Pregame: Illinois vs USC, Saturday, September 27th, 11:00am CT, FOX

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#76      
OrangeBlue98
kmunt09 said:
We will see.

I just can’t reconcile X being out singularly causing all these issues for the DB room. We won the South Carolina game without Pat Bryant….WR room found a way. DB’s should be able to do the same, or at least keep the team in the game.

OL I have no idea. No major pieces missing from 10-3 team makes me more optimistic than hopeless. I agree with Chase321 that we perhaps got fortunate in a lot of 50/50 games, but the OL never looked this outmatched except for PSU and Oregon.
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Preparing a whole week when a player is out is one thing. It’s totally different having a player ejected, particularly when the ejection was totally unwarranted.

I’ve watched the replay again. It was a shoulder to the collarbone area that snapped the IU’s receiver head back because he put his head down. The receiver put himself in a dangerous position and was rewarded for it.
 
#77      
Fighter of the Nightman
illiniguy24 said:
Anybody even slightly invested in Illini football at this point is a die hard fan in my opinion. Especially if they are over the age of 25-30…and in an effort not to beat a dead horse with my rants on the program, I think it’s pretty obvious why that’s the case.
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I would argue there is clear evidence that this isn't true. We went from averaging 35k fans per game just a few years ago to selling out our 61k-seat stadium for multiple home games several weeks in advance. It's very clear that we have re-engaged fans that go way beyond the diehards, and I agree with the other poster that it is CRUCIAL we don't give those fans yet another excuse to jump ship by not rebounding vs. USC. I am not confident after what we saw last night, but that doesn't change the fact that one road loss won't erase that gain in fan support ... but two straight beatdowns, with the second one coming at home, to knock us out of the top 25 and have us sitting at 3-2 and looking outmatched? That can do some serious damage.
 
#79      
joeybcrazy13
Time to start praying.... Pray for the boys, pray for the staff, and pray for Coach B!!!! This is what Family is about!!!!! We can do it!!!! ILL
 
#80      
Chase321
Illiniaaron said:
If the offensive line doesn’t come out breathing fire next week, it says a lot about them and the offensive coaching staff.
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How do you know they weren’t breathing fire yesterday but are just so overmatched we couldn’t tell it? I hope it’s an effort or scheme issue because those are fixable.
 
#81      
PNWIllini
9 am kickoff on the West Coast. USC body clocks might not be awake until halftime. Jump on them early and get in the drivers seat.

Teams going from West to East and kicking off early are always at a disadvantage. The Seahawks in the NFL have tracked it. I don’t have data to link but it was something Pete Carroll was always trying to overcome.
 
#82      
Battle89
IlliniFaninHoosierLand said:
Their numbers are a bit overblown when you consider their first two games were against a first year FBS team in Missouri State along with Georgia Southern.
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Not picking on you specifically IFHL but that was the #1 Indiana argument too. Had this game as a loss in my season predictions and nothing I have seen makes me feel like changing that. (Also had IU as a win for us, so what do I know.)
 
#83      
Illiniindian
illiniguy24 said:
Anybody even slightly invested in Illini football at this point is a die hard fan in my opinion. Especially if they are over the age of 25-30…and in an effort not to beat a dead horse with my rants on the program, I think it’s pretty obvious why that’s the case.
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I am not sure I understand your point.
I love going to Illini football games. Of course, I want them to win. But I still enjoy the team even during down periods. I think there are thousands of fans like myself.
 
#88      
Pikeillinifan
MoCoMdIllini said:
We did get beat pretty bad at Oregon last year. Not as bad as yesterday, but it felt pretty thorough at the time. Things got better.
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The biggest difference I saw in the Oregon game was that they were on a totally different level athletically and speed wise,

Indiana is fast and athletic, but nowhere near where Oregon was. But Indiana is incredibly well coached and were going at full speed from start to finish.
 
#91      
TheChief4Life
Indiana was WAY faster and WAY more athletic than I think we have all convinced ourselves. Illinois had plenty of instances of shooting themselves in the foot yesterday, but I'm not sure had we played perfectly and had out entire team healthy is we would have been considered the better team. I think if both teams were full strength, we may still lose last night's game by 3 TDs.

That said, 63-7 is not indicative of the state of our program. I will die on that hill. But, I think we need to quit short selling Indiana. I don't think they're winning the big ten or anything like that (but also wouldn't be surprised to see that), but they're a legitimate playoff contender, and we've been deceived by anyone who tried to express otherwise.
 
#92      
fuddrules
USC is nothing close to IU overall as a team when playing at Illinois.

Cignetti did the same thing last year to teams, at home. I posted once I'd take Indiana at -9. You all still don't give them credit and that's your own fault. At home, IU is as good as anyone. I'm not sure the Illinois coaches gave them enough credit either. Illinois fans haven't watched much of IU football, apparently. I'm not sure how good IU is on the road, we will find out soon.

Illinois' DB injuries are problematic. I don't know what the outcome will be but I have far more confidence Illinois will be in a game vs. USC at home vs. IU on the road. If Illinois DB's were healthy, I'd take Illinois without question. If Illinois DB's were fully health at IU, I'd take IU by a ton.

Illinois just needs to get healthy in the defensive backfield.
 
#93      
therealmiket86
PNWIllini said:
9 am kickoff on the West Coast. USC body clocks might not be awake until halftime. Jump on them early and get in the drivers seat.

Teams going from West to East and kicking off early are always at a disadvantage. The Seahawks in the NFL have tracked it. I don’t have data to link but it was something Pete Carroll was always trying to overcome.
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Good thing for usc we suck in the first half
 
#96      
Todd99
TentakilRex said:
Sad part, the sub wasn't bad, the rest of the game was very iffy.
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Yeah, I didn’t mean any disrespect to Scott Beatty. It’s just that Barnhart being the main guy for twenty years, or whatever it’s been, and then he’s not there it’s like missing one of our starting players. And we needed all the help we could get last night!

On another note, I’ve really gotten to like listening to Carey Davis. I think he does nice job.
 
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