Amazed that Rittenberg would write something nice about the IlliniIllinois comes in at #25 in this weeks ESPN Power Rankings.
College Football Power Rankings: Injuries, upsets and more from a drama-filled Week 2
Our college football experts voted on who should be in the top 25 and gave insight to Week 2 performances.www.espn.com
Illini Football 2024
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The "goal" IMO is predicated on the first 8 games. Build yourself up these first 8 to a solid place. If that were to happen...I think we'd fair well going into the last four...you at least give yourself a chance for a real special season.
5-3 is the "ceiling" IMO the first eight - that's still a very high bar tbh. But there are opportunities: scUM has not looked all that unbeatable at all so far and will likely be 4-2 when they come here...we'll likely be 4-2 as well. And Nebraska certainly isn't unwinnable...
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I’ll paraphrase a famous quote attributed to Napoleon: “Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence”. It’s also known as Hanson’s Razor. Similarly, did we have a brilliant plan or did we get lucky, especially lucky KS didn’t pound the rock down our throats. I’ll agree elements of Bret’s plan were brilliant, but the wasted possessions were tough to watch.
It is possible we had a good game plan but also got lucky. On Miles Scott's INT there was another WR completely uncovered who could have crab walked in to the end zone.
we do not matchup well at all with either of those 2 teams...
both of those matchups are glaring weaknesses of ours lining up perfectly with absolute strengths of the other team.
both of those matchups are glaring weaknesses of ours lining up perfectly with absolute strengths of the other team.
Watching Illinois run the ball Saturday, then watching the 49ers run on Monday is like living in two different centuries. The blocking schemes and movement before and after the snap couldn't be any different.
Running doesn't have to be boring. There are just too many plays where it looks like the play call is "run it up the middle" and we hope something happens. Our passing game isn't much better.
We look a lot better now than at this point last year, but I'd love to see more creativity on offense.
Running doesn't have to be boring. There are just too many plays where it looks like the play call is "run it up the middle" and we hope something happens. Our passing game isn't much better.
We look a lot better now than at this point last year, but I'd love to see more creativity on offense.
217sports
- Springfield
We know that requires the personnel right? Rusk was our only TE that can actually catch. Maybe in a couple years if we have Sutter/Anderson...
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Channel is everything
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Yep. South Carolina and Kentucky don't usually get crazy ratings, but they'll draw 2.7M+ if you put them on ABC at 2:30 pm CST. Meanwhile, put Wisconsin (who usually draws quite well) on FS1, and they'll draw similarly to Northwestern vs. Duke on the same channel, lol.
FWIW, last year's Illinois/Kansas game on ESPN2 drew 1.4M last year, which was the highest rating ever on ESPN2 (IIRC).
It's a strategy of: don't beat yourself. Like in tennis, just put the ball in play and let the other guy try to make the difficult/fancy shot.
Big Jack
- Decatur
Question. I am admittedly not a football expert but why not utilize Fagin more as a defacto tight end? Line him up in backfield and motion him out to the line. He seems to have good hands. Might also keep so defenses from stacking the middle on run plays. Just a though maybe someone already suggested this.
I really think we need to show more 2 back sets for running plays.
Misattributed to Napolean, and at the very least he didn't even follow his own advice...
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
I get it , but hard to imagine Arkin being any worse of a pass catcher than Laughery
IOW the Iowa strategy?
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Disagree with moving Fagin out to be a defacto TE. He is our primary back and should remain there the rest of the year with the likes of Laughery/McCray/Valentine getting touches here and there especially in specific packages. I believe we have another guy in the RB room that could be moved to a permanent TE position in Jordan Anderson. He's buried in the RB room and offers great size at 6'4" | 240lbs and was a 3* recruit out of HS and didn't appear to have many if any P5 offers, but had interest from Iowa, ND, Wisconsin and Iowa St.. I assume the other schools were recruiting him and toying with the idea of switch positions on him but Illinois gave him a shot at RB and that's why he committed. Well he's in his redshirt-soph year and has a total of 3 carries and they came against EIU. Might be time to make the switch or at least explore it.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Following up on this and using an absolutely crazy example:
Vanderbilt in week one? Drew 1.45 million viewers on ESPN.
Vanderbilt in week two?? Drew 17,000 on ESPNU.
Even if you want to try delve into how many fans Virginia Tech was bringing to that audience in week one, the conclusion is inescapable, IMO - the channel matters a lot more than the teams playing.
P.S. I realized something today that everyone interested in ratings should REALLY consider. In all of those articles talking about "average viewers per team," the SEC is going to be INCREDIBLY inflated. Why? While the Big Ten releases ratings information for BTN and FS1 and the ACC even releases ratings for The CW, SEC games on either SEC Network or ESPN+ are NOT included in their totals for these averages. Considering ESPNU gets such awful ratings, I am going to go ahead and guess that SEC Network and ESPN+ usually do, as well. Any time you see some article comparing an SEC team's "average viewers" to a team from another conference, just go ahead and roll your eyes. They're literally eliminating their worst grades from the GPA calculation, lol.
I live in SEC country and everybody watches SEC football. Its a religion down here. I don't doubt their high ratings.Following up on this and using an absolutely crazy example:
Vanderbilt in week one? Drew 1.45 million viewers on ESPN.
Vanderbilt in week two?? Drew 17,000 on ESPNU.
Even if you want to try delve into how many fans Virginia Tech was bringing to that audience in week one, the conclusion is inescapable, IMO - the channel matters a lot more than the teams playing.
