwestern

#1 QB Jalon Daniels didn't even play last week. Hopefully he has a ton of rust this week or gets distracted by the design of their own helmet

EyeoftheIllini · Sep 6, 2023

Illini2010-11 said:
Unless more top 30 teams lose next week, even with a win at Kansas, I doubt Illini jump in top 25 for Penn State game (it could be close though).

I am more optimistic for this game. I feel like tougher competition will have Illini in better position than Kansas. Illini might not win, but I will take 3 or 4 points most books are giving currently.

I don’t even think it is anywhere likely that Illini are top 25 going into PSU game. This week would have to be the greatest upset week in the history of college football for that to happen. I don’t think Kansas even garnered a vote in the AP poll. Maybe if we were playing ranked Kansas St and came away with a win.

EyeoftheIllini · Sep 6, 2023

TheDrinkinLincoln said:
Great points, I am happy to hear he looks stronger/more explosive in practice. I'm not saying to give up on him, more just that he needs to earn repa away from Love rather than the opposite.

I’ve not really been a fan of Love, so while some preseason seemed to think despite Chase being gone that RB would be a strength I wasn’t one of them. But I thought he looked maybe the best I’ve seen him in week 1. Definitely need more production from Josh, but feeling better about RB coming out of week 1 than I was going in.

RML · Sep 6, 2023

I had a blast in the in-game thread of the PSU zillion overtime game. It was eerily quiet early one, and I posted something about the game being a special treat for the nine or so of us posting.

Point-Illinois said:
I haven’t been in them for so long I don’t know what they’re like when we are playing well.

Like Wisconsin or NW last year, those had to be good game threads right??

Illiniwek66 · Sep 6, 2023

Plan to arrive around noon on Friday. Anyone know of a good local campus bar to grab a beer and burger (think Murphy's) in Lawrence? I have read about the Wheel. Temps look to be hot and tailgating does not appear to have much shade...

illini0440 · Sep 6, 2023

Indy Illini Fan said:
Well you guys thought Brad gets into his guys ... Should have seen Bret after watching film of his lines after that Toledo game ... He knew during the game but seeing it on film just infuriated him even more ...

Good ole fashioned chewing ...

They will be improved ... Or Bret will literally throw Whitenack and Henderson in there ...

As Deion would say.....the standard is the standard and we didn't meet the standard

aaeismacgychel · Sep 6, 2023

EyeoftheIllini said:
I don’t even think it is anywhere likely that Illini are top 25 going into PSU game. This week would have to be the greatest upset week in the history of college football for that to happen. I don’t think Kansas even garnered a vote in the AP poll. Maybe if we were playing ranked Kansas St and came away with a win.

With a convincing win I think Top 25 is possible. Voters tend to like the idea of big matchups for tv. So you will sometimes see a bump due to that. That said, rankings mean so little this early, plus we still need to beat Kansas on the road, which is no easy task. Get it done though, and then upset PSU, and now we're probably flirting with the top 15

Nikethreadguysm · Sep 6, 2023

aaeismacgychel said:
With a convincing win I think Top 25 is possible. Voters tend to like the idea of big matchups for tv. So you will sometimes see a bump due to that. That said, rankings mean so little this early, plus we still need to beat Kansas on the road, which is no easy task. Get it done though, and then upset PSU, and now we're probably flirting with the top 15

Counterpoint: lose to KU and PSU, you’re looking at an insurmountable path to Indy unless you win out.

IlliniKat91 · Sep 6, 2023

IlliniKrush said:
My suggestion to Dan is to name it correctly
Group Therapy: Illinois vs Toledo
Writing it makes me feel better and it doesn’t matter if anyone reads it or agrees
Besides it keeps from yelling at the TV and cursing in front of my kids

I learned during the Toledo game that our pittie puppy doesn't tolerate me clapping loudly or shouting (she decided I was too upset and needed kisses to feel better each time I did that). My husband is tickled that he doesn't have to listen to me shouting at the screen anymore.

Fighter of the Nightman · Sep 6, 2023

Nikethreadguysm said:
Counterpoint: lose to KU and PSU, you’re looking at an insurmountable path to Indy unless you win out.

Do you mean just because we’ll have bad momentum? Because as much as I want to see us beat PSU when I’m in Champaign for that one, it’s only one Big Ten loss to a top 10 team in the other division. I think we’d still have a nice path to win the West.

illinihoosier · Sep 6, 2023

Why would one loss in the Big Ten West require that you win out to make it to Indy?

Point-Illinois · Sep 6, 2023

I predict the B1G West winner will be 6-3 or 7-2. (Bold prediction, I know)

So definitely wouldn’t HAVE to win out. Though I wouldn’t mind if we did!

Nikethreadguysm · Sep 6, 2023

Nikethreadguysm said:
Counterpoint: lose to KU and PSU, you’re looking at an insurmountable path to Indy unless you win out.

Edit: I’ma bozo and forgot KU wouldn’t count. Shame on my family.

pruman91 · Sep 6, 2023

IlliniKat91 said:
I learned during the Toledo game that our pittie puppy doesn't tolerate me clapping loudly or shouting (she decided I was too upset and needed kisses to feel better each time I did that). My husband is tickled that he doesn't have to listen to me shouting at the screen anymore.

