Pregame: Illinois vs Ohio State, Saturday, October 11th, 11:00am CT, FOX

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#226      
PopChampaign
DC Aaron Henry on Purdue's explosive plays: In the secondary, it just takes one play to give a team momentum. I got to do a better job of continuing to press expectations and put us in better situations.

Doesn’t sound like any major adjustments will be made, which weren’t expected. “Press expectations” is cool, but obviously that’s been done since Spring and we may not have the talent to live up to those expectations… which would then require….

A D J U S T M E N T S
 
#227      
STLini25
the juiceman cometh said:
You said "best case scenario." I don't think that's accurate. That's what they average against P4 opposition. Clearly I'd expect a best case scenario to be be better than that.

As to how many they score, again, that's all about game flow. I think the most likely (but not best case) result is OSU by multiple scores, but that could mean 24-3, or it could mean 42-27.
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yes, I do think OSU scoring 24-27 points is best case scenario. This is evidenced by your two projections of OSU scoring between 24 and 42 points. I think those are fair likely ranges. But expecting OSU to score 24-27 is possible but best case scenario.

We can revisit on Saturday, I hope I’m wrong.
 
#229      
abchew2
I think a lot of the doom stems from the Indiana performance. That one hurt so much because reasonably we built that up to be a good game even if some thought we wouldn’t get the win. I still think this team can surprise Saturday but I get the hesitancy to protect egos.
 
#231      
illinifan31
Anything can happen any Saturday. As a primary Illinois fan, but secondary Notre Dame fan, trust me...the underdog can absolutely win.

Maybe we play 10 times and lose 8, but the guys will be busting their butts out there, cause 2 out 10 times you end up with a W. And that's what makes college football amazing.
 
#232      
pruman91
ChiTown said:
Better be the biggest adjustment possible in our defense.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1974878644997882352
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andy-kauffman-mighty-mouse (1).gif
 
#233      
pruman91
sometimes in my darkest despair I wonder who and what would it take to bridge that gap between hopelessness and the pure joy feeling of being on top of the world happiness.........that feeling of complete excitability where nothing can penetrate that shell of Illini armor protecting our inner peace......I had that feeling in 2004-05 with Dee , Deron , Luther and the rest of that crew......

we didn't win the whole burrito but we did win the hearts of many future Illini Nation converts and I am getting Deja Vu vibes all over again........it may be my afternoon delight wake and bake but I think it could possibly be a major breakthrough moment where we do the impossible and open that door to a higher realm of achievement and shock ourselves......hey , it's a lot more fun to think impossible thoughts than hellish nightmare ones.......

the steps the Illini need and have to make to ascend up that magical ladder of success has to start somewhere......why not this Saturday.......HUH ??.......WHY NOT !!!!!!

I'll be in front of my 65 " TV with appropriate munchies , drinks and herbal infusion cheering on the beloved........

AGAIN , WHY NOT ?????

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BEWARE THE ILLINI !!!!!!!!!!!!
 
#235      
Todd99
Fighter of the Nightman said:
We haven't made it for a home game since 2023, and sometimes it is difficult to hear on TV ... can someone remind me what we currently play on big third downs? I think a lot would be surprised just how effective a proper "big moment" hype song is at engaging fans who tend to be more reserved in nature. The "crowd effect" is so real at a college sports game ... a proper atmosphere transforms the dynamic to a point where the fans who are NOT being loud all of a sudden feel like the weird ones.
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The band sometimes plays the same note for an extended period, so it’s just “noise”. Similar to the Purdue train horn I suppose.

I don’t know if I’ve heard it this year, but last year they used to play the Darth Vader theme on third down occasionally. The one thing that comes to mind is the band plays the opening of Seven Nation Army about 27 times a game, it seems. I have that song in my head until at least Tuesday every week.

I think the lack of answers to your question demonstrates there is room for improvement.
 
#236      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
DeonThomas said:
I predict "zero likes" for this one.
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I disagree. If that final score is under 20 points, we likely played our second best game of the year to make that happen. At the end of the day, what this teams needs is progress, so I'd be ecstatic.

I don't know if there's one position Illinois has a true advantage at over Ohio State (other than kicker). The main key is to come out of healthy into the first bye week.
 
#238      
Todd99
After a win we play Sir Duke, which is not one that I consider to be a stadium song necessarily, but it’s a catchy and fun song to hear while everyone is exiting and in a good mood and responsibly intoxicated!

