Thank you for the replies. I ended up buying a parking pass on lot 47. Decided not to bring my travel trailer. How is the tailgate scene there?
Pregame: Illinois vs UTSA, Saturday, September 4th, 6:30pm CT, BTN
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
It’ll be fine everywhere, but I highly recommend checking out Grange Grove (press box side of the stadium). We aren’t quite there yet as a program, but it has “the bones” of a really great tailgating setup.
Also, if you go out the night before or Saturday night, check out Downtown Champaign, in addition to Campustown. Campustown obviously has the campus and some college bars and you should stop there, but Downtown is cooler. Lot of good restaurants and bars - Blind Pig Brewery on Neil Street has one of my favorite beer gardens ever!
I had a son attend Ole Miss
If you are asking if its anything like the tailgating Scene at "The Grove" in Oxford, Ms, the answer is no.
then again, no where in the college football landscape compares to that.
That is college footballs equivalent of Wrigley Field on a late 78 degree June Saturday Cubs-Cards game when the Cubs hit a walk off dinger to win.
This game will tell me a LOT about the maturity of this football team. It's not that unusual for a team to upset another team. The question is....can they follow it up the next week with a solid performance....ESPECIALLY against at least statistically (-5.5 point spread) a team that you are better than. I bought a point and a half to get to 7 on UTSA. I'm more than willing to lose my $$ for a blowout. I think IL will win....but it will be close. UTSA is no joke and some would argue that we were lucky to win last week. Historically we lose games that we should have won. I think last week was the opposite...is that because of a new attitude and a senior led team or was last week a fluke? This week will answer that question for me one way or the other.
I think 4 bucks.
Took a quick glance at byu vs. utsa from last year.
Byu did not have many problems with them. Corners looked soft and the run game was straight forward power stuff out of a pistol formation.
Not sure how we stack against byu? If they can put up 27 I don't see how we can't.
Byu did not have many problems with them. Corners looked soft and the run game was straight forward power stuff out of a pistol formation.
Not sure how we stack against byu? If they can put up 27 I don't see how we can't.
Well considering BYU was a Top 15 team at one point and they had a QB by the name of Zach Wilson, who was a Top 2 pick in the NFL draft, I can certainly see how we can't put up 27 against UTSA if that's all BYU did.
Not sure that is so - Lincoln is awfully hot in the summer. I have played golf there three times in August - each time it was over 100 degrees so I think the NE boys may be just as used to the heat as the UTSA boys.
Yes they are legit. Check out parking lot map to see location to stadium
I am disgusted with Big10 Network and the BigShow. Coach B needs to show the men, " Pat Forde" , SI sports on tonights show. No respect for Cornhusker win, all about Nebby and Frost sucking! Show them that clip all week. UTSA, is a heckuva team. Beat LSU in bowl game last year, got all their boyz back and are Texans! Be ready, Go Illini!
One more note O Line played better in 2nd half because our Competent College Staff took out R- side guard and replaced him with Bandonovic. Was a huge move and then running ball outside vs up the middle repeatedly paid off.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Forde was recently on with Loren Tate and Steve Kelly (this past weekend, I believe?) and was generally uninformed. He wanted to talk mostly about OSU, Wisconsin AND his daughter who was in Tokyo competing for the USA in the Olympics. Tate asked him why Illinois was universally picked last and getting such little attention with all of the seniors on the team. He was oblivious.
I think we should definitely be wary of an up-and-coming UTSA program in the week following an emotional win. However, their bowl game last year was against the school that used to be known as Louisiana-Lafayette (now just "Louisiana'), not LSU. Also, UTSA lost by a touchdown. Louisiana was a good team, however, finishing 10-1 and 15 in the AP poll. Their only loss was to Coastal Carolina and they won easily at Iowa State.
Our right guards started rotating early in the first half. That was not a halftime adjustment.
Enjoy your trip, and I hope Illini nation welcomes you in a fun and respectful fashion, though this board certainly would like a W for our beloved O&B…..
…..and thank you for your service!!!
LOL at this fact check. When I saw the first post, I said to myself "Self, I am certain I saw that LSU self-imposed a bowl ban last year and did not in fact lose to UTSA in a bowl game." Self and Chalmers were right.
Pretty sure Pihlstrom was at right guard for both second half touchdowns. I believe they rotated at right guard throughout the game.
In the second half the O line started to open some holes. Epstein and Love looked pretty good at rb. With the Oline having a game under their belt will surely help in the game Saturday. NB d line is not that bad and has some good athletes. Hope there is a good crowd Saturday. It should be cooler then last Saturday. Boy was it hot in the stands especially sitting by a bunch of red hot go big red fans. You could see the sweat just pouring off their foreheads.
Love runs so hard, I suspect he will be seeing a lot of touches in the second half of games after Brown and Epstein break em down.
Fully expect his role to expand as the season goes on.
The one player I was happy to see was Norwood. He has a little different build than the rest of backs and looked pretty dangerous in the passing game/outside run game.
MoCoMdIllini
- Montgomery County, Maryland
A Daily Herald recap only said that it "appeared to be a left leg injury" when describing him being helped off the field.
I've generally liked Forde. He's a national guy (currently SI) so I don't expect him to know much if anything about the teams that are in the bottom half of the country. I believe he was pretty knowledgeable about the Big12 back in the day so he probably has bias for Nebraska. He was also outspoken about the NCAA as a feckless organization lining its own pockets. Is it surprising to hear an analyst didn't know much about Illinois, or attributed the win to the other team folding?
its going to take some time before we get any respect nationally. Our football brand has been beat down pretty bad.
Lets admit it, at the end of last season we were in the bottom five or so of P5 schools, and if you take all FBS, we were probably in the bottom 25 .
Previous bottom dwellers like Duke and Iowa St have blown past us.
Other schools like Rutgers and Vandy are really not any worse.
Post 2007 Zook, Mr Lasagna and Lovie just killed us for 15 years. Its no surprise we cant draw more than 40,000
Lets admit it, at the end of last season we were in the bottom five or so of P5 schools, and if you take all FBS, we were probably in the bottom 25 .
Previous bottom dwellers like Duke and Iowa St have blown past us.
Other schools like Rutgers and Vandy are really not any worse.
Post 2007 Zook, Mr Lasagna and Lovie just killed us for 15 years. Its no surprise we cant draw more than 40,000
That’s the pretty universally held opinion of the program. And let’s face it, the Illini have not done much to garner a whole lot of benefit of the doubt over the last 25-30 years.
The ESPN article below predicts Illinois to go 4-8 (2-7). It came out after the Nebraska win. So basically, they’re predicting Illinois will go 1-3 against Virginia, Maryland, Purdue, and Rutgers, all teams they predict will win between 4 and 6 games. And then not beat either Minnesota or Northwestern, both predicted to win 7.
Projected standings and bold predictions for each Power 5 conference
Mark Schlabach predicts each of the Power 5's conference champions, players of the year, best games and even more ahead of Week 1.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
I guess we just have to embrace being doubted by everyone. That's fine just fine.
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