Pregame: Illinois vs Northwestern, Saturday, November 29th, 6:30pm CT, FOX

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#76      
IlliniRocketFan
I seem to remember the season was over after the Indiana loss. Blah, blah, blah. It was this same team that came back the next week at home and beat a USC team that has only lost to Oregon, ND and the Illini. I believe we will bounce back this week and end the season on a high note to finish 8-4. I also seem to remember when back-to-back 8-win seasons were in some people's bucket list. We have two bowl+ seasons in a row and some people think Josh needs to do some serious thinking about coaches. LMAO. :sneaky:
 
#77      
KnoxIllini2
Eight and four sounds a lot better than seven and five.

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#79      
ForeverOrange
IlliniRocketFan said:
I seem to remember the season was over after the Indiana loss. Blah, blah, blah. It was this same team that came back the next week at home and beat a USC team that has only lost to Oregon, ND and the Illini. I believe we will bounce back this week and end the season on a high note to finish 8-4. I also seem to remember when back-to-back 8-win seasons were in some people's bucket list. We have two bowl+ seasons in a row and some people think Josh needs to do some serious thinking about coaches. LMAO. :sneaky:
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The team that coaches hyped up all offseason and had a pre-season top 15 ranking just got mauled by 3-7 Wisconsin.

It’s like some of you don’t realize the opportunity that is being missed this season to establish us solidly in the upper echelon of the big ten with recruits, the transfer portal, the fan base, and big donors.

8 wins is fine. But context is important.

In a lot of ways this is starting to feel similar to the 5-7 season in 08 in terms of let down, especially if the drop this game to NW and lose the bowl game too. And understand that the national perception of 7 or 8 wins now is much different than it was 17 seasons ago. While it seems like that’s not fair, to the typical college football fan it’s just how it works now.

The goal is to build to that upper echelon. Bret even said it when he got the job. Then the rules changed with NIL and the playoff. So to reach that goal there has to be a shakeup.

Or we can be happy winning 6 or 7 games a year in perpetuity while the Vanderbilt’s of the world pass us up.
 
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#80      
bluemountain
There are a lot of people on here with unrealistic expectations. We are a soft team with average talent - our overall talent level is comparable to Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Rutgers and Maryland. These types of teams don't generally win road games against teams with similar or better talent. Given the makeup of our team, if we had switched the location of say the Rutgers and Wisconsin games, we probably would have lost to Rutgers and beaten Wisconsin. So while disappointing, nobody should have been surprised that we lost Saturday.

We are a better team than NW and we will be chastened by the embarrassing loss to UW. I fully expect a comfortable win on Saturday. No matter how you look at it, 8-4 with this team is a successful season, and 3 8 win seasons out of 4 is something we should be really happy about.
 
#81      
Illini2010-11
bluemountain said:
There are a lot of people on here with unrealistic expectations. We are a soft team with average talent - our overall talent level is comparable to Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Rutgers and Maryland. These types of teams don't generally win road games against teams with similar or better talent. Given the makeup of our team, if we had switched the location of say the Rutgers and Wisconsin games, we probably would have lost to Rutgers and beaten Wisconsin. So while disappointing, nobody should have been surprised that we lost Saturday.

We are a better team than NW and we will be chastened by the embarrassing loss to UW. I fully expect a comfortable win on Saturday. No matter how you look at it, 8-4 with this team is a successful season, and 3 8 win seasons out of 4 is something we should be really happy about.
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I agree that we overrated our talent in the preseason, but we should be surprised the way we lost Saturday. We just got dominated by a team that averaged fewer than 7 points a game in B1G play and got whipped around on the line the whole game. If we lost a close one score game on Saturday that would be completely different, but that is not what transpired.

You put Iowa in the same tier of talent as us, but they went into Camp Randall and dominated Wisky 37-0. Iowa also does not get dominated the way we did when they lose. They lost 4 games by less than 5 points, whereas we lost 4 games by three scores or more. Something is clearly broken, and I expect Coach B to address this in the offseason. We have played 11 games and only had one game where it came down to the wire. That is what is so frustrating, when we win, we look pretty darn good, but when we lose, we look like the bottom tier of the B1G.