The best one I remember recently was last year in the final minutes of the Michigan game when we had the game in hand (and a lot Michigan fans were heading to the exits) we played Mr. Brightside during a timeout. The crowd singing Mr. Brightside a cappella is a tradition at Michigan home games, between the 3rd and 4th quarter. I thought that was some Grade A, savage trolling!
 
#239      
BZuppke
Ander1345 said:
We used to play for a life sized Native American - check and mate Buckeyes.
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That was with NW. We’ve always played for Illinibuck. Early on it was a live turtle. Now a wooden turtle retired every 10 years to the winning team - we kept one in 1990.
 
#241      
Ander1345
BZuppke said:
That was with NW. We’ve always played for Illinibuck. Early on it was a live turtle. Now a wooden turtle retired every 10 years to the winning team - we kept one in 1990.
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I know that Im just saying our rivalry with NW has had multiple different trophies.
 
#244      
Fly Illini Fly!
Biggest key is pass protection. You want every game determined in the hands of your QB as much as possible - can't happen if he's on his back.

Also, need to capitalize on opportunities - cannot have 0-fors in the redzone.
 
#245      
1970 John
First, there’s a reason why the word “upset” was invented. It’s because upsets hapoen and you have to have something to call them. And if the underdog had a reasonable chance of winning, it wouldn’t be an upset.

Upsets happen. Let’s make an upset happen on Saturday.
 
#246      
Curbelo Fanboy
Se Il Illini said:
If memory serves me correctly, Illinois has had some history where they have been a big underdog and played very well in this game.
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We’ve come up with some good efforts in these kind of spots but seem to always come up short.

Penn State 94 has a similar vibe imo. That was a classic great team. We did have a much better d that year but couldn’t hold the 21-0 lead.

OSU in 2002 we took em to the limit in double ot loss to eventual national champ.

2000 Michigan we played a marvelous game until
Late at the refs did their dirty work.

Even in 2006 we gave OSU all they wanted in juice freshman year. Scored late to make it 16-10 and couldn’t get the onside recovery.

It does seem when a good Illini team gets one of these big home spots we at least put up a solid effort.
 
#248      
Alma 19
Todd99 said:
I’m with you. I’ve had more fun watching Illinois football in the last three years than I’ve probably had in the last 23 years.

I just don’t get into all the analyzing and agonizing and hand wringing and predictions over something I have no control over anyway.

I’ll be there Saturday, and we’ll have two grandkids in tow, ages 8 and 12. They don’t know who Ohio St. is or even care. They don’t understand bowl games or the CFP or 3rd down conversion percentage. They love going to games and being in the exciting atmosphere of live college sports. And they like the Illini because I do.

Win or lose we’ll be back home by 5:00 and the grill will be lit and we’ll have a great fall Saturday night with family. The beer might taste better after beating the #1 team in the country, but life will go on.

Maybe I’m in the minority or just old fashioned but the FamILLy motto rings true for me, and that’s more important and lasting than any win-loss record or bowl game bid.

Just enjoy the ride and whatever happens, happens.
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What a difference a couple decades of wisdom makes. I'm 28 and I yell at my tv when we lose.
 
#249      
Fuze
People were talking about defensive 3rd downs earlier, but since I didn't see anyone actually give the right answer, I'll tune in. Until USC, it was the bells thing (sounded like "Whom the Bells Toll" but never got to the guitar riff), but for Homecoming, they started using what I think was the Blackhawks goal horn. It definitely seemed to get more volume built up than the bells ever did, but the crowd still only sometimes took the extra step in volume. 3rd down or not, sometimes the center 5 or so sections in the east and west main seem pretty reluctant to get up and cheer, no matter what is done to encourage it, so idk if there's really anything better than the DIA could actually do.

As for the celebrity vids, they're just for general "get loud" moments, so they're usually used later in the game or when the crowd isn't doing it on its own (which I could easily rant about, but won't rn lol). They're just in place of the generic "volume meters" everyone uses at every level. Everyone uses them, even schools that don't need them, and the celeb vids are at least more interesting than the generic ones.
 
#250      
SuperintendentChalmers
1970 John said:
First, there’s a reason why the word “upset” was invented. It’s because upsets hapoen and you have to have something to call them. And if the underdog had a reasonable chance of winning, it wouldn’t be an upset.

Upsets happen. Let’s make an upset happen on Saturday.
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Actually, the only horse to ever beat Man o' War in 21 races was named Upset.
 
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