I am afraid that if Lunt does not come back we will see the 9 men in the box and stuffing any running play we try. Couch will try to throw and i think i saw him throw on the run pretty well, again i said i think. if so, there should be a lot of roll out pass or run options in the play book for Rutgers. I am happy Lovie is here and will hold back any judgment about coaching for two more years at least until he has some chance to get his guys and his schemes in place. i hope he can take us back to Mackovic status and away from this dumpster fire that it has been since Mackovic left for Texas.
Purdue 34, Illinois 31 OT POSTGAME
I am afraid that if Lunt does not come back we will see the 9 men in the box and stuffing any running play we try. Couch will try to throw and i think i saw him throw on the run pretty well, again i said i think. if so, there should be a lot of roll out pass or run options in the play book for Rutgers. I am happy Lovie is here and will hold back any judgment about coaching for two more years at least until he has some chance to get his guys and his schemes in place. i hope he can take us back to Mackovic status and away from this dumpster fire that it has been since Mackovic left for Texas.
We were sitting on my patio watching the game, when we lined up for the FG I told the other guys we would either miss it, or make it but get penalized for something then miss the re-kick. That's how we roll.
Illinifan1951
- Southeastern Illinois
The flag girls kneel on one knee and salute the flag as it goes by. This is something that they have done at each game this year.
JDHalfrack
- Springfield, IL
Why? Is that a rule somewhere I missed?
I actually thought that was pretty cool and very respectful.
They have done this as long as I can remember and I have been going to games 30+ years with season ticket for most of those... it has nothing to do with recent events... its part of the routine, and my guess is that it has to do with respect for the flag and keeping their flags below the height of the stars and stripes.
Some former MI members can shed light on this or go and look at YouTube's of pregames from over the years its been that way for a long time
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
This. Anyone who was a Boy Scout should know this--no flag should be higher than the US Flag.
Well I was not a boy scout, but I passed my constitution test in Jr. High! Haha :thumb:
Ok here are my two cents on how this year is.
It all comes down to our opponents watching our films. Look what Purdue did…they doubled up Smoot all game long. Normally, we would blitz the crap out of a team that is doubling up on a D-lineman. But we have a bunch of less-than-average freshmen and sophomores in our secondary (except for Hardy Jr., of course) and blitzing them on a more consistent basis would be a disaster.
Offensively, yes our RBs are finding ways to gain ground, but only on the outside. Our O-line can’t create a hole up the middle gaps to save their lives, even against Murray State they couldn’t. Crouch gained yards doing the same thing this week. Problem is, our opponents now have seen Crouch and know how to defend us. They just have to preach contain…don’t let anyone to the outside and they will stuff us every play.
We have some really good players, but not enough. All a decently smart coach has to do is watch our film and it’s easy to stop them.
It all comes down to our opponents watching our films. Look what Purdue did…they doubled up Smoot all game long. Normally, we would blitz the crap out of a team that is doubling up on a D-lineman. But we have a bunch of less-than-average freshmen and sophomores in our secondary (except for Hardy Jr., of course) and blitzing them on a more consistent basis would be a disaster.
Offensively, yes our RBs are finding ways to gain ground, but only on the outside. Our O-line can’t create a hole up the middle gaps to save their lives, even against Murray State they couldn’t. Crouch gained yards doing the same thing this week. Problem is, our opponents now have seen Crouch and know how to defend us. They just have to preach contain…don’t let anyone to the outside and they will stuff us every play.
We have some really good players, but not enough. All a decently smart coach has to do is watch our film and it’s easy to stop them.
Time out management take your extra time out run a play to center the bad angle kick and win, the NFL coaching staff needs to practice on it this week and delay of a games issues, for the college students are learning new systems again and this falls on the NFL coaches and staff not the players.
I need to go back and watch this again, but it certainly appeared live like the refs screwed up the clock, not Lovie.
I'm a season ticket holder the same issue at North Carolina and Nebraska games, the northwestern coach works the time outs extremely well, NFL coaches need to review and take responsibility for college players that are at a different level. No more to say than its a learning curve, but needs to be fixed for at the college level its very important for the staff to control and could be the difference in either a win or a loss. By the way we had 18 seconds on the clock and could have used our two time outs that were left.
FT35
- Naperville
From the stands it looked like the clock was stopped at 9 seconds and then started up again? It didn't stop until there were three seconds left and then the time out was called. I don't remember why the clock stopped at 9 seconds?
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
What are you talking about? They did call two penalties on the Crouch hit.
SampsonRelpenk
- Edwardsville, IL
This thread is gross. See y'all at the 2018 Music City Bowl.
Field Goal
I'm surprised this group of experts don't talk more about the coaching blunder at the end of regulation. We should have centered the football before attempting the winning kick. When asked in the interview, Lovie just stated we should have made it. It would have been an easier kick if the ball was centered instead of the left hash mark.
I'm surprised this group of experts don't talk more about the coaching blunder at the end of regulation. We should have centered the football before attempting the winning kick. When asked in the interview, Lovie just stated we should have made it. It would have been an easier kick if the ball was centered instead of the left hash mark.
illynifan34
That's a winner!!
- OH
The kicker might have wanted it on the left. Notice the ball missed to the right. Imagine how far right it is if you're kicking from the middle of the field.
illinifan4249
- Space Coast, FL
Our kicker likes it off the left hash. He was out on the field during one of the timeouts in the middle of the fourth quarter and was taking practice swings from the left hash. Many kickers prefer not being straight on due to their kick shape.
