Thank You IllinoisLoyalty

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#1      

BuckFan12

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BuckFan12
I just want to thank all of you for helping me plan an incredible weekend in Champaign. All of the recommendations were very helpful and worked out. A couple of you asked for a recap from an outsider so I’ll try my best.

Friday: We arrived in Champaign around 5pm and immediately went to Papa Del’s. Seems like we just beat the traffic because we got seated pretty fast. The Pizza was great! Overall just a nice unique place to eat. There were some Illinois fans there who were all extremely polite. (You guys legitimately have the nicest fans in the big 10) One guy made a comment about you guys winning the game but it was definitely just fun football fan trash talk and we all laughed. We hung around for a bit and then just headed out to where we were staying.

Saturday: We got up and headed to the lot some of you suggested on the corner of Springfield and Goodwin. We made sure to walk down through Main Quad to South Quad while making our way to the stadium. The campus is absolutely beautiful the open quad was great to coast through and a lot of the buildings in that area looked really cool. Definitely felt unique and made me wish we had walked through while class was in session. It was pretty quiet and peaceful but as we approached Grange Grove we heard a roar and could immediately feel the energy. Seeing all of the orange tents set up and the sea of Orange around the big noon setup really made it feel like a big game. We kinda just wandered around for awhile and then entered the stadium.

Stadium Atmosphere: We walked in and immediately went up to the colonnades which really kinda gave me a feeling I don’t think I’ve ever had at a football stadium. It put the name “Memorial Stadium” into perspective some. It also provided a great view of Grange Grove. As we got to our seats we were impressed that the students were really pouring in 30ish minutes before kickoff. I’ll reiterate again it really had a big game feel. Prior to kickoff up until the interception I thought it was really loud. I haven’t been everywhere in the big 10 but of the places I’ve been would rank it behind Penn St as far as loudest road games I’ve been to. The atmosphere was great seeing the towels swinging and the fans really buying in to make it an electric environment. The energy died some as the game got out of reach but it seemed like the fans still were enjoying themselves and having a good time. The environment was much more upbeat and than a game at the Shoe so that cool to experience.

Afterwards we walked around campustown for a bit and took everything in. Then we made our way to Black Dog for some excellent BBQ. (Great recommendation)

There’s plenty of stuff I’m sure I left out but it felt like it was getting pretty long winded. Overall though it was a great road environment, a cool town that was very unique, and the nicest most approachable fans I’ve been around. Thanks again guys!
 
#2      
Mr. Tibbs
BuckFan12 said:
I just want to thank all of you for helping me plan an incredible weekend in Champaign. All of the recommendations were very helpful and worked out. A couple of you asked for a recap from an outsider so I’ll try my best.

Friday: We arrived in Champaign around 5pm and immediately went to Papa Del’s. Seems like we just beat the traffic because we got seated pretty fast. The Pizza was great! Overall just a nice unique place to eat. There were some Illinois fans there who were all extremely polite. (You guys legitimately have the nicest fans in the big 10) One guy made a comment about you guys winning the game but it was definitely just fun football fan trash talk and we all laughed. We hung around for a bit and then just headed out to where we were staying.

Saturday: We got up and headed to the lot some of you suggested on the corner of Springfield and Goodwin. We made sure to walk down through Main Quad to South Quad while making our way to the stadium. The campus is absolutely beautiful the open quad was great to coast through and a lot of the buildings in that area looked really cool. Definitely felt unique and made me wish we had walked through while class was in session. It was pretty quiet and peaceful but as we approached Grange Grove we heard a roar and could immediately feel the energy. Seeing all of the orange tents set up and the sea of Orange around the big noon setup really made it feel like a big game. We kinda just wandered around for awhile and then entered the stadium.

Stadium Atmosphere: We walked in and immediately went up to the colonnades which really kinda gave me a feeling I don’t think I’ve ever had at a football stadium. It put the name “Memorial Stadium” into perspective some. It also provided a great view of Grange Grove. As we got to our seats we were impressed that the students were really pouring in 30ish minutes before kickoff. I’ll reiterate again it really had a big game feel. Prior to kickoff up until the interception I thought it was really loud. I haven’t been everywhere in the big 10 but of the places I’ve been would rank it behind Penn St as far as loudest road games I’ve been to. The atmosphere was great seeing the towels swinging and the fans really buying in to make it an electric environment. The energy died some as the game got out of reach but it seemed like the fans still were enjoying themselves and having a good time. The environment was much more upbeat and than a game at the Shoe so that cool to experience.

Afterwards we walked around campustown for a bit and took everything in. Then we made our way to Black Dog for some excellent BBQ. (Great recommendation)

There’s plenty of stuff I’m sure I left out but it felt like it was getting pretty long winded. Overall though it was a great road environment, a cool town that was very unique, and the nicest most approachable fans I’ve been around. Thanks again guys!
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so happy you enjoyed the trip

we wish you good luck the rest of the way .
we need a little more than luck , but understand nothing good comes easy .
 
