Illinois 50, Purdue 49 OT Postgame

#551      
Bbuck21
redwingillini11 said:
So I was unfortunately at a wedding during much of the second half and OT, so I have not watched much of the collapse, and have just seen a few highlights so far. Regarding the defense and its weaknesses, my main takeaways are that:

1) Yes, this is still a far from great defense, and we have serious trouble stopping the rushing attack. That doesn't bode really well for going up against a team like Michigan, but hopefully if we load up to stop the run and dare them to pass the ball, that will lead to a sustainable matchup and our offense can out pace them.
2) But, I think we need to calm down on the dooming about how awful the defense is. Clearly, we were capable of doing our usual bend-don't-break defense in the first half. I think we have to be ok with accepting that this was just a really fluky situation that deserves considerable blame for what happened. A QB switch late in the week with a completely different style of play that we had not really seen any tape of. Our DC trying to get cute and experiment with new plays during a blowout. A former defensive coach who did seem to be in his former protege's head and was calling the plays to counter what he knew the opposing DC would do. A key injury. A recent former player who appears to have been focused on deciphering our calls. All of the emotion that seems to have built up between these programs over the past 2 years. This clearly wasn't your random football game between random opponents. It was a Perfect Storm that built up.

And we survived.

So, all that to say, I am thrilled to be at 5-1. I think we should still feel like we should be favored to win this game this coming Saturday, though it certainly won't be easy. I feel like there's no reason why we can't be in a similar situation as the Penn State game when we go to Oregon in a few weeks. We would need to play our absolute best game and get a few breaks to win, but we probably won't get blown out. Then, if we are 6-2 with four games to go, I think we cap off a very special season with a strong run down the stretch.

It would have been nice to go into the Michigan game having beat Purdue by 30. But I still feel like we should win, and I am going to show up on Saturday planning for us to do so.
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I hated it when that happened to me.
 
#552      
illiniwil
we don't seem to get off blocks. if we don't out number their
line in the box we have to rely on a linebacker or safety to make
every tackle. that leaves our corners on an island, which might
be ok against Michigan. the exception is their running QB that
we will have difficulty accounting for. slow the run down (we
wont stop it) and keep him in the pocket and force him to throw
down field. maybe a pick 6? there is my prediction.
 
#553      
illiniwil
Mr. Tibbs said:
the onside kick receive team needs to be all guys with good hands . doesn’t mean they can’t be a lineman , but if so , he must have soft hands .
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they teach the front guys on onside kicks to block and slow the first
group of guys down, but there has to be someone right behind to
be there to get the ball. there was mass confusion on that play. we'll
get that fixed. i'm just glad it didn't cost us the game.
 
#554      
Mr. Tibbs
illiniwil said:
they teach the front guys on onside kicks to block and slow the first
group of guys down, but there has to be someone right behind to
be there to get the ball. there was mass confusion on that play. we'll
get that fixed. i'm just glad it didn't cost us the game.
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I know what you are saying , but there are kicks that sometimes linger & bounce right around 8-11 yards from kickoff , and those dudes in the front line need to be able to fall on it in some cases .

no doubt it’s a tricky situation , and as long as the proper people are in and they understand their assignments , you can at least make it real hard for the kicking team to recover .

we all agree that wasn’t the case Saturday .

at that point , I got disgusted and turned it off . knowing they would score and being fairly certain we would lose the game .

it was overall , an embarrassing win , but that’s how it goes sometimes . all good teams get an embarrassing win every once in awhile . it’s part of the game .

the lack of PI calls on Purdue was odd, but again , it’s part of the game
 
#555      
illiniwil
Mr. