Illini Football 2024

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#26      
TentakilRex
I missed the traditions conversation from yesterday: might as say one fthing. The Boston Red Sox and Iowa State made singing.... Sweet Caroline into a "jock jam," a song that considered way too sappy and saccharine in 1969 (which had some amazing music btw)! I would say that would be like some college making a New Kids On the Block song or a Backstreet Boys song into their anthem but "Hanging Tough" and "Larger Than Life" sounds like early Metallica compared to a lot of music today (and I am not just talking Billy Eilish, college rock isn't exactly The Planet these days).
 
#29      
Fly Illini Fly!
OB positive said:
Our overall pass rushing scheme last year was horrible. That wasn't on our players, it was on the dc. Terrible play calling. That's where we need to have the most improvement this year on defense.
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The secondary didn't allow A Hen to have the confidence to be aggressive. But with that being said, some of those 3 man rushes on 3rd downs - particularly vs Iowa - were just nothinburgers.
 
#30      
Frumundawood
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Someone in the previous thread once again brought up the location of our student section. I have long been a proponent of moving them back closer to field level, not only because they can more positively affect our gameday atmosphere/noise level but also because the NEZ is kind of tailor made to be a "family section" or something like that. For a comparison, on that first point, I thought this was a striking difference...

Consider two different home games, with the following attendances:

2002: #2 Ohio State 23, Illinois 16 (OT). 58,810 attendance.
2002: #2 Ohio State at Illinois

2022: Michigan State 23, #16 Illinois 15. 56,092 attendance.
2022: Michigan State at #16 Illinois

The 2002 crowd is much louder (IMO) during our final game-tying drive than the shocking game-opening pick in 2022 ... and I would argue it's all because of where the students are and how they affect the rest of the crowd!
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I was in the east side student section in ‘02, It was cold and we were passing around a flask of cheap whiskey. It took me several days to get my voice back.
 
#32      
IllinoisssssssVarsity
TheGMan said:
The projected 4-8/5-7? Meaning we only win the games that are expected and no "upsets?" My answer would be no.

The better question is if there is any combination of 4 or 5 wins that would be better than a 6 win season? That would be a maybe. If we beat Michigan, Oregon, Penn State, and then dealer's choice for the remaining 1 or 2 wins, that would maybe give more hope. However, if that happens, we would also have some "bad" losses that would counter the optimism of those big wins.

So I think, ultimately, no. I'd rather just have 6 wins. No matter the combination.
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This could be more frustrating cause the question would then be why didn’t we go undefeated
 
#33      
aaeismacgychel
CaptainCrutch said:
Just for the exercise: is there any combination of 6 wins that would have you feeling worse moving forward than if we just went the projected 4-8/5-7?
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Honestly, I think 6 wins would be a pretty great season this year regardless of who we beat or lose to. Not an easy schedule this year and how I count it we have 2 easy wins, 5 toss-ups, 2 decent underdog, and 3 major underdog games. You win the 2 easy ones and 4 of the 5 tossups, that's a pretty solid season in my eyes. You get the 2 easy ones, win 3 of the 5 toss-ups, and get a major upset, even better in my opinion especially if the upset is against a ranked opponent.

And even if we were to lose to an EIU or CMU, which would be absolutely frustrating to see, if it were to mean we knock off a Michigan or PSU later in the season, I'd take it. To me 5-7 does seem about right in what we should reasonably expect as fans this year. 6-6 is a win and something we can build on regardless. We just can't have a 3 win 2 years past Rose Bowl or 1 win 2 years past Sugar Bowl type of season
 
#34      
GatorMcKlusky
aaeismacgychel said:
Honestly, I think 6 wins would be a pretty great season this year regardless of who we beat or lose to. Not an easy schedule this year and how I count it we have 2 easy wins, 5 toss-ups, 2 decent underdog, and 3 major underdog games. You win the 2 easy ones and 4 of the 5 tossups, that's a pretty solid season in my eyes. You get the 2 easy ones, win 3 of the 5 toss-ups, and get a major upset, even better in my opinion especially if the upset is against a ranked opponent.

And even if we were to lose to an EIU or CMU, which would be absolutely frustrating to see, if it were to mean we knock off a Michigan or PSU later in the season, I'd take it. To me 5-7 does seem about right in what we should reasonably expect as fans this year. 6-6 is a win and something we can build on regardless. We just can't have a 3 win 2 years past Rose Bowl or 1 win 2 years past Sugar Bowl type of season
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If we lose to EIU or CMU, there won't be anyone left to see those victories later in season.
 
#36      
STLflyinIllini
The Athletic just ranked every team going into this season. We are in the 80s, just behind Indiana, and barely beating out Purdue for last in the B1G. Vandy is the other SEC/B1G team ranked behind us, and there are only a handful of other P4 programs ranked lower. Apparently, the national perception is that 2022 was a fluke, and a 2023 type season will be the norm for us. Hopefully we can prove them wrong!

Our D-line has to hold up, and obviously our DB's need to improve. I think they will improve with our additions/experience, but we will see if it will be enough for our defense to help us win some games. I am optimistic about our offense. I'm more excited to watch this Illini offense than I have been in quite some time.

Hoping for a bowl game.
 
