Pregame: Illinois vs Purdue, Saturday, October 12th, 2:30pm CT, FS1

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#526      
BretMyBeachHouse
ChiefGritty said:
That, and very rarely does a major conference football team play dead for all that many games in a row. Doesn't mean Purdue will win, 1-11 is totally possible for them, but it is a near-guarantee that a superficially better performance that puts a scare into somebody is coming. That's college football, it is ever thus.

And then you layer on, the forward looking outlook for the Illinois football program winning (even in ugly fashion) versus losing this game is VASTLY different.

You just haven't been an Illini fan very long if you can't see a banana peel for the Bielema Era in the road here. This kind of thing has happened to us a ton.

(And plus spoiling the Michigan game. Lots of warning lights flashing.)

It feels like a guarantee to me that there's going to be a weird negative vibe early in this game, it just has that shape to it because of the new OC, backup QB, fans staring into the abyss, etc. One first down has a way of creating a confidence boomlet for a team like that (we've benefited from that many times). 60 minutes of football should be more than enough to overcome that given the quality of football these two teams have played so far. And yet....
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We shall see, but I think what I'm feeling is that we've turned the corner from a team culture standpoint. Two years ago we were flying high and lost our edge and it really cost us.

This year, we're flying high and come out with a great game against Nebraska and a great start and solid game against PSU. This team seems a bit more locked in.
 
#527      
RockfordIllini
BretMyBeachHouse said:
We shall see, but I think what I'm feeling is that we've turned the corner from a team culture standpoint. Two years ago we were flying high and lost our edge and it really cost us.

This year, we're flying high and come out with a great game against Nebraska and a great start and solid game against PSU. This team seems a bit more locked in.
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I’m still in the exhale when this game is over vs confident camp, but it has nothing to do with how good we really are. Upsets happen but i think we are a good team regardless. Maybe not top 25 good, but 7-8 wins good.

And in 2022 I actually don’t think we lost our edge. I think we just wore down a little due to lack of depth. We had some absolute studs on defense but we leaned on them and Chase Brown hard. Throw in Tommy playing on a bad ankle the second half of the year I just think we lost a little juice vs lost our edge.

Although we lack the day 1/2/3 talent of 2022, I do think we are deeper. Our depth plus the schedule softening up a bit in November makes me optimistic we finish strong.

But if you want to shoot a round in the 60s (well, 90s for me), you gotta make your 3 foot putts. This game is our 3 foot putt.
 
#528      
NickOfTime
ChiefGritty said:
I'd bite your arm off to lock that in this instant.

This is just don't lose territory. At Eugene is take your medicine and fly home. Michigan will be fun come what may, it's a nothing to lose game.

Then the last four comes and that's where the question of how good we actually are is going to come to the fore.
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I'm a sucker for the historical angle.

I want to beat Purdue so we can clinch bowl eligibility vs a down year Michigan on the 100th anniversary of Memorial Stadium.
 
#529      
GatorMcKlusky
SuperintendentChalmers said:
So strange. Even if Purdue is awful, BB doesn't really have a run-up-the-score system or attitude. Plus, the next two games are huge, he's not going to expose new wrinkles just for the sake of hitting 50 or whatever. If we get up two scores, I could see the game becoming an exercise in controlling time of possession through the rushing game.
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I we get up two scores, I could see BB putting a Peoria Charter bus in the backfield. He will run up the score.
 
#532      
ChiefGritty
pvaughn8 said:
It would be uncharacteristic, but I would love to run up the score on these guys
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To the uncharacteristic point, the last time we beat an FBS team by 40 or more points was Bill Cubit's debut in 2015, beating Kent State 52-3.

In conference the last time was against Indiana in 2008, 55-13.

Bielema has yet to score 50 points at Illinois in any game, the last time we did that was 2018 against Minnesota.
 
#533      
Mr. Tibbs
ChiefGritty said:
To the uncharacteristic point, the last time we beat an FBS team by 40 or more points was Bill Cubit's debut in 2015, beating Kent State 52-3.

In conference the last time was against Indiana in 2008, 55-13.

