Yeahhhhhhh, that sounds like coach speech for Brooks hasn't been doing what the coaches expect from players on the team. If he was doggin it at practice or film taking some plays off, being sat until the 4th quarter tracks. Teach early you're not bigger than the team in a game you don't need him to get him to play at the level you expect from him the rest of the season. That said, this is definitely something to keep an eye on. If he's not getting significant snaps against Kansas, this is a problem
Illinois 45, Eastern Illinois 0 Postgame
Was there for 50-0 beat down of Iowa freshman year. Stayed to the end in pouring rain.
Not going to get too excited overall about the win (it was against EIU after all) but certainly some nice things and good to see Illini come out and take care of business in a dominating fashion over a team like this. For me two things stood out as good things I was happy to see (yes, there were plenty from which to pick). First, Bailey back on the field and looking healthy. Second, the RB duo healthy and looking like they took a nice step forward in year two. Staying within same position group, McCray still not looking like he did his first year before injury is disappointing. Was nice to see him get TD though.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
I really like Followill as a broadcaster. He's very good on soccer broadcasts (was underrated on his World Cup games despite having to broadcast them from a studio), and I like him on football as well. Plus, the guy has a FANTASTIC broadcast voice. That's one of those voices where if you went to your AI robot overlord of choice and asked for a classic broadcaster's voice, his voice would be on the roll of those that would come up.
My family stayed to the end, but honestly… we debated it. It wasn’t the heat, the evening, etc. it was the dragging on of the game. Like, when the game is 38-0, do we still need 3 to 5 minutes for every time out? The game play was still exciting, but the game itself got very, very boring.
They wanted Feagin to get to 100 yards.
Play by play was Mark FollowillThe crowd sounded fantastic on the BTN highlights.
Who was the PbP guy? For a Week1 Thursday night game between a team predicted to go .500 or worse and an FCS opponent, he sure was excitable!
Altmyer’s a gunslinger man, I think he’s gonna turn some heads this year.
Also, so many questions:
- Is it Kay-din or Kee-din?
- Is it Fay-gin or Fee-gin?
- Is it Loffery or Lowery?
- Is it Krissler or Chrysler
?
Also pronunciation video from the SID
illinidarrin
- from parts unknown
This game does tell us a lot, many non- conference games in the past , we looked a little sluggish and clearly need to work on things. I really didn't get that feeling after this game. After the first drive, we looked like a REAL college football team. I don't care if it were against EIU, it was still impressive for a first game. I haven't seen many games like this in the past from Illinois.
I wasn’t impressed with broadcast team. They weren’t terrible, but no real value add for me. They suffered from what I’ve seen an increase in over the last 5-10 years, repeating themselves much too much. Not sure why that is. Maybe they’re broadcasting more games per week/season, so harder to gather volumes of information during their prep time.The crowd sounded fantastic on the BTN highlights.
Who was the PbP guy? For a Week1 Thursday night game between a team predicted to go .500 or worse and an FCS opponent, he sure was excitable!
Altmyer’s a gunslinger man, I think he’s gonna turn some heads this year.
Also, so many questions:
- Is it Kay-din or Kee-din?
- Is it Fay-gin or Fee-gin?
- Is it Loffery or Lowery?
- Is it Krissler or Chrysler
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Thank you once again for the amazing work on the attendance tracker, @IlliniInBuckeyeState! And congratulations on a good guess - final attendance was 43,849. Just so we can put some perspective on this, does everyone remember our epic upset of #6 Wisconsin on Homecoming in 2019?? Well, we drew 37,363 for that game. So we are now pulling 17% higher of a crowd for a Thursday night vs. an FCS team than we were for a top 10 Big Ten opponent on Homecoming. Great improvement and raising of the floor of this program!
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
That's the big thing for me. How many times have we had games against clearly lesser talent that have turned into close games or slogs (or even worse???). Really, after the first EIU drive where they did move the ball pretty well, the game turned into what a Big Ten team vs a FCS team should turn into. No offense to EIU at all, but if Illinois is a legitimate bowl contender they should be winning in a big way against a FCS team.
And, Whitman said last night in the radio that they are expecting next weeks attendance to be the highest since North Carolina in 2016. The program just feels like it’s trending in the right direction with everything. We just need more me or two major wins to really finish the transformation. I feel like a win this coming weekend could be one of those. We always seem to blow it in games in front of huge crowds. Let’s change that this week.
I only saw the first quarter, so my perspective is pretty limited. The thing that most stood out to me is that we played with energy from the outset and we were sharp. That hasn't always been the case; in years past when we have played inferior teams we have tended to be passive and let them hang around longer than we should have
The biggest thing: make it exciting and keep it close. We got blown out second half against UNC, and then it all went downhill from there. As FOTN mentioned, it is amazing that we drew more for an FCS Thursday night game than homecoming against a top-5 B10 team. Our fans are dedicated and ready for a winner.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Tipsheet: Tigers, Illini roll, Coach Prime dodges disaster in college football's Week 1
Missouri and Illinois got what they needed from their season-opening blowouts. Coach Prime's Colorado, on the other hand, experienced way too much excitement in its opener.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
I think all Illinois fans really want for football in a general sense is to be competitive and entertaining. We all know (at least the objective among us know) that the playoff is a far, far distant ideal at the present time. Be in the 6-8 win range, be competitive in games, be entertaining to watch, and I think people will come to games.
From my personal perspective, I want Illinois to be in a spot where I want to feel like road trips from the Des Moines area to Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin aren't going to be big wastes of time and money. I went to Illinois-Ohio State during the 1997 winless season when I was a senior. We had a good time and were treated well (with pity??) by the OSU fans, but man it was kind of depressing knowing that we were going to get kicked repeatedly during the actual game. Having taken a weekend trip to the Minneapolis area last weekend for my son's soccer game and to take in a Minnesota United MLS game, Minneapolis is a pretty short and easy drive and a fun town - as long as the football game will be entertaining and competitive.
The Fighting Illini email I got last night at 1:07 am says this: *LESS THAN 1,000 KANSAS TICKETS REMAINING!*
I'm not sure I believe that but that was in the email.
MustangWally
- Mayfield
the national
- the Front Range
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
That was a lot of fun. I liked the part where we took the ball away from the other team and when we scored touchdowns. It's been a while since we got to sit back and enjoy a good old fashioned blowout.
TentakilRex
- Land O Insects between Quincy-Macomb-Jacksonville
BTW guess who us playing for San Jose St right now!Well now I know what date I am setting when I get my flux capacitor.
chiefini
- Rockford, Illinois
As of Monday it was "almost sold out" according to what Barry said to the band at rehearsal after the Monday game day meeting, so I 100% believe we're under 1k tickets left.