Wisconsin 27, Illinois 10 Postgame

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#226      
gibb52
Need to hit the portal hard and bring in several OL who are better than anyone on our roster. And a new OL coach.

Need to hit the portal hard and bring in some DL who are better than anyone on our roster other than Gabe. And a new DC.

And yes, we can use a talent upgrade just about everywhere else, but nothing will do more to make us a consistent winner than line play. We have to get better OL/DL. The difference has been obvious against every good opponent, and last night against a not so good opponent that is a 180 from us, solid line play with mediocre skill position players.
 
#227      
Indy Illini Fan
BoiseBaller said:
We certainly have money to compete now, unlike under previous regimes where IL did everything on the cheap and just hoped for the best.

I'm not sure if it's eval or coaching guys up making them better. Probably a bit of both.

Seems to me that Bret isn't a micromanager and wants to give his staff autonomy to do their jobs. I think ultimately that's a good thing but it does mean your staff has to actually be solid. One of the most disappointing things to me in the last year was not getting Leonhard to stay and make him the DC. Would have been a game changer.
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Fully expect Bret to pursue completing this exact task this offseason …
 
#228      
TheodoreRex
Watching Luke run for his life and get clobbered the whole game- I kept thinking- see Henry, this is what happens to very good quarterbacks when you pressure them.. They look very average...

Then I watch their QB, nice clean pocket so many times, secondary 10 yards off, wide open 10 yard gain. We gave up a flippin 84 yard rushing TD

I thought I'd find better perspective this morning and not be so mad- nope- still pissed.
 
#229      
AchillesPaign
After the Indiana game, Cignetti said they knew they could beat up our offensive line. I felt Wisconsin learned from that and was simply more physical than us, in every phase. Relative lack of talent is one thing but just don’t expect a BB coached team to get out hustled. The difference in physical aggression between us and Wiscy was stark. At least to me 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
#230      
therealmiket86
Pikeillinifan said:
On most plays, we just seem slow. Are we really that slow, or is it the coaching or play calling?

There were some plays we came at them and looked good, but those were few and far between.
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You play a lot slower when you don’t know where to go. Our guys always look confused out there. I think a big problem with the defense is we try to be too multiple and adjust week to week by the opponent. We need to get a scheme and master it like Iowa does
 
#231      
therealmiket86
AchillesPaign said:
After the Indiana game, Cignetti said they knew they could beat up our offensive line. I felt Wisconsin learned from that and was simply more physical than us, in every phase. Relative lack of talent is one thing but just don’t expect a BB coached team to get out hustled. The difference in physical aggression between us and Wiscy was stark. At least to me 🤷🏻‍♂️
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That’s what happens when you aren’t ready to play
 
#232      
Dkayak
PNWIllini said:
I’m going to use this comment to pivot to something bigger.

This view right here is what separates Illinois fandom from UW (Washington).

Out here they don’t quit going to games. They keep showing up and DEMANDING that the program stop bleeding and get right Or They Will Not Accept It.

I grew up an Illini and will die one. But living among the Huskies has shown me what real fandom does. They light up the call shows and they fill up social media but above all they ATTEND AND DEMAND success. Or else.

Sorry that’s aimed at you personally, you just happened to be the first one saying this.
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Interesting. Then I’ll say it too. I’m clearly not cut from the UW fan mold!

By this point in Bret’s tenure I expect reasonably consistent competitive performance, win OR lose, but nothing more. Otherwise I simply don’t enjoy the experience. Enjoyment is the point, right?

My fandom is thus conditional and only one aspect of a diverse life. Most of us have many other interests competing for our time and attention. Three blowout collapses feel like a warning this isn’t life-enhancing. YMMV of course. The growing torrent of money directed at the sport is another turnoff, to me anyway.

Before yesterday’s collapse I assumed we’d renew, but it seems less likely this morning. Renewal feels like a trap, a less than good use of our time, so we may adjust our priorities and move on. Let’s see which team shows up for the last game. No longer looking forward to it. That’s sad.
 
#233      
OB positive
SCottm said:
While last night wasn't good, I am just glad that we are at a point where 7-4 is a dissapointing season. I have gone years without seeing this. Usually we are celebrating this record. Brett has raised the standard for Illinois football. I feel good that whatever changes that NEED to be made will and over-reactions won't set us back.
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While normally this might qualify as a good year, it is still a letdown. What is most disappointing is that we had the potential to be so much more. We could have had a great year culminating in a CFP appearance. That was before we realized half of our returning players didn't improve and some actually regressed. Combine that with the ineptness of Henry and other assistant coaches and we get to where we are now. On the outside looking in.
 
#235      
Second place is 1st loser
TheodoreRex said:
We are indeed changing expectations- but I really don't love this post- Bret is the one that set up high expectations for this season, inferring we could play in the playoffs. We might finish 7-5 and just got our A$$ handed to us by a BAD Wisconsin team, with one of the worst offenses in college football (scored 27). There is literally not one area we played better than them. Now is not the time to tell us not to be pissed.
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The defense wasn't great, but you can probably put only 14 of those 27 on them. Special Teams handed them 10 and turning the ball over on downs inside the 40 gave them the other 3.

The 85 yard TD run and the first drive was squarely on the defenses shoulders.
 
#237      
Oskeefan
Second place is 1st loser said:
The defense wasn't great, but you can probably put only 14 of those 27 on them. Special Teams handed them 10 and turning the ball over on downs inside the 40 gave them the other 3.