Illini win , Illini win................hey kitty..............................They really really did..............

aaeismacgychel · Sep 6, 2023

Nikethreadguysm said:
Counterpoint: lose to KU and PSU, you’re looking at an insurmountable path to Indy unless you win out.

Purdue won the West last year at 6-3. Is it possible that two West teams go at least 8-1 this year (one other team plus ourselves in your scenario)? Yes, but it isn't likely. Minnesota, Nebraska, and Purdue are the 2nd tier teams in the B10 West this year in my opinion, and they each will still will have a decent chance to knock off one of the upper tier west team in Wisconsin, Iowa, and us.

Think of it this way- even if we were to lose to PSU and Maryland, and win the rest of our B10 games, we would own the tiebreaker over all the other West teams, meaning someone would have to go 8-1 with their only loss to us to make it to Indy over us at 7-2. Possible, but not likely. Beating PSU would give more margin for error, but a loss won't spell the end of West Division crown.

Indy Illini Fan · Sep 6, 2023

OskieWowWow said:
Did Adams take any reps in spring or fall at tackle? Sounds like a last resort plan if none of the RT options work out. I'd want to see Henderson get a shot before we make that switch

They like Pearl & Adams on the left side ... Think Zy going back to guard and repping Whitenack/Henderson at RT will be the plan if Gesky struggles continue, injuries, etc. ...

I know they are repping it in practice this week with both those guys at RT ...

Illini2010-11 · Sep 6, 2023

Nikethreadguysm said:
Edit: I’ma bozo and forgot KU wouldn’t count. Shame on my family.

No worries. Conference affiliations are really tough to keep track of these days.

Indy Illini Fan · Sep 6, 2023

SixthandWhite said:
When Crisler got hurt early in the 4th quarter, they put Adams at RT and Slaughter replaced him at LG, so it's clearly something they had prepped. The next series, Crisler was back at RT and Slaughter stayed in at RG, replacing Gesky, and Adams went back to LG. The final series, Crisler was out again and Adams was back at RT (with Gesky at RG and Slaughter at LG), but he got hurt on the first play. So down the stretch the line left to right was Pearl-Slaughter-Kreutz-Barlev-Gesky, I have to assume that the coaching staff at that juncture saw Adams as the primary backup at RT (since our 6th man Slaughter primarily plays guard) and Gesky as the secondary backup (since our 7th man is Barlev, I guess best suited to guard as well).

I guess my point is it would make more sense to me to swap Adams and Crisler rather than bench Crisler for our 8th lineman, especially considering Crisler was excellent at guard last year.

On the other had, it was one game, and the line has a lot of room for improvement as a unit (can't pin it all on one player). So who knows what the staff will do.

Fantastic breakdown ... Someone watched the film or took really good notes on our OL during the game ...

Bart did not feel comfortable throwing Whitenack or Henderson at RT for that Toledo game ... Did not think they were ready and we were down and he went with experience ...

He would prefer to keep that left side in tact if he can ... Bret prefers that as well ... But Adams is so flexible that in competitive games you need to move him around ...

Ideally though, Gesky plays better ... Crisler adjusts to RT ...

But, like I said ... Would not be shocked if Henderson or Whitenack get some time at RT as the season goes on ... Bart and Bret really, really like Henderson and he will likely be our starting LT next year ... So getting him some full go rodeo reps at RT this year would do nothing but benefit him ...

Fighter of the Nightman · Sep 6, 2023

Nikethreadguysm said:
Edit: I’ma bozo and forgot KU wouldn’t count. Shame on my family.

Some might think last year's Big Ten West standings seemed abnormally close ... but honestly, this year's Big Ten West might look just as "equal" from top to middle, IMO. Last year's standings for reference are below:

1. Purdue: 6-3 (beat Illinois and Minnesota but lost to both Iowa and Wisconsin)
2. Illinois: 5-4 (only loss to a Big Ten West opponent was Purdue ...

)
2. Iowa: 5-4 (lost to Illinois but beat Minnesota and Purdue)
2. Minnesota: 5-4 (lost to Purdue, Illinois and Iowa but beat Wisconsin)
3. Wisconsin: 4-5 (lost to everyone above them ... except beat first-place Purdue

)
4. Nebraska: 3-6 (lost to every Big Ten West team except for beating Iowa in Iowa City...)
5. Northwestern: 1-8 (only conference win was Nebraska in Dublin, lol)

I'm SO biased, but when you looked at the whole picture of Big Ten play last year, it seemed obvious Illinois was the best team in the West. We beat Minnesota by two scores, we beat Iowa, we demolished Wisconsin in Madison, we demolished Nebraska in Lincoln and we absolutely destroyed Northwestern in Evanston ... but tripping up vs. Purdue at home cost us a trip to Indy. Something similar might happen this year, where Wisconsin or Iowa have a better "overall resume" in the West, but we sneak into Indy by beating one or both of them.

Point being there are going to be a lot of ways we can win the Big Ten West, and it will come down to winning the right games at the right times. The schedule sets up decently well for us if we can clean up the defensive play. Honestly, I think the KU game is super important for pretty much one reason and one reason only ... it will give this team immense confidence and hype heading into PSU, and stealing the PSU game at home gives us a HUGE leg up on our Big Ten West rivals.