At this point, I really don't know what Illini team will show up on Saturday. A victory makes a very respectable 8-4 regular season, but it feels much worse given the way we have lost. If we somehow lose on Saturday, this will feel like one of the most disappointing 7-5 teams in recent memory. No understating how big of a culture game we have ahead of us.
 
#84      
lstewart53x3
ForeverOrange said:
The team that coaches hyped up all offseason and had a pre-season top 15 ranking just got mauled by 3-7 Wisconsin.

It’s like some of you don’t realize the opportunity that is being missed this season to establish us solidly in the upper echelon of the big ten with recruits, the transfer portal, the fan base, and big donors.

8 wins is fine. But context is important.

In a lot of ways this is starting to feel similar to the 5-7 season in 08 in terms of let down, especially if the drop this game to NW and lose the bowl game too. And understand that the national perception of 7 or 8 wins now is much different than it was 17 seasons ago. While it seems like that’s not fair, to the typical college football fan it’s just how it works now.

The goal is to build to that upper echelon. Bret even said it when he got the job. Then the rules changed with NIL and the playoff. So to reach that goal there has to be a shakeup.

Or we can be happy winning 6 or 7 games a year in perpetuity while the Vanderbilt’s of the world pass us up.
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You’re right. Sports aren’t making me miserable enough. I’m enjoying this incredible stretch of Illinois football too much. Instead of being happy that Illinois football is giving me the number of wins I’ve always wanted, I’ll be sad and demand even more. Thanks.
 
#85      
IlliniCub 16
Any thoughts on if Northwestern getting that 6th win and bowl eligibility and whether that helps or hurts us this week?

On one hand, they won't be desperate for a win anymore as they have a bowl spot locked up now. I don't think a win or loss changes a ton for them in the type of bowl they will be going to.

On the other hand, they don't really have much pressure and after the win over Minnesota, no longer have the specter of losing five straight and missing a bowl starting them in the face. So they can play loose, which sometimes is helpful.

I think it depends on if Bret can get the team fired up and ready to end the regular season on a high note. If he gets them back in the right mindset, I don't think Northwestern will be as motivated to keep pace as they could be if they desperately needed a win.

I won't really be shocked either way. As an Illini fan for 35+ years, I've certainly seen the team go out with a whimper to end the year plenty of times. Overall, I think Bret has done a solid job getting the boys to bounce back after bad losses over the years and he's had solid success against Northwestern. I think we'll get it done.
 
#87      
ForeverOrange
lstewart53x3 said:
You’re right. Sports aren’t making me miserable enough. I’m enjoying this incredible stretch of Illinois football too much. Instead of being happy that Illinois football is giving me the number of wins I’ve always wanted, I’ll be sad and demand even more. Thanks.
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There he is! Missed your mental gymnastics.

How about this. I can be happy that this could be an 8 win team AND be extremely frustrated with the coaching staff at the same time. Is that allowed?


You seem to think any type of criticism isn’t okay just because of a number in the win column.

People don’t always work in absolutes. Losing by 53 to Indiana with millions watching, an asinine game plan against Washington after a bye week, and Saturday’s result have all compounded to very warranted criticism of coaching.


If you think keeping the coaching staff the exact same after this season is a good idea just outright say it. Or just admit that changes need to be made in a lot of categories.

Anyways, I will be at the game Saturday having a great time. Hope a lot of people come out and brave the cold. Go Illini!
 
#88      
Illiniwacker
lstewart53x3 said:
You’re right. Sports aren’t making me miserable enough. I’m enjoying this incredible stretch of Illinois football too much. Instead of being happy that Illinois football is giving me the number of wins I’ve always wanted, I’ll be sad and demand even more. Thanks.
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You are missing the point. Be as happy as you want over this underachieving team. We lost to a team we should have beaten. Outside of the USC win none of our victories was against a true quality opponent. Many of us want more and see the possibility of more.
 
