Wisconsin 45, Illinois 7 Postgame

#27      
I didn’t get a chance to respond to @redwingillini11 in the game thread regarding who is an example of a B10 QB, and that’s a good question, and maybe Peters is an average B10 QB.

One way or another you need to move the ball better in the NCAA game. Even the bad teams across the country can do it.

It doesn’t take a ranked recruiting class to be able to get more than one first down per drive.
 
#28      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
I fear there is no way to dig this program out of the pit it is buried in. Smith clearly has no ability to run a major college program. Maybe bring in a younger guy getting his first division one coaching job with lots of energy as opposed to the sleepy Smith.
 
#30      

RedRocksIllini

Morrison, CO
I thought the run D did a pretty good job until they got exhausted. Unfortunately, the defensive game plan did not appear to account for the forward pass. Really poor job by our defensive coordinator.

Wish I could find something positive to say about the offense. Peters is going to have a shadow the rest of the way. Hope we can find someone else on O that wants to participate.
 
#34      
Does Lovie have any other kids that could be an Offensive Coordinator? We were Offensive tonight to all Illini fans.
 
#36      

redwingillini11

North Aurora
I didn’t get a chance to respond to @redwingillini11 in the game thread regarding who is an example of a B10 QB, and that’s a good question, and maybe Peters is an average B10 QB.

One way or another you need to move the ball better in the NCAA game. Even the bad teams across the country can do it.

It doesn’t take a ranked recruiting class to be able to get more than one first down per drive.

Yeah, unless you are talking Fields, Morgan, now maybe Mertz, and I guess Clifford, I doubt you'd see much difference. I'd rank scheme, playcalling, rushing talent, pass catching, and now apparently o-line ahead of our problems at QB.
 
#37      
Yeah, unless you are talking Fields, Morgan, now maybe Mertz, and I guess Clifford, I doubt you'd see much difference. I'd rank scheme, playcalling, rushing talent, pass catching, and now apparently o-line ahead of our problems at QB.
I'd add pass coverage.
 
#41      
Bring back Zook. Holy $h!+
I’ve thought for some time that Robert aLionEye’s take on CFB success, particularly with regard to certain B10 programs, is a bit overwrought. He emphasizes the importance of having a system, recruiting to it, redshirting youngsters, and having them step in when they’re good and ready, at which point the machine keeps cranking. In his view, Wisconsin and Iowa are the epitome of this phenomenon, this way of maintaining a “Program”.

I think that certainly helps, but I also think it’s a bit simpler. I think perhaps more than any other sport, CFB is about the Jimmies and the Joes. Now, I would sympathize with anyone who recoils at the well-worn coaches’ cliche,“We gotta make plays,” as it is fairly obvious, but I also think it says a lot...

When I think of “plays” I think of bombs to burner wide outs, huge stops by ferocious LBs on 4th and 1, NFL-like open-field tackles by CBs when the shifty RB is about to break one off, DEs beating LTs for sacks in huge moments of games, QBs getting hot and going off, etc… The kinds of things Alabama, Clemson, OSU, OU, etc. do consistently because they have the best J & J.

Which is not to say Illinois has no J & J. We do, and they made a bunch of plays in the Wisconsin and MSU games last year. But there’s a frequency component here: the top teams have dudes all over the field making plays repeatedly, whereas middling teams have fewer playmakers and less frequent plays being made. I think it’s a slight misdiagnosis to attribute Wisconsin’s and Iowa’s success to their systems… Wisconsin is full of studs year after year.

{Let the “Thanks Captain Obvious” comments rain down.}
 
#42      

SKane

Tennessee
Just a note to all of you young people here tonight.

In 40 years, when you are sitting by the fireside with your grandson on your knee, and he asks you "Has Illinois football always been terrible?", you can tell him about the historic Illini football season when the team made it to the Redbox Bowl.
 
#44      

Deleted member 747277

D
Guest
. I think it’s a slight misdiagnosis to attribute Wisconsin’s and Iowa’s success to their systems… Wisconsin is full of studs year after year.

{Let the “Thanks Captain Obvious” comments rain down.}

I see your point, but I think the difference is that the Alabama/Clemson/OSU “system” will always be recruit 4/5 stars, have (some of) them wait and learn and grow and then unleash them to make plays in years 2,3, (and maybe) 4.