#3      
BuckFan12
Mr. Tibbs said:
so happy you enjoyed the trip

we wish you good luck the rest of the way .
we need a little more than luck , but understand nothing good comes easy .
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Thanks, I’ll be pulling for you guys! And it sounds like you guys really are building towards that next step as a program. A lot of the people I talked to there said the Michigan game last year and the USC game this year were also great environments.

The next thing is just belief! A lot of the fans at the game were making comments like “we know what’s about to happen” or “I hope we can just keep it close”

You gotta have faith in what you guys are building.
 
#7      
Curbelo Fanboy
You got to see Memorial Stadium on a full house. That might be Bret's best accomplishment so far. He's brought back something to be proud of. That old joint can rock with the best of them when there is a good product on the field. We've just had long periods of doldrums in recent times.

Bucks just had too many horses for Illinois to be able to make mistakes & still stay in the game.

The dog has to play a perfect game & that's why not many upsets happen. It's super hard to play mistake free football for 3 1/2 hours on a given Saturday.
 
#8      
BuckFan12
Curbelo Fanboy said:
You got to see Memorial Stadium on a full house. That might be Bret's best accomplishment so far. He's brought back something to be proud of. That old joint can rock with the best of them when there is a good product on the field. We've just had long periods of doldrums in recent times.

Bucks just had too many horses for Illinois to be able to make mistakes & still stay in the game.

The dog has to play a perfect game & that's why not many upsets happen. It's super hard to play mistake free football for 3 1/2 hours on a given Saturday.
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Yeah I was glad to see it packed out. I’ve been to IU (pre Cignetti) and Purdue and this was a stark difference. You can tell when a program has life.

As far as the game there definitely were a few calls that swung momentum our way and the mistakes definitely came back to bite you guys. Bret hinted at it after the game but I thought you guys should have went tempo a lot more also. Once Luke got into a rhythm and you guys started playing fast you moved the ball on us more than any team we’ve played this year has.

Against elite defenses in general it’s tough but especially ours this year when you give them time to get set, see the formation, and communicate it’s going to be really tough to get much going.

You guys were miles ahead of UW in the trenches though. We couldn’t get much pressure on Luke unless we blitzed and you stopped the run really well. 10-2 is very realistic IMO
 
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#9      
Curbelo Fanboy
BuckFan12 said:
Yeah I was glad to see it packed out. I’ve been to IU (pre Cignetti) and Purdue and this was a stark difference. You can tell when a program has life.

As far as the game there definitely were a few calls that swung momentum our way and the mistakes definitely came back to bite you guys. Bret hinted at it after the game but I thought you guys should have went tempo a lot more also. Once Luke got into a rhythm and you guys started playing fast you moved the ball on us more than any team we’ve played this year has.

Against elite defenses in general it’s tough but especially ours this year when you give them time to get set, see the formation, and communicate it’s going to be really tough to get much going.

You guys were miles ahead of UW in the trenches though. We couldn’t get much pressure on Luke unless we blitzed and you stopped the run really well. 10-2 is very realistic IMO
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Weird thing is before the game I thought short passing & running to control the clock in a slowdown game was our best shot. That was our blueprint in the bowl game over South Carolina last year. Kind of a ground n pound in the 4th quarter when the SC d wore down.

In hindsight, it's clear we don't have enough horses up front to go with that approach against the upper crust.
 
#10      
BuckFan12
Curbelo Fanboy said:
Weird thing is before the game I thought short passing & running to control the clock in a slowdown game was our best shot. That was our blueprint in the bowl game over South Carolina last year. Kind of a ground n pound in the 4th quarter when the SC d wore down.

In hindsight, it's clear we don't have enough horses up front to go with that approach against the upper crust.
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That makes sense I feel like most years that is the formula to beat us for sure. This year though it seems like that’s Day’s goal as well. Wear teams down, control the ball, and tighten up in the red zone. This is the most Tressel like team we’ve had since 2010
 
#11      
Mr. Tibbs
Curbelo Fanboy said:
Weird thing is before the game I thought short passing & running to control the clock in a slowdown game was our best shot. That was our blueprint in the bowl game over South Carolina last year. Kind of a ground n pound in the 4th quarter when the SC d wore down.

In hindsight, it's clear we don't have enough horses up front to go with that approach against the upper crust.
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we’ll never really know

I do know when you keep giving them the friggin ball at the friggin 40 yard line , nothing will work to help you win the game
 
#12      
Illini2010-11
Mr. Tibbs said:
we’ll never really know

I do know when you keep giving them the friggin ball at the friggin 40 yard line , nothing will work to help you win the game
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Exactly this. It was a miracle that the defense only allowed 34 points given the field position disparity.

The team had every option to fold after spotting OSU 20 points in the first half. Instead, they kept fighting until the last whistle (something that did not happen in Bloomington). If the team plays with the same intensity through the rest of the season, 9+ wins is still a very realistic goal (the hardest part of the schedule will be over after the road game in Washington).
 
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