#91      
Todd99
Illiniwacker said:
You are missing the point. Be as happy as you want over this underachieving team. We lost to a team we should have beaten. Outside of the USC win none of our victories was against a true quality opponent. Many of us want more and see the possibility of more.
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It's better than not seeing the possibility of more, which has more often been the case.
 
#92      
Dan
Thanksgiving Saturday at Gies Memorial Stadium

Saturday's game is on a rare date on the calendar for an IL home game. The Big Ten had almost always, with few exceptions here&there, wrapped up its regular season the week before Thanksgiving. When Nebraska was added as the 12th member in 2011 allowing the league to introduce the B1G title game, the league also normalized its schedule to match the rest of major CFB conferences and everyone had a game on Thanksgiving weekend ever since.

Below are the recent IL Thanksgiving Saturday home games, plus 2 earlier ones I found from the record book (not sure if this is a complete listing, I'm only going to go thru the record book once :) ). Listed is the result, records of the teams entering the game, and attendance numbers. Thanks to Jeff D'Alessio of the News-Gazette we have stadium attendance turnstile numbers for the most recent games as well.

These recent IL Thanksgiving Saturday home games have presented attendance challenges (both official & in stadium) because 1) Thanksgiving is a major holiday and a lot of people have left town combined with 2) the lack of excitement surrounding the program at that time for the regular season finale.

Saturday's game has a good chance of being the biggest IL Thanksgiving Saturday crowd ever (both official & stadium). Along with the largest growth in attendance in the nation from 2021-24, the biggest home opening crowd since 2009, 4-straight sellouts for the first time since 2008, great showings in IL's first time ever hosting a big pregame on-campus show, not a bad couple years for the fans. Go Illini


1962
W 7-6 (1-7 Illinois vs 5-3 Michigan State)
Official: 19,547

1990
W 28-23 (7-3 Illinois vs 2-8 Northwestern)
Official: 32,383


2013
L 34-37 (4-7 Illinois vs 4-7 Northwestern)
Official: 37,058

2017
L 7-42 (2-9 Illinois vs 8-3 Northwestern)
Official: 30,456
Stadium: 11,083

2019
L 10-29 (6-5 Illinois vs 2-9 Northwestern)
Official: 35,895
Stadium: 11,800

2021
W 47-14 (4-7 Illinois vs 3-8 Northwestern)
Official: 27,624
Stadium: 10,510

2023
L 43-45 (5-6 Illinois vs 6-5 Northwestern)
Official: 42,310
Stadium: 15,161


Link (fightingillini.com)
Link (N-G Jan 20, 2023)
Link (N-G Feb 23, 2024)
 
#97      
SixthandWhite
IlliniRocketFan said:
I seem to remember the season was over after the Indiana loss. Blah, blah, blah. It was this same team that came back the next week at home and beat a USC team that has only lost to Oregon, ND and the Illini. I believe we will bounce back this week and end the season on a high note to finish 8-4. I also seem to remember when back-to-back 8-win seasons were in some people's bucket list. We have two bowl+ seasons in a row and some people think Josh needs to do some serious thinking about coaches. LMAO. :sneaky:
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Bret wants to sell 3 8+ win seasons out of 4. I guarantee he'll chew the appropriate !!! to get us ready.
 
#98      
BZuppke
I would hope we’re ready at home. Again we’ll have to outscore them as they will move the ball.

The frustrating thing to me the last few games is that we are not making big plays. We’re not creating turnovers or having the big offensive play like we were earlier in the season.
 
#99      
SKane
#100      
zentrails
BZuppke said:
I would hope we’re ready at home. Again we’ll have to outscore them as they will move the ball.

The frustrating thing to me the last few games is that we are not making big plays. We’re not creating turnovers or having the big offensive play like we were earlier in the season.
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Yep, we've known that this season would be an "outscore em to win" season early on, probably the Duke game.
Hopefully we get a few TOs against NW like we did against Duke
 
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