Illini Football 2024
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Question for those of you who really know football. So we beat a great Penn St. team at their place by using The Barge. We certainly would not want to make a habit of that — we used it because we were out-manned significantly and Bret thought (correctly) it was our best chance. But couldn’t we break it out on occasion (I thought about it Saturday when we were having a hard time running the ball)? I’m guessing no, but I don’t know enough about football to know why we couldn’t break it out for a series here or there.
The main reason it worked so well is Penn St. coaching malpractice to never adjust to it and line up correctly
Univ of Wisconsin used that in 2012 when Miller and Bret were there together. It’s a novel scheme but when your qb and the passing offense is struggling or not working it’s worth a shot, especially against a superior team.
It just extends the gaps with the linemen on the line of scrimmage. You extend those gaps and defenses have to figure out a way to line up to and how they’re going to line up against it is the part and so it’s different. I think it’s hard to prepare for. I believe that was 2021 game with the 8th rated Penn Stare team and we didn’t play well against Wisconsin on the game before and so they used the barge with the desire to win with that lineup. Of course Chase Brown was the man to run it, and he did just that.
I am telling you, our offense is high octane. We don’t need to use the barge, or at least not yet. Free Luke! The number 3 long passer in the NCAA this season.
Go Illini!
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Not trying to undervalue how impressive that win was...IMO, it's still the biggest win in Bret's time here. But in all fairness, they did finish 7-6.
Had the personnel of a 9-10 win team, and were ranked #7 at the time, but they did finish 7-6. We'd honestly be lucky if this year's PSU plays down and underperforms to that measure.
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lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
KFord now projects 6.5 wins in the regular season with an 80% chance to make a bowl. Let’s get at least 7
kfordratings.com
KFord Ratings
kfordratings.com
Beat Purdon't and go 3-1 the final four...fairly doable IMO. Obviously if you fall 1 short, you still make a bowl...this KU win gives you that luxury.KFord now projects 6.5 wins in the regular season with an 80% chance to make a bowl. Let’s get at least 7
View attachment 36218
KFord Ratings
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We killed their season. Beat us, they probably win that 9-10. We put the doubt in their minds they couldn’t really get past.
I was at this game - it was brutal in every respect you could think of. I can't imagine playing in that heat, on that turf(46 years ago but who's counting)
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Teams that have a top 25 win and are undefeated so far:
ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI
Georgia
Texas
USC
Tennessee
Iowa State
Syracuse
Boston College
Northern Illinois
Good company!
ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI
Georgia
Texas
USC
Tennessee
Iowa State
Syracuse
Boston College
Northern Illinois
Good company!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
If we can beat CMU as we should, we will remain on this list! Some games that could shake up that list ... I limited to games where the ESPN score predictor wasn't like 90%, lol.Teams that have a top 25 win and are undefeated so far:
ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI
Georgia
Texas
USC
Tennessee
Iowa State
Syracuse
Boston College
Northern Illinois
Good company!
#24 Boston College (2-0) at #6 Missouri (2-0) ... Boston College likely falls off, and Mizzou would then join.
#16 LSU at South Carolina (2-0) ... South Carolina could join.
#20 Arizona (2-0) at #14 Kansas State (2-0) ... one of these teams will join.
#18 Notre Dame at Purdue (2-0) ... Purdue could join.
fyi...dug this out from preseason thread
So we beat the 4th toughest game by preseason projections & so if we beat everyone projected easier 8 - 4
So we beat the 4th toughest game by preseason projections & so if we beat everyone projected easier 8 - 4
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Good share.
Looking at the end of season KFord rankings on that sheet:
In the 7 seasons before Beliema, we averaged an end of season ranking of 87.57 with our best season finish at 67.
In the 4 years since Beliema has arrived (including this year, even though it’s not all the way finished), we’ve averaged 52.25 with our best season finishing at 24. So our average season today is quite a bit better than our best season under Lovie.
For extra context on what type of improvement that is, this year at 87 is Appalachian St, whereas at 52 is Wisconsin.
From a low end B1G program to a middle of the pack B1G program in just 4 years.
Let’s keep it going.
We are all Boston College fans this Saturday
for context...here are rankings today ...favored now in 5 more games => 7-5 projection (but not Minny is only 51%)
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
I feel like if Illinois can win one of the two games on the road after this one (Nebraska and Penn State), then 8 wins is a distinct possibility.
Additional six wins would be CMU, NEB/PSU, Purdue, Northwestern, and two of any game that isn’t Oregon. Right now, I feel like Oregon is the only game where I see no realistic chance of winning, and Penn State is a “highly unlikely”. Any other game on the schedule is one where I can at least see a plausible path to winning.
Didn’t Oregon struggle last week?
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