The 85 yard TD run and the first drive was squarely on the defenses shoulders.
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how can anyone expect to win when you score 10 points? you're right, this was on ST and the offense.
 
#238      
OrangeBlue98
skyIdub said:
Yeah Illinois is definitely a selectively rabid fan base.
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This is right, and it’s also justified.

How many times will we see this cycle play out? It just gets frustrating thinking it’s finally going to be different, but then it isn’t. It’s hard to be consistently “rabid” when we are waiting for Lucy to pull the football out.
 
#240      
Illinijoe
OrangeBlue98 said:
This is right, and it’s also justified.

How many times will we see this cycle play out? It just gets frustrating thinking it’s finally going to be different, but then it isn’t. It’s hard to be consistently “rabid” when we are waiting for Lucy to pull the football out.
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It’s very justified. We have been exposed. I think Luke’s talent and ability to win games distracted from major problems with most of our other guys and coaches. We simply are not as talented as our rankings have shown and frankly is the reason we have these horrific performances.
 
#241      
Marshall_Lucky
OrangeBlue98 said:
This is right, and it’s also justified.

How many times will we see this cycle play out? It just gets frustrating thinking it’s finally going to be different, but then it isn’t. It’s hard to be consistently “rabid” when we are waiting for Lucy to pull the football out.
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I do feel this one is a bit different because the football pull is maybe still an 8-4 season? Yeah it was bad, and embarrassingly so, but lots of teams have WTF losses and their fans don't all go home. Hell Penn state was preseason #2, fired their coach after 5 games, gonna finish 6-6 if they're lucky, and they are still packing the house.

Almost every team goes through cycles, the difference is most fanbases weather the bad and look to how to get to the next peak, we can't even enjoy the up times because we are so busy waiting for the collapse so we can validate to ourselves that it was a fraud all along.
 
#243      
kingtater79
ChiefIlliniWekDance said:
The only thing with this is I don’t Trust Brett or the current coaching staff to identify talent in the Portal . I think they are good at Identifying high school talent but not transfers
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Clearly the Wisconsin Defensive front was better than the three transfers that came to the Illini. We haven't had much of a push all year, especially when Jacas drops back.
 
#244      
lstewart53x3
OrangeBlue98 said:
This is right, and it’s also justified.

How many times will we see this cycle play out? It just gets frustrating thinking it’s finally going to be different, but then it isn’t. It’s hard to be consistently “rabid” when we are waiting for Lucy to pull the football out.
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We literally won 10 games last year.
This is the first game Bret’s lost as the favorite in two years.
This is still at minimum a bowl season.
If this is getting the football pulled away from you, I don’t know what to tell you.
 
#245      
TheodoreRex
Second place is 1st loser said:
The defense wasn't great, but you can probably put only 14 of those 27 on them. Special Teams handed them 10 and turning the ball over on downs inside the 40 gave them the other 3.

The 85 yard TD run and the first drive was squarely on the defenses shoulders.
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Even if you only pin 14 points on the defense- Indiana they scored 7, Washington they scored 13, Oregon 7, OSU 0, Iowa 0, Michigan 10, Maryland 10.

It was flat out inexcusable to give up 14 points to that atrocious Wisconsin offense.
 
#246      
Gbop
lstewart53x3 said:
We literally won 10 games last year.
This is the first game Bret’s lost as the favorite in two years.
This is still at minimum a bowl season.
If this is getting the football pulled away from you, I don’t know what to tell you.
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As much of a bummer as yesterday’s game was, it’s easy to forget where this program was just a handful of years ago. I have faith in Coach B., but I still hope he makes the changes needed.
 
#247      
Second place is 1st loser
TheodoreRex said:
Even if you only pin 14 points on the defense- Indiana they scored 7, Washington they scored 13, Oregon 7, OSU 0, Iowa 0, Michigan 10, Maryland 10.

It was flat out inexcusable to give up 14 points to that atrocious Wisconsin offense.
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I understand that, but the much, much, MUCH bigger issue was the Illinois offense and special teams.

We average 32 PPG, but only scored 10. We knew the defense has holes, but if I told you before the game that the defense only let up 14......would you have said we win big?
 
#248      
joeybcrazy13
Go Vegan GIF by Catskill Animal Sanctuary
Chopping Peter Porte GIF by Hallmark Channel

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! ILL
 
#249      
IlliniNash
PNWIllini said:
I’m going to use this comment to pivot to something bigger.

This view right here is what separates Illinois fandom from UW (Washington).

Out here they don’t quit going to games. They keep showing up and DEMANDING that the program stop bleeding and get right Or They Will Not Accept It.

I grew up an Illini and will die one. But living among the Huskies has shown me what real fandom does. They light up the call shows and they fill up social media but above all they ATTEND AND DEMAND success. Or else.

Sorry that’s aimed at you personally, you just happened to be the first one saying this.
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Or else what? Not buying tickets sends the biggest message possible. Keep showing up and little leverage is available to demand anything. What are Washington fans options to demand anything? Boo? Withhold donations? By the way, Washington has had far, far, far better success than Illinois in football so there’s a reason why they show up.
 
#250      
skyIdub
Dkayak said:
After all we’ve seen, not being at least selective (if not consistently skeptical) would be very irrational wouldn’t it?
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Oh I’m not throwing shade, I’m an active participant!🤣

The Dallas Cowboys have taught me well😒
 
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