Bielema has yet to score 50 points at Illinois in any game, the last time we did that was 2018 against Minnesota.
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how many times did he do it in conference at Wiscy ?
 
#535      
Old.Edgy
Illiniam1984 said:
What’s with some of the doom and gloom on here? Every expert prediction that I have read has Illinois winning by a decent margin or a blow out. I understand that you never know what can happen in college football but is it the history we have had against them?
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The reason for the doom and gloom...

ILLINI LAST 10 GAMES VS. PURDUE ... 2-8
 
#537      
TheChief4Life
Illinois - 38
Purdue - 17

Never enough to just call it a blow out, but always enough ahead to feel comfortable down the stretch.
 
#538      
GILL-INOIS
QB Hudson Card out, it's time for the D to key on the run and bring the pressure. I look for this to get ugly......for Purdue fans

will ferrell snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
#539      
lexwaldez
Illiniam1984 said:
What’s with some of the doom and gloom on here? Every expert prediction that I have read has Illinois winning by a decent margin or a blow out. I understand that you never know what can happen in college football but is it the history we have had against them?
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Our defense might put up 21 on them. I mean, I never want to look past ANYBODY. Look at Maryland -10.5 vs Northwestern. Things happen. But Purdue doesn't know how to play football, and that should help.
 
#543      
Thaillini22
I think PU is beaten down mentally. If we can go up 10-0 or 14-0, it's gonna be a blowout.

I think the large crowd, nice weather, good overall vibes, and coming off a bye... i think this is gonna be different from bygone bed-cr*ppers which are quite rightly causing such wariness in this thread.

Hot start, frustrated PU, comfy UI win, maybe even cover.
 
#544      
Illinicpa14
JTOWNillini said:
Illini 30
Purdue 7

I think Bret wants to hold back and not show much. Plus, he’s not one to run up the score.

I’ll be making the 2-hour drive down tomorrow and have goosebumps. A top-25 team? In 80-degree weather in October? I’m savoring every minute of this!
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They may not show much in terms of wrinkles but with some of the stuff from Walter, I think they’ll jam it down their throat if they can.
 
#545      
Fly Illini Fly!
Want to see us establish the run... I know it's been kind of the same keypoint for weeks but you have to be able to run it consistently to beat the teams we have ahead. It's been a weakpoint in our O for the most part thus far and...

If you can't do it against Purdue... uh... yeah.

And of course, always a point of wish to get out healthy...
 
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#546      
JJE
I remember in 2018 we were 3-2 going into the home game with Purdue. It was homecoming and it looked like if we won we might still have a pretty good season.

I made the decision the morning of the game to drive up there from St. Louis thinking it might be a special game. The crowd was amped up, and we absolutely got throttled 46-7. We then went on to have a 4-8 season.

I know we’ve beat Purdue since then, but that game still irritates me as a turning point for the season in a bad way. I hope we go out and just demolish Purdue today.
 
#547      
illinoistradition
JJE said:
I remember in 2018 we were 3-2 going into the home game with Purdue. It was homecoming and it looked like if we won we might still have a pretty good season.

I made the decision the morning of the game to drive up there from St. Louis thinking it might be a special game. The crowd was amped up, and we absolutely got throttled 46-7. We then went on to have a 4-8 season.

I know we’ve beat Purdue since then, but that game still irritates me as a turning point for the season in a bad way. I hope we go out and just demolish Purdue today.
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I was there too and we didn’t make it into the stadium until after Illinois scored. Then proceeded to watch Lovie’s defense get absolutely throttled. Would not have faulted Whitman for cutting ties after that season.
 
#550      
chiefini
JJE said:
I remember in 2018 we were 3-2 going into the home game with Purdue. It was homecoming and it looked like if we won we might still have a pretty good season.

I made the decision the morning of the game to drive up there from St. Louis thinking it might be a special game. The crowd was amped up, and we absolutely got throttled 46-7. We then went on to have a 4-8 season.

I know we’ve beat Purdue since then, but that game still irritates me as a turning point for the season in a bad way. I hope we go out and just demolish Purdue today.
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I hope you didn’t decide to drive up this morning! (I kid. Sort of…)
 
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