Illinois over Wisconsin
- Thread starter Cross Bones
- Start date
I know the Illini have been bad lately, but I liked the Lovie hire. Give him another year. I thought he mentioned that his team is actually all healthy now, lo' and behold, they beat Wisconsin.
I got the homecoming upset trifecta: 2-4 (now 4-4) Manteno over 3A vote getting 5-1 (now 6-2) Peotone last week, 3-4 Salukis over #18 Youngstown State Penguins this afternoon, and 3-4 Illini over #6 Badgers...
They played with attitude and a purpose today. The effort was something that can be replicated and could help them going forward. Great win for the Illini.
Oh Bucky. If you were in the IHSA you’d be falling down to the Others category.
Last edited:
They need to challenge themselves. This was their first road game since opening at S. Florida. They refuse to play a legit OOC schedule and it hurts them. USF, CMU, and Kent State does nothing to prepare you.
Wisconsin usually plays at least one decent out of conference game. They have played LSU and have Notre Dame next year and Bama in the future. USF on the road would have been very tough a few years ago. Illinois has to go down there when USF has its best team ever
I know it's popular to rip Illinois football, but regardless of the record I see vast improvement over the Beckman/Cubit years. College football isn't a overnight turn around.
Illinois earned the victory,congrats,but wisconsin basically gave them the game,why was wisconsin throwing the ball so much /32/. Also most of their receivers would just catch the ball and run out of bounds.
Wisconsin could of just run the ball and win by 2/3 touchdowns,if I were the offensive coordinator I would be hiding .
Wisconsin could of just run the ball and win by 2/3 touchdowns,if I were the offensive coordinator I would be hiding .
Tallest midget theory?
My son did several Big 10 camps this year. Without a doubt, Illinois camp was the most disorganized. There was a parent on the field directing which players would be running drills at one point. And they let him. It was a total shit show.
The only bad thing about this win it secures Lovie's job next year.
I don’t know if they could afford to fire him and pay that buyout. Also if he was on the hot seat, a home loss in a few weeks to Rutgers would undo all the good from yesterday and put him right back on it.
Nah, I actually watched the Beckman/Qbert years. You can see the difference in the player that they're even putting on the field. I can't speak to camps though. Sure they're inconsistent, but they're in games against Michigan and Wisconsin. Beckman and Qbert made fans wait for Purdue to be in a game.
Bones:
It's popular for both some good and unfair reasons. Like you and the venerable Witty, I do like Smith and think he needs perhaps a few more years to turn around the program. Unlike few Division 1 football programs, Illinois has been on a fifty-year roller coaster ride: Lows to highs and a return to the depths of hopelessness have been the hallmarks of the program.
Over the same fifty-year period, when not at ebb because of incompetent coaching, the Illini have often found themselves under intensive scrutiny and eventual restrictions from the NCAA or the Big Ten for massive violations. Although some here won't be familiar with the name, Mike White may have brought winning records, but his "unorthodox" recruiting techniques invited the prying eyes of the NCAA and Big Ten.
It's very difficult to identify why a coach can labor through a few losing records, finally earn seven wins, then return U of I back down to a three-win season. The inability to capitalize on the seven-or-eight win season has always mystified me, but it has been a feature of the program.
One win doesn't make a season, and it may not save Lovie's job. A six-win season will demonstrate to me he deserves his job. Games against
Purdue, Rutgers, and NU are all winnable. If he ends the season with four wins over league foes, he's have a strong argument to keep his job.
I'd like to see Lovie create a recruiting pathway to Chicago. Although Ricky Smalling was a great recruit, there is an abundance of talent U of I allows to slip away to UM, MSU, and OSU. Lovie needs to intensify his recruiting game in the state.
@MWittman I'm not a Lovie fan or hater tbh. I was in favor of letting Beckman have more time too, not that I thought he was necessarily doing a good job, but I knew that (for the reasons you gave) this is a long turn around. If you fire every coach that can't turn around UofI in 3 years you will run out of coaches and good coaches won't want the job.
I think Illinois has enough talent to support both NU and UofI if the kids want to stay in state and I'd prefer both programs get to the point where they're 1st options instead of Iowa or MSU or UM or even ND.
I think Illinois has enough talent to support both NU and UofI if the kids want to stay in state and I'd prefer both programs get to the point where they're 1st options instead of Iowa or MSU or UM or even ND.
I have had a theory that proximity to Chicago may work against the Illini in that the parents of the talent that is mere interchanges on I-57 plus the 2 hour to 1.5 hour ride may feel Champaign is too close to the bad influences.
I also think in the case of Lovie he has a bad view of the "meathead" contingent that gave him guff as head coach of the Bears and his recruiting m.o. seems to go out of the way to minimize attracting suburban/Catholic talent
Bones:
I think this is a variable of which U of I is fully aware. The school is also aware of its football history and how it may have mishandled coaching decisions, hiring or dismissing, over the past thirty years. Similarly, the school is also conversant with some of their former coaches' shenanigans.
I think Josh Whitman (no relation to him) has carefully weighed all of these factors and made a conscious decision to grant Smith as much time as possible to assess the damage and mend a broken program. Included in these elements is Illinois' impeccable academic standards. I don't want them lowered and believe the head of an athletic program must learn to work within academic margins.
However, like you, I am generally supportive of all of the football programs at universities and colleges in the state. Unfortunately, not all recognize Illinois' football program's checkered and pitiful past. It may be a Big Ten program, but this is a turnaround which requires some time.
Absolutely. They just have like 45 FBS players healthy. Same issue Herm Edwards has at ASU. Some talent. No depth.
I feel like the Illinois HS kids and their parents & peers are too close to UI’s “warts”. In state recruiting has to get significantly easier with winning. It seems much easier to recruit a prospect from Texas who doesn’t have preconceived notions nor the active coverage of Illini football vs the in state kid who he and everyone around him is acutely aware of 10 years of Illini football suck
You're comparing them to prior Illinois regimes. I'm comparing them to other Big 10 programs. Recruits don't care that you don't suck as bad as you used to, just that you still suck.
lovie looks bad, like father time or something.
badgers got caught looking ahead. they will beat ohio state next week.
penn state looks pretty good also and they will most likely move up.
I just wish the bears had winny's oline...
So in not so many words your saying OSU hasn’t played anyone yet? Michigan State? but they are bad this year.
It was my second time as an Illini fan that I stormed the field. It felt good!
The Illini shut down Wisconsin’s running game relative to what the Badgers do normally to teams. Average yards per rush was 4.0 to 3.6, Illini. In fact, Wisconsin only out-rushed Illinois by 15 yards in total. At that point Wisconsin’s offense became very predictable, mostly throwing out patterns to their tight ends. With their bread and butter neutralized, no downfield threats and a few turnovers Wisconsin looked like a pedestrian team.
Both Nebraska and MSU were ranked 25th when we beat them. I understand they aren’t very good but the ranking was the ranking. We also spanked the team currently ranked 18, Cincy, 42-0. They ended UCFs win streak this year so they obviously are a very good team.