P.S. I realized something today that everyone interested in ratings should REALLY consider. In all of those articles talking about "average viewers per team," the SEC is going to be INCREDIBLY inflated. Why? While the Big Ten releases ratings information for BTN and FS1 and the ACC even releases ratings for The CW, SEC games on either SEC Network or ESPN+ are NOT included in their totals for these averages. Considering ESPNU gets such awful ratings, I am going to go ahead and guess that SEC Network and ESPN+ usually do, as well. Any time you see some article comparing an SEC team's "average viewers" to a team from another conference, just go ahead and roll your eyes. They're literally eliminating their worst grades from the GPA calculation, lol.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Also, while the game times have not been announced, I did see these notes on times for our upcoming games in case anyone is planning a road trip or just trying to plan out your Saturdays!
Saturday 9/28 at Penn State: Either 2:30 pm, 3:00 pm or 6:30 pm. 11:00 am start ruled out.
Saturday 10/26 at Oregon: Either 2:30 pm, 3:00 pm or 6:30 pm. 11:00 am start ruled out.
This is because we will serve as the Homecoming opponent for both teams, and I guess they get to be guaranteed a window of times. The rest of the games are, of course, totally up for grabs!
Saturday 9/28 at Penn State: Either 2:30 pm, 3:00 pm or 6:30 pm. 11:00 am start ruled out.
Saturday 10/26 at Oregon: Either 2:30 pm, 3:00 pm or 6:30 pm. 11:00 am start ruled out.
This is because we will serve as the Homecoming opponent for both teams, and I guess they get to be guaranteed a window of times. The rest of the games are, of course, totally up for grabs!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I'm not sure if you understood or read my post, haha. The point is not that the SEC does not deliver great ratings on good channels; it does. The point is that if some article were claiming, say, Tennessee got better ratings than Penn State by a 2 million average vs. 1.7 million average, that is likely entirely false. And the reason is PSU's BTN/FS1 ratings of 500k per game are being baked into that number, but Tennessee's SEC Network ratings of probably less than that are not. So it's apples to oranges.
Of course the SEC gets good ratings ... but so does the Big Ten, even with a larger and fairer sample size.
Is this a thing for homecoming games? If so, why is Saturday's game still at 11:00?
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Not sure of the specifics off of the top of my head, but I noticed that all of the Big Ten schedules had random games that would say something like "2:00/3:30/7:00" ... and I remember thinking that is a really unhelpfully vague window, lol. Then I read somewhere that each team got some notice about the game time options for their Homecoming games, but I cannot remember where I saw that or how it works. Zero idea why ours is at 11:00 am vs. CMU, haha.
October 12 vs. Purdue is tailor made for Homecoming. Nearby opponent from the traditional Big Ten. Bielema vs. his former DC. A chance for revenge for the Big Ten West team that was the single biggest thorn in our side since he got here. Winnable game. Still good weather. One week before the big Michigan game to maybe further build excitement. The list goes on!
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
My only thought on this is that they figure it's Homecoming so we'll likely get a bigger crowd which will boost attendance for what would otherwise likely be one of our lowest attended games of the season. They know people will show up for Purdon't (rival and revenge game for last year), and of course they are REALLY going to try to pump up the 100th anniversary scUM game which I believe should end up being another sellout ultimately assuming we don't crap the bed over the next few games.
Dan
Admin
On May 30th, every single Big Ten game up thru Week 3 (if it hadn't been previously announced by then) -- including IL-CMU -- is given a set kickoff time (that kickoff time could be anything). Also on 5/30, all Big Ten Homecoming games after Week 3 are given a window for a kickoff time (the window could be anything). Back in the day, it used to be that every single B1G Homecoming game was given a set kickoff time in May, but nowadays that's not the case.
Funny thing is, that "Homecoming window" could be anything, for example Ohio State's Oct 26th Homecoming contest vs Nebraska has been given the "window" of 12pm or 3:30pm or 7:30pm ET
In other words- anything. But it's nice that we know that Illinois' games at PSU & at Oregon will not be morning games, we have that info at the very least.Also, on May 22nd, FOX announced selections for its 9 Big Ten Friday night games beginning on Week 4 & beyond (which starts with Illinois at Nebraska on Sept 20th). Note- these FOX Friday night B1G games go all the way to November 22nd, so in future seasons almost any IL home game could potentially be moved to Friday night.
For now, most IL games this season we're waiting on kickoff times, looks like the Monday 12 days prior to kickoff it'll be announced, for example the Oct 12 Purdue game should be announced on Mon Sept 30.
The wild card this season is how many dreaded "6-day options" the broadcast partners have. Typically it was 4 weeks and they'd always save them for the last 4 weeks of the season. Meaning the games in late November we'd always have to wait until the Saturday night the week before the game to find out the kickoff time. But it's a new league so who knows, we'll just have to be patient and find out the kickoff by anxiously awaiting updates at B1Gfootball & IlliniFootball. Go Illini
Links-
Big Ten Conference Announces Early Season Kickoffs
Big Ten Conference Announces Early Season Kickoffs
bigten.org
FOX COLLEGE FOOTBALL FRIDAY Kicks Off In Primetime This Fall
Inaugural Slate Highlighted by Key Matchups from the Big Ten, Big 12 and Mountain West Los Angeles – Today, FOX Sports reveals its full FOX COLLEGE FOOTBALL FRIDAY schedule, featuring highly anticipated matchups across the Big Ten, Big 12 and […]
www.foxsports.com
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