Illini Football 2024

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#131      
mhuml32
Re-watched the Kansas game last night. The pass blocking...



Home Alone Christmas Movies GIF by filmeditor
 
#132      
aaeismacgychel
Mr. Tibbs said:
you mean by coming out throwing ?
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One thing Lunney has done really well since being here is consistently drawing up a successful first drive playcall. He's also had some great 4th quarter playcalls, the issue for him seems to be what happens in between and yeah, I agree he needs to spice things up a little in those midrange drives and take a shot every so often.

Maybe Lunney just needs to draw up 2 scripted opening drives every game instead of 1, haha. Start up 14-0 instead of 7-0.
 
#133      
Fighter of the Nightman
OrangeBlue98 said:
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.
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GOD, I would hope that would be the case!! Let's assume we can defeat CMU and move to 3-0 before we travel to Lincoln. Just using the KFord projections posted yesterday in this thread, this would be our schedule. For reference, Illini are #10 on that with a projected 6.5 wins:

at #7 (7.5) Nebraska
at #2 (9.8) Penn State
vs. #16 (4.8) Purdue
vs. #6 (7.7) Michigan
at #3 (9.3) Oregon
vs. #13 (5.5) Minnesota
vs. #15 (5.2) Michigan State
at #9 (6.8) Rutgers
vs. #18 (4.1) Northwestern at Wrigley

Even disregarding everything else, we only need to beat #16 Purdue at home, #13 Minnesota at home, #15 Michigan State at home and #18 Northwestern at a very favorable neutral site location to get to 7 wins! Obviously, we are accustomed to disappointments ... but these are games we should theoretically win right now, based on how we have played. If you can steal one in Happy Valley or in Lincoln, you're already at 8 wins and playing with house money in more "tossup" games like vs. Michigan or at Rutgers. And let's not forget the home field results so far for two road games we all considered near-unwinnable a couple weeks ago...

OREGON
W 24-14 vs. FCS Idaho (only up 3 until 5:30 left in the fourth quarter)
W 37-34 vs. Boise State (losing until 9:00 left in the fourth quarter and needed a game-winning field goal as time expired)

PENN STATE
W 34-27 vs. Bowling Green (losing until 5:00 left in the third quarter and only up 3 until 4:00 left in the fourth quarter)

I'm trying to keep my feet on the ground, and I will be happy if we simply go bowling; the Big Ten gets crazy, and unexpected results happen. Judging by history, we very well might crap the bed vs. Purdue and MSU at home, while making up for it with wins vs. Michigan and at Rutgers. With that said, I think beating KU made our reasonable goal for the season 7 wins and a winning regular season record.

If we win in Lincoln or Happy Valley ... we can really start dreamin'. I've been a fan too long to expect a dream season (hell, look what happened after our 7-1 start in 2022...), but for the first time, I truly believe we will put up a fight and have a chance to win every week. And that is a great feeling! :cool:
 
#136      
Fighter of the Nightman
After beating KU and considering the way we beat KU, this is my revised prediction for the year:

W vs. Central Michigan ... Illini move to 3-0 and earn a #25 ranking.
L at #23 Nebraska ... We play well, but the "first road game bug" gets us especially bad under the lights. A close game is extended to a 10-point loss late in the fourth quarter.
W at #9 Penn State ... Luke has his breakout game, and we win on a field goal similar to how we beat Maryland last year. We reenter the top 25, and the Purdue home game sells out.
W vs. Purdue ... We slowly and methodically build a 17-point lead and get payback on Walters and the Boilermakers.
W vs. #17 Michigan ... Now that I've seen how we can play, I refuse to believe we will lose this monumentally important game. Sold out crowd is deafening, and we get this historic win!
L at #9 Oregon ... We lose an absolute heartbreaker, but our fans remain positive. Oregon of course remembers how talented they are and play infinitely better when we come to town, lol. We also remain ranked.
W vs. Minnesota ... Bret owns PJ. Period, period, period.
L vs. Michigan State ... I guess MSU football is our new Maryland?? We just have a total letdown game, and multiple things go wrong. A muffed punt return does us in in the fourth quarter, and fans get antsy.
W at Rutgers ... After winning a close one at Maryland the week before, we are able to wear RU down and win a slugfest on the road.
W vs. Northwestern (Wrigley Field) ... We demolish the kitties in front of a sea of orange.

