Pregame: Illinois at Nebraska, Saturday, October 1st, 2:30pm CT, ESPN2
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Oh honey
What's this line open up at, Nebraska -21? Is that even enough?
21 was exactly what I was gonna guess. I'm a bit perplexed by Nebraska.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This is a work in progress, just gotta keep playing hard to lay a foundation for the future. Guessing a similar result to WMU.
Cautiously optimistic. Us taking out Nebraska would embarrass the B1G West, but if it means we can make it to Indy I'm cool with it. It would be so Illinois to win the West and go 7-5...
I feel bad for the guy who took us at over 4 wins this year. Best case scenario is a push and that is looking very unlikely.
Yeah, I could see it being right around 21.
Next week's Nebraska game will be relevant to the spread, obviously.
I'm sure there will be tickets available for sale.
EfremWinters84
- S. Carolina
It's got to be more. Hovering at 28 I'm guessing. In honor of gene wilder......"that's right. We bad. We bad."
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Based on what evidence? Why shouldn't we expect a complete beat-down at Nebraska in two weeks?
I don't think any of us expect to beat Nebraska, but I'm cautiously optimistic. This team has something to prove. I suspect many of them will want this win and it'll hopefully show in their performance. I question Lunt's ability to perform under pressure. Our inability to effectively run the ball means Lunt needs to complete most (if not all) of his long throws. We've seen two weeks in a row that he can't manage for more than a few seconds once a defender breaks through.
After attending the last game and getting stuck behind all 5 fans of WMU all game was hard very hard to stomach.
I can't Sugar Coat the fact Illinois looked horrible in all areas of play vs a Mac Team. At halftime we were treated to the WMU band not sure we would have beat the band.
Nebraska is a far greater challenge for Illinois they just beat Oregon and Oregon is no slouch. Illinois ran for 3 yards last game vs WMU I cant see how they get anymore than that vs NB.
The line will be high for this game. Real question is how High and can Illinois backdoor a cover?
My guess is NB 34 Illinois 3
I can't Sugar Coat the fact Illinois looked horrible in all areas of play vs a Mac Team. At halftime we were treated to the WMU band not sure we would have beat the band.
Nebraska is a far greater challenge for Illinois they just beat Oregon and Oregon is no slouch. Illinois ran for 3 yards last game vs WMU I cant see how they get anymore than that vs NB.
The line will be high for this game. Real question is how High and can Illinois backdoor a cover?
My guess is NB 34 Illinois 3
That's reasonable for the end of the first half. What about the final score?
BZuppke
- Plainfield
To me the issue the last two years has been the offense. Nebraska gave up 35 points or so to Oregon, Michigan gave up 30 or so to Colorado and Alabama gave up 30 or so to Ole Miss. They each won their games. I'm not thrilled by our D but the big issue is our inability with Lunt as the starter to sustain drives and score.
chief78
- Florida
I would not put it all on Lunt - to me the offensive line is a big issue - you need to be able to get a push and some rushing yards. 3 yards against a MAC team is not good, to understate it. We need to win the battle in the trenches, and offensively, we are not winning in the trenches.
Lunt may well compound our problems with his lack of mobility, but I believe if he had a serviceable running game and receivers that could get separation, he would look much better in this offense. Right now the Illini do not have that combination and it will take time to build it. A true dual threat QB could help us, but that QB is not on our current roster.
BZuppke
- Plainfield
Agree with you here. I know we're thin on the line, but some of these guys were pretty well regarded. I do wonder how much all new schemes handicap them at this point until they get more familiar with things. I have great faith in McGee to eventually get the job done, but it is so frustrating to see our offense, well, uh . . . suck.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Illinois should be a little bit fresher than the Huskers since they have a week off and Nebraska has to play this week. I predict that keeps it close for the first 10-15 minutes. Eventually Nebraska asserts its will in all phases and pulls away for a 45-14 win.
Deleted member 10005
D
Guest
Definitely agree, their band played every chance they got, seems like our band now defers to the PA and only plays a couple time a quarter. To me, the band is much more motivating, the music they play takes fans out of the game.
Based on the fact that no team in the BIG West is as good as either UNC or WMU.
Yes, Nebraska beat Oregon at home and Wisconsin beat LSU at Lambeau, but Oregon is not as good as they were even a couple of years ago. Their coach will probably be let go soon. (Oregon's QB is garbage, very inaccurate) And LSU benched their QB from the Wisconsin game in their following game vs. Jacksonville St. for being inept. They replaced him with Purdue transfer Etling, who is pretty good. Good trade for Etling going from the worst team in the BIG to LSU. His center is Graham Pocic's younger brother, I believe.
Iowa lost to a really good FCS team at home, Northwestern lost to WMU and Illinois St,. Purdue is Purdue, Wisconsin barely beat Georgia St., Minnesota we host for Homecoming.
And as the season progresses, the Illini will improve as the players learn the system and the coaches learn the players, etc.
There is the evidence. Now we shall see. I never claimed we would go unbeaten in the BIG West. I just stated that we can play with all of the BIG West teams.
The team has a bye week to clean things up, lick their wounds and come out focused and ready to play BIG football.
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