#37      
Mr. Tibbs
in the last 30+ years, we have two "fluke seasons" of going to a BCS bowl. Pretty much the other 28 seasons have been awful to average at best
the perception is we are not good, and its reality in many of those years. It takes awhile to change that . All we can do is, in reality, gradually get better and change perceptions.

Stay happy we are getting a fat payout every year and continue to expect positive things form BB & JW. Brad seems to have it under control on the hardwood.
 
#39      
Chukwuwumba
TheGMan said:
The projected 4-8/5-7? Meaning we only win the games that are expected and no "upsets?" My answer would be no.

The better question is if there is any combination of 4 or 5 wins that would be better than a 6 win season? That would be a maybe. If we beat Michigan, Oregon, Penn State, and then dealer's choice for the remaining 1 or 2 wins, that would maybe give more hope. However, if that happens, we would also have some "bad" losses that would counter the optimism of those big wins.

So I think, ultimately, no. I'd rather just have 6 wins. No matter the combination.
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I can see a path where 5 wins looks better than 6.
Beat eiu/cmu plus psu/mich/oreg. Lose to Kansas, neb, Purdue. Can rationalize with huge wins. Good odds to make playoff. 5-3 and then multiple injuries per position group and team limps down stretch to lose last 4. Excitement for next year when healthy.

6 wins eiu/cmu/ neb /mich st/ minn/ rut
Would be happy with this outcome 6 wins and beating similar level teams. But it might be more exciting in the first scenario.
 
#42      
Fly Illini Fly!
CaptainCrutch said:
Just for the exercise: is there any combination of 6 wins that would have you feeling worse moving forward than if we just went the projected 4-8/5-7?
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Something like this I just don't want to see:

EIU - W
KU - W
CM - W
NEB - L
PSU - W
PU - W
MU - L
ORE - L
MINN - W - everything's great. we're talking about possibly, maybe - just maybe - a possible playoff birth and then...
MSU - L
RUT - L
NW - L

Now with that being said, I won't turn down any wins...no matter how infuriating it gets...
 
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#43      
Old.Edgy
STLflyinIllini said:
The Athletic just ranked every team going into this season. We are in the 80s, just behind Indiana, and barely beating out Purdue for last in the B1G. Vandy is the other SEC/B1G team ranked behind us, and there are only a handful of other P4 programs ranked lower. Apparently, the national perception is that 2022 was a fluke, and a 2023 type season will be the norm for us. Hopefully we can prove them wrong!

Our D-line has to hold up, and obviously our DB's need to improve. I think they will improve with our additions/experience, but we will see if it will be enough for our defense to help us win some games. I am optimistic about our offense. I'm more excited to watch this Illini offense than I have been in quite some time.

Hoping for a bowl game.
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40+ years of catching lightning in a bottle only once every decade or so will do that to a program... That's what we have been... And until we can win consistently above that level, that national perception won't change...
 
#45      
mhuml32
Fly Illini Fly! said:
Something like this I just don't want to see:

EIU - W
KU - W
CM - W
NEB - L
PSU - W
PU - W
MU - L
ORE - L
MINN - W - everything's great. we're talking about possibly, maybe - just maybe - a possible playoff birth and then...
MSU - L
RUT - L
NW - L

Now with that being said, I won't turn down any wins...no matter how infuriating it gets...
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Probably this. A string of losses to finish things would be sour.
 
#46      
Thaillini22
Fly Illini Fly! said:
Something like this I just don't want to see:

EIU - W
KU - W
CM - W
NEB - L
PSU - W
PU - W
MU - L
ORE - L
MINN - W - everything's great. we're talking about possibly, maybe - just maybe - a possible playoff birth and then...
MSU - L
RUT - L
NW - L

Now with that being said, I won't turn down any wins...no matter how infuriating it gets...
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Illinois, sitting at 6-3, could be in the playoff conversation?
 
#48      
Fly Illini Fly!
Thaillini22 said:
Illinois, sitting at 6-3, could be in the playoff conversation?
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At 6-3 we'll be looking at a manageable last three to finish 9-3. At 9-3 - most likely not but maybe? Haven't really thought about that...you're probably right...but 9-3 with 1 or 2 wins against those 4 teams should make up a pretty solid resume.

But that's way, way too far down the road. We've won 6+ games only 6 times since 2001. A bowl game is the line to cross at the moment.
 
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#50      
aaeismacgychel
BZuppke said:
My goodness. You all need to stop listening to the ignorant talking heads. We win at least 8 games including scUM at home.
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Don't think it's as much about the talking heads as legitimate concern most are expressing, but I do hope beyond all hope your 8-4 prognostication happens. Just seems to me that so much would have to go right for us this season for that to happen. Is it possible? Sure. But it starts with staying statistically improbably healthy and having our interior defensive linemen be stout enough to at least hold the line of scrimmage and allow us to stuff the run and for what should be a good outside pass rush to get there without allowing for enormous escape lanes up the gut.

If we can do that, and get some good bounces all season, yeah, 8-4 could happen. But, while we'll all hope it happens, expecting it to is a different story. That said, there is a world where Coleman and Jacas terrorize the backfield, where Brooks plays up to his high NFL ceiling potential as a shutdown corner, where our secondary feasts, and our offense is every bit as improved as we think it will be. Would make for a fun season that's for sure
 
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