the dehense is the biggest questionmark
Pregame: Illinois vs Oregon, Saturday, October 24th, 2:00pm CT, BTN
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It was also one of the worst defensive game plans of all time. It was Bobby Hauck level bad
Agreed in most cases. In this case, you have two distinctly different skill sets both trying to solidify their roster spot for next year. In college, in this situation, it works. It's not like you have Manning and Brady fighting for snaps on the same team.
Oregon’s offense has looked really bad the last 2 weeks but a lot of that is because UCLA and Nebraska have excellent defenses. Their offense was very good against USC with Raiola and Moore both playing.
Assuming Raiola plays I think Oregon wins this pretty easily. Their fast defense vs a rookie QB is a matchup I don’t like. And I just think their offense will look more like it did vs USC than it did last 2 weeks.
I’d be all over Oregon at -8.5. I think Oregon wins 31-13. Something like that
Assuming Raiola plays I think Oregon wins this pretty easily. Their fast defense vs a rookie QB is a matchup I don’t like. And I just think their offense will look more like it did vs USC than it did last 2 weeks.
I’d be all over Oregon at -8.5. I think Oregon wins 31-13. Something like that
mhuml32
Gesture of Northern Aggression
Your thought process is sound but the spread going down is possibly because sharps or insiders know that several suspensions are coming before this game. If you lose Stewart, two offensive lineman, a starting safety, and a rotational defensive line player, it's going to shrink Oregon's margin. Plus, we still do not know if Moore is going to play and, if he does play, how he will perform. There probably is value on Oregon's alt-line....but there also might be value on Illinois ML.
I totally agree. We simply don't have the athletes in the front 7 or the speed in the defensive backfield to stay with Oregon offense. Their 2nd team would run over us. I expect only 1 stop by our D the entire game.
Yeah, if Oregon sticks with Raiola this could be a 52-7 type bloodbath. This is just a really bad matchup for us, particularly with an inexperienced QB and a shaky O-Line
Chase?
I would pick Oregon if the line was Oregon -20.5
I meant Boyd.
Going with my heart, Illinois 33-31
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I never like swapping two different QB's on and off the field during the game. Might be our best option at this moment, but that does not speak well of our options.
We'll see. I have no doubt Barry Lunney is going to be scraping the fabric at the bottom of his bag in this one.
swapping QB's during the game is equally difficult for both teams to deal with . Its hardly ideal.
Wasnt there a B1G team that tried doing that for a game or two in the last 15 years ?
To your point, this line is based a lot more on the shakier confidence the betting community has in Oregon rather than burgeoning belief in us. Even down multiple starters and on the road, going up against a freshman backup QB and a defensive that just does not have the requisite talent or speed in the front 7 to effectively pressure Oregon or disrupt their offense, this should be an automatic cash money game for them.
If Oregon shows up or rallies around the team, they will likely win by several touchdowns. But if they show up as a completely fractured team who are focused on their off-field issues and have already thrown the towel in, and we have a fast start, sure there’s a punchers chance there. That said this seems more like a get right game for Oregon than anything. I’d personally be surprised if we are within 20pts of them at the final whistle, but that’s why we play the games and I’d love to be surprised. But yeah, unless Oregon completely implodes, I have a very hard time seeing it happening.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The only truly successful version of that I think I've ever seen in terms of elite level success was Chris Leak and freshman Tim Tebow at Florida winning a national title.
With a team that couldn't kick a field goal to save their lives either, they defied all sorts of conventional wisdom about winning football.
(Maybe an evolutionary team on fourth down strategy, now that I think about it
)I'm showing my age, but I remember a game in which the Cowboys swapped Craig Morton and Roger Staubach every play at QB back in the early 70's against the Bears. The Bears won, thanks in large part to that poorly conceived experiment.
I enjoyed watching that Florida team because they had to go for it on so many 4th downs.The only truly successful version of that I think I've ever seen in terms of elite level success was Chris Leak and freshman Tim Tebow at Florida winning a national title.
With a team that couldn't kick a field goal to save their lives either, they defied all sorts of conventional wisdom about winning football.
(Maybe an evolutionary team on fourth down strategy, now that I think about it
Oregon has a great defense, I dont think the illini offense will be quite as efficient with a freshman QB vs this defense. Points will be few. Oregon offense has slumped but has great athletes. Illini defense would be the bottom of Mac. I expect Oregon to get out of their offensive slump.
Oregon 45
Illinois 10
Oregon 45
Illinois 10
100%. In the parlance of our times, it's not ideal.
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