Purdue 13, Illinois 9 Postgame

#101      
This all day. WHY DID WE NOT KICK A FKN FG HERE?
Agree. You risk field position if you miss but a make allows a field goal to win if they score a touchdown. Would have been a nice option rather than watching BP throw the last 3 passes into the stands.
 
#102      

GallopingGhost

Denver, CO
Good QB and good defense and good lines win games. We maybe have 1/2 out of three. We won’t be a decent team until we find and start a decent QB. Haven’t had one for years. Nathan Scheelhause may have been the last decent one.

Brandon Peters ain’t it. Art ain’t it. Sooooo…
 
#104      

The Galloping Ghost

Washington, DC
Last week, Bielema made an absolutely horrible decision.
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This week he made a decision that was SIGNIFICANTLY worse.

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And he not only made the wrong decision, he made the worst decision each time. Meathead.
100% this. There's a reason the best coaches in the game go for it now. It's unbelievably distressing that we have a coach that's stuck in the dark ages. Even if we do get better players, I don't believe that we'll make the right play call with the game on the line in the future and that sucks.

For anyone that needs some more convincing that going it for would have been the correct call, here's an article that does a decent job of breaking the decision down.
 
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#108      

Illinir1

Camdenton, MO
I'm of the opinion that you play to win and coach accordingly. Bielema made the "not to lose" play and it's bit us two weeks in a row
Last week he was defensive of questions about not going for it on 4th and 1 at the Maryland 40 yd. line. I believe he was being bullheaded this week in not going for it on 4th down and short three times inside Purdue's territory. He won't lead his players if he can't say "I was wrong".
 
#109      
Seriously, why doesn't Sidowski get an opportunity? They should of made a change to start the second half. How much more do they need to see before they say that Peters isn't the answer?
 
#110      

Go Nats 88 Illini

Fairfax, VA
I don't know how you know that. And he wasn't winded while ripping off 9 yard gains at a pop. Let him run till his tongue is dragging. What good did Love do?
I know it by seeing him pull himself off the field midway through drives. Not complaining about him, just using my eyes. When he went out, we did not change the play calling, just the back and what had been 2nd and 2 or 3's were 2nd and 11's.
 
#111      
I’m going to drop a hot take: we are headed in the right direction.

Defense looks much improved even in 3 weeks. McCray looks like the real deal. Just needs some conditioning to be able to carry it 30 times a game. In the mean time, once we get Brown back we should be able to run the ball pretty effectively. The last couple weeks have felt like the excruciating losses early in the BU tenure. But if you squint, you can see what it looks like.

That being said, Purdue was moving the ball late, and we made one big play in the end zone and got kind of lucky with another INT. I think you live or die going for it, and it was a bad decision. Absolutely fair to criticize BB on that.

But I’m seeing alot of progress already. It may take another 2-3 years but think we are building something solid, Wisky looks like they are teetering. Iowa is solid but they are what they are. Same with NW. Fleck may be turning back into a pumpkin, and the Huskers are a mess. The door is open in the west.
 
#112      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
I’m going to drop a hot take: we are headed in the right direction.

Defense looks much improved even in 3 weeks. McCray looks like the real deal. Just needs some conditioning to be able to carry it 30 times a game. In the mean time, once we get Brown back we should be able to run the ball pretty effectively. The last couple weeks have felt like the excruciating losses early in the BU tenure. But if you squint, you can see what it looks like.

That being said, they were moving the ball late, and we made one big play in the end zone and got kind of lucky with another INT. I think you live or die going for it, and it was a bad decision. Absolutely fair to criticize BB on that.

But I’m seeing alot of progress already. It may take another 2-3 years but think we are building something solid, Wisky looks like they are teetering. Iowa is solid but they are what they are. Same with NW. Fleck may be turning back into a pumpkin, and the Huskers are a mess. The door is open in the west.
That's the opposite of a hot take, amigo. Casual fans are going to be streaming out the doors because they think a pedigreed coaching staff should have turned this around by week 3 (4 for us) and don't realize that the kind of sustained success most programs have take a decade or more to build. And we're a solid 2 decades behind.
 
#114      

GallopingGhost

Denver, CO
I’m going to drop a hot take: we are headed in the right direction.

Defense looks much improved even in 3 weeks. McCray looks like the real deal. Just needs some conditioning to be able to carry it 30 times a game. In the mean time, once we get Brown back we should be able to run the ball pretty effectively. The last couple weeks have felt like the excruciating losses early in the BU tenure. But if you squint, you can see what it looks like.

That being said, Purdue was moving the ball late, and we made one big play in the end zone and got kind of lucky with another INT. I think you live or die going for it, and it was a bad decision. Absolutely fair to criticize BB on that.

But I’m seeing alot of progress already. It may take another 2-3 years but think we are building something solid, Wisky looks like they are teetering. Iowa is solid but they are what they are. Same with NW. Fleck may be turning back into a pumpkin, and the Huskers are a mess. The door is open in the west.
I like your hot take. People will be mad at it but I see improvement too. Maybe I was just fed up with “defensive competency” Lovie. Also we covered in our last 2 B1G games. One possession games. I think if Lovie were still coaching we would be in the post game threads of 2-3 Score losses
 
#118      
If we got a field goal there we still lose this game 12-13
Illini got to Purdue 20 yard line in last drive. Chip shot would have made it 15-13 good guys if BB had chosen FG — and McCourt had made it. But have to remember that he had missed essentially the same kick earlier in half, so though McCourt is good certainly no guarantee he would have made a 50+ FG. Also I think announcer said Illini are 1 for 4 going for it on fourth down this year, so certainly no guarantee even if BB had gone for it that they would have made it. All that said and though I tend to be conservative in those situations, given how much time was left punting would have been my third choice (FG being first choice).
 
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#119      

JFGsCoffeeMug

BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
If your dream was that we would be competitive in Year 1 of Bielema, then these kinds of results probably qualify. I'm not happy about the way we're losing these games either, but Bret is largely giving us what we asked for. Now he needs to build upon it. This isn't going to hack it when we're in Year 3.
 
#120      
If your dream was that we would be competitive in Year 1 of Bielema, then these kinds of results probably qualify. I'm not happy about the way we're losing these games either, but Bret is largely giving us what we asked for. Now he needs to build upon it. This isn't going to hack it when we're in Year 3.
If we keep losing close games like this against the better teams on our schedule it'll keep me cautiously optimistic moving forward. I've been impressed by the improvement on the defensive side of the ball. If we keep that going and find some o linemen that can open holes for McCray and chase Brown I think we can be pretty competitive moving forward. Those are some big ifs though considering how many seniors we have on the roster.
 
#124      
Should Peters still be the starter? Genuine question because I can’t tell if he’s bad, the offensive game plan is bad, or both.
They are not playing Spann at qb because he doesn't throw the ball away enough. Put him back at qb and let him make some plays.