"Some people understand" the kicking game from a center view vs a bad angle, at then time the huge memorial stadium American flag was not moving at goal post level, so to the people who understand great comment on why the so called experts did not ask the questions is because the experts want to keep in grace with the new coaching staff vs bringing up such issues to a Beckman or Cubit. This Illini loss at the end of the game (game clock is moving, its a four quarter game and one wants to be on the high end of the score board for a mindset of winning). The players played their hearts out and need to be on the winning side. Our kicker has made all his prior center angle kicks! Lets continue to view the time out management in the future games, so far North Carolina, Nebraska and now Purdue has had time out management issues either in momentum (delay of game) or end of game situations. Zook had these same issues, Northwestern's coach plays his time outs to win, reality is what it is. Can't we discuss or is it politically incorrect?
This is understandable but I wonder why we didn't run one more play that either went up the middle (keeping it on the left hash) or to the left (resetting it on the left hash). Had we gotten even one more yard we could be 2-3 right now. I think that was a coaching mistake.
I think punting against Nebraska with 3 minutes left on a 4th and 1 was also a coaching mistake. Especially with a gassed defense.
I know there is a "decision tree" or something on what a coach should do in certain situations. A sort of "if this, do that" thing. But sometimes you have to be in the game and make the decision in the moment and not base your decision on a pre planned script. Helmuth von Moltke once said "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." I think good coaches have a feel for the game and what they should do at the right time. I hope Lovie has this feel but those two end game decisions the last 2 games would indicate otherwise.
I'll be interested to see if Lovie Has it and I'll be watching closely over the next few years to see if he adapts to this style or is stubborn.
Watching the replay again, it was the BTN broadcast that had the situation wrong, not the refs.
Crouch completed that acrobatic catch by Zach Grant with 18 seconds left. The clock stopped, apparently due to confusion as to whether it was a first down (it pretty clearly wasn't), and then wound again as we ran a quick run play to pick up the first with 9 seconds left. The clock stopped temporarily for the first down pickup, and then Lovie took his 2nd timeout with 4 seconds left to set up the field goal.
It's possible McLaughlin wanted left hash, which would also explain the run to the left on the play before. Choosing not to run another play with 9 seconds left and a timeout to take a shot at the endzone or gain some more yardage is a conservative call, but in solid field goal range with an inexperience QB it's a very, very understandable and justifiable one. If it's 12 seconds it's a different story. But 9 can bleed out on you faster than you think.
Crouch completed that acrobatic catch by Zach Grant with 18 seconds left. The clock stopped, apparently due to confusion as to whether it was a first down (it pretty clearly wasn't), and then wound again as we ran a quick run play to pick up the first with 9 seconds left. The clock stopped temporarily for the first down pickup, and then Lovie took his 2nd timeout with 4 seconds left to set up the field goal.
It's possible McLaughlin wanted left hash, which would also explain the run to the left on the play before. Choosing not to run another play with 9 seconds left and a timeout to take a shot at the endzone or gain some more yardage is a conservative call, but in solid field goal range with an inexperience QB it's a very, very understandable and justifiable one. If it's 12 seconds it's a different story. But 9 can bleed out on you faster than you think.
I saw one post that said "our kicker likes the left hash mark". I might have missed this. Could someone show me where this was said? Until the miss, I believe how was 8 for 8 on the year. Were they all from the left hash mark? The 46 yard FG earlier looked to be a little more toward the center. Someone suggested since it went to the right, kicking straight would have gone further to the right. Wrong! Because of the angle, he could not kick the football dead center straight ahead. Probably trying to play a hook " golf anyone" if you don't hit it just right, you will push it to the right. " hit right goal post". Not complaining. Been to every bowl game since 1984 and would like to get there again before time runs out.
Last edited by a moderator:
Ok lets bring out the UoI Math Professor with the slide ruler or laser equipment and further discuss, come on be reasonable center angle"s" are better than harsh mark angle"s". Ok I'll spell it out take a snap move to the right three steps and take a knee call a time out and the kick is good and we win what a concept and we did not have to contact a Professor. Of course we could fumble or the world could come to end too. Manage the time clock to your full advantage is the underlying tone here, unless we want the professor from Gilligan's island?
Ask people who play golf. Hitting it dead straight is not always as easy as a more natural draw or fade. Kicking field goals is similar to a golf stroke in a lot of ways. Expert free kick takers in soccer also usually prefer it slightly off center for similar reasons.
As I recall, Lovie's Bears used to often run a dive into the line to put big field goals on the right hash for Robbie Gould.
Lovie took his first time out after a first down a couple plays earlier (a smart move with an inexperienced QB IMO). They then ran a pass and immediately ran to the line and followed it up with a run play to the left hashmark. Clearly that sequence was dialed up during the timeout. "If you go down inbounds, hurry to the line and run X play".
We don't know either of these things for sure, but if the facts in Lovie's head were "my kicker likes it on the left hash and I have a young, inexperienced QB who wasn't planning to play today and who I don't fully trust to manage difficult ticking clock situations" he handled the situation to perfection.
If McLaughlin wanted a center-cut kick, there was time for timeout-dive-timeout and Lovie made a mistake. But we have no reason to assume that and every reason to believe his decisions were intentional, based on the sequence of events.