A shockingly awesome 9-3 season, LET'S GO! :cool:
 
#137      
Mr. Tibbs
aaeismacgychel said:
One thing Lunney has done really well since being here is consistently drawing up a successful first drive playcall. He's also had some great 4th quarter playcalls, the issue for him seems to be what happens in between and yeah, I agree he needs to spice things up a little in those midrange drives and take a shot every so often.

Maybe Lunney just needs to draw up 2 scripted opening drives every game instead of 1, haha. Start up 14-0 instead of 7-0.
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I love smash mouth , rock em sock em football
but sometimes you need to be unpredictable
throwing on first down to ZF, PB or a tight end is okay on a first down., it need not be 3rd and 6 all the time before we throw
 
#142      
Battle89
aaeismacgychel said:
One thing Lunney has done really well since being here is consistently drawing up a successful first drive playcall. He's also had some great 4th quarter playcalls, the issue for him seems to be what happens in between and yeah, I agree he needs to spice things up a little in those midrange drives and take a shot every so often.

Maybe Lunney just needs to draw up 2 scripted opening drives every game instead of 1, haha. Start up 14-0 instead of 7-0.
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Q1. Early success / play-calling
Q2. Switch to conservative mode
Q3. Opponent catching up, but we're still winning, remain careful
Q4. Dammit we're behind, re-open playbook, stat
 
#143      
Dkayak
Mr. Tibbs said:
I love smash mouth , rock em sock em football
but sometimes you need to be unpredictable
throwing on first down to ZF, PB or a tight end is okay on a first down., it need not be 3rd and 6 all the time before we throw
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Our first series of the 2nd half was a disgusting waste of a possession. ‘Feagin the ball carrier” x3. That three and out completely undid the momentum with which we ended the first half. It silenced the crowd. Nobody expected such foolishness.
 
#144      
Mr. Tibbs
Dkayak said:
Our first series of the 2nd half was a disgusting waste of a possession. ‘Feagin the ball carrier” x3. That three and out completely undid the momentum with which we ended the first half. It silenced the crowd. Nobody expected such foolishness.
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yea.

the momentum was all from the interception & pic 6.

we had a horsebleep 2nd quarter on offense & starting out the 3rd with the same ineffective play calling had many of us concerned .
 
#145      
IllinoisssssssVarsity
Dkayak said:
Our first series of the 2nd half was a disgusting waste of a possession. ‘Feagin the ball carrier” x3. That three and out completely undid the momentum with which we ended the first half. It silenced the crowd. Nobody expected such foolishness.
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Trying to come out and set the tone is fine by me. It didn’t work, and our offensive line needs to be better. But they came out and said “I ain’t no b*tch,” Kansas just happened to respond.
 
#147      
WWWWRocU
Mr. Tibbs said:
yea.

the momentum was all from the interception & pic 6.

we had a horsebleep 2nd quarter on offense & starting out the 3rd with the same ineffective play calling had many of us concerned .
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Look, in his post game presser, BB said he liked the game plan. You can question it all you like, that's fine. But that is what he said. So, with the win, it looks like the game plan worked.
 
#148      
Dkayak
WWWWRocU said:
Look, in his post game presser, BB said he liked the game plan. You can question it all you like, that's fine. But that is what he said. So, with the win, it looks like the game plan worked.
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But it might well not have worked. Was it a good plan or a fortunate outcome to a flawed plan, thanks to a superb defense? I hope we’re not trying to emulate Iowa.

In addition, you can’t expect the crowd to hang in there if your only play is one fruitless run up the gut after another. I was so stunned after our first possession of the second half that I just sat in silence for quite a long time, at least until our next first down. It seemed like such a complete waste of a possession, like we felt no need to move the ball. Another couple of squandered possessions like it and I might have hit the road. Tough to watch over and over and over. What’s that definition of insanity? Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.
 
#150      
WWWWRocU
Dkayak said:
But it might well not have worked. Was it a good plan or a fortunate outcome to a flawed plan, thanks to a superb defense? I hope we’re not trying to emulate Iowa.

In addition, you can’t expect the crowd to hang in there if your only play is one fruitless run up the gut after another. I was so stunned after our first possession of the second half that I just sat in silence for quite a long time, at least until our next first down. It seemed like such a complete waste of a possession, like we felt no need to move the ball. Another couple of squandered possessions like it and I might have hit the road. Tough to watch over and over and over. What’s that definition of insanity? Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.
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I was becoming just as frustrated as you as the game progressed, believe me, then the 4th quarter happened, and then we won. So... take it up with BB.
 
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