At one time I thought Lunt was an elite QB. I still think he is more talented that Crouch. I am not a huge fan of Crouch (Although he played well against Purdue). I just think there is no point to playing Lunt anymore with this team (Line and receivers). The offense runs a little better with Crouch in there. Still hoping for a 5th year transfer or a JUCO QB for next year. I don't think we have a ready starter at QB in our recruits or current players.
P S it is a very bad sign that I wasn't that upset after this game. We are what we are. It is going to be a few years before we know what Lovie and staff can accomplish.
I tend to agree with this. Lunt is not suited for this offense AT ALL. It's a prefect disaster when you have a guy that is a statue back there with only one guy to throw to with McGee's offense. This isn't Lunt's fault, but you could see them trying to get Crouch more involved in the offense even before the injury. How great would it have been to have him down near the goal line in that first series? Instead of three hand offs to Kendrick Foster, maybe he rolls out and scores himself?
If someone besides Turner would step up, it would be a different story. It's sad to look out there and know that no one else is a viable option to throw to. Hardee is a 5th year Senior who hasn't stepped up at all this year and Grant is a former walk on who is doing the best he can. This may be the worst group of WRs I've seen in the past ten years. That means we have to have gain a lot of yards on the ground and a running QB helps open things up. I would also like to see more screens to Corbin/Foster/Vaughn, which is really just an extension of the running game. Get the ball in the hands of guys who can actually move the ball.
I will say it will be interesting to see what a defense will do when they have a week to prepare for Crouch. They didn't look prepared for a running QB AT ALL, so there was obviously an element of surprise to it as well. I will say Crouch didn't look that bad throwing the ball, however.
Like you, I came away from this game not being all that upset. It was like the Fresno State game in 2009. Yeah, it was ridiculously heartbreaking the way we lost, but it's not going to make that much of a difference in the end.
This defense can't stop anyone. I'm not sure how they held it together against Nebraska, but they were blown off the line ALL DAY against Purdue. Purdue didn't even have their #1 running back and they shredded through this defense. It'll be hard to win another game with a defense like this. Illinois might have to have TO margins of +3 to be competitive. Blough didn't even look like he was having a very good day and most of the drives that ended were because of his poor play or mistakes.
I've had season tickets for 10 years and I'm not looking forward to the rest of the home games. I just hope the weather isn't too bad and I'm not sitting next to too many opposing team's fans. Most are not that obnoxious (with the exception of Wisconsin fans), but it's painful to watch them celebrate in our stadium. What's really sad is that a lot of the opposing team fans (again, Wisconsin being the main exception) just feel sorry for us and just enjoy the lopsided victories.
Even though they are the closest conference team in terms of distance, I'm glad Purdue doesn't bring a lot of fans. I remember looking over at them during the 2010 game and I'd never seen a more pissed off group of visiting fans. Those were the days....