I think Robert is looking to programs we can aspire to be. We will never be never have a system like those schools. Ever.

I disagree that Wisconsin had studs all over the field. But you know what you’re getting with them. I don’t know their recruiting ranking, but they have been able to build a machine that doesn’t depend on large classes of 4/5 star recruits.

that’s where we need to be. Wisconsin/Iowa aren’t in a situation with a Brandon Peters and a Deuce Spann and williams as QBs. There is a system. It feels like we’re in chaos.
 
#45      

illini80

Forgottonia
Clearly we are not ready for big boy football. While disappointing, those who disrespected Wisconsin in the pregame thread should now be aware. They are very good. Maybe not quite as good as we made them look, but top 15 is deserved.

Hard to feel good about the rest of the season after that performance, but there are beatable teams. If we don’t play better against Purdue it’s going to be a long 8 weeks. There really are no excuses at this point. The good news is the empty stands won’t be an embarrassment this season!
 
#46      
We were pathetic. Not looking forward to playing Purdue.
 
#47      

altgeld88

Arlington, Virginia
It's sad. I am so over this program Not only did I not waste time watching the game, I never even thought about them. Simply look up the score then went to bed. It's been 40 years since they have fielded respectable teams on a consistent basis.

I'd say you're pretty generous in using "consistent." I see only '82-'85 and then '88-'91. In the former period, White primed the pump of a moribund program with a lot of JuCo transfers from CA, then got slammed with sanctions. In the latter, Mackovic had us relevant for three straight seasons. That's it, however. I believe we'd have to go back to the early '60s, pre Slush Fund debacle to find consistently respectable teams. And even then.... can't be ar$sed to look it up, however.

I go back to my observation I've made to friends over the years that if you'd told me in late 1989 that Wisconsin football would be in the Rose Bowl before 2000 I would have bet five figures against it. If you bet me in addition that the basketball team would be in a Final Four before 2000 I'd have added a zero (if I had the cash.) They were annually awful for years in both sports. I don't think Don Morton won more than five games in his three seasons as football coach before he was fired in '89. Apart from a successful spurt in the early '80s (coincident with ours) they were between mediocre and terrible going back to the early '70s. Basketball was a joke, too. When I was a senior in 1988 I recall Wisconsin cut several non-revenue sports because football and basketball generated insufficient revenue. The Field House where the hoops team played had holes in the roof they couldn't afford to repair. Fans told of snow falling on them in the rafters.

And yet. Chancellor Donna Shalala's conviction that having competitive football and basketball programs paid huge dividends for them. I believe she brought in a new AD, a senior marketing guy from Miller Brewing, who turned it all around. Hired Alvarez, and promoted Dick Bennett from a satellite UW campus. Raised large amounts of money from the Kohls and others. And there they are, in the 1997 Finial Four, and winning the 1998 Rose Bowl with one loss. And if you're a college student today you've not been alive when Wisconsin football and basketball have not been not only annually relevant but consistently among the top programs in the nation in both sports.

My solace is that Whitman seems like a solid AD and should maximize the chance of us luring a younger, more ambitious coach to Champaign. Where we are now seems to be the result of Thomas and the long tail of the Guenther years.
 
#48      
I'll try not to overreact to the game. An OL full of returning starters couldn't get any run game established, and wasn't all that great at pass blocking either. One WR that could get open with any consistency. Not much pass rush and some really terrible pass defense.

People are faulting Rod Smith. What would his offense look like if he had better players? I'm not trying to shift the blame away from anyone but this program gets exposed regularly against good teams. Trolling the bottom of the recruiting rankings for players gets you a gem here and there but mostly gets you players that will be out-talented most every week.

Lovie is in year 5. Results need to be on display now. No more excuses. I like him and I like that he has brought stability and respect to the program but that's not enough anymore. He can't keep coaching like he has a 20 year contract.

Stepping back from the ledge we didn't look all that good early last year then came on strong in the middle of the season before injuries derailed us. So we will see in the coming weeks what we have here.
 
#49      
Welp, it is only one game.

But confidence is lost. Let’s hope they bounce back and beat Purdue.

If they can’t, it’ll be a long 2 years unless a major donor comes in and bails the athletic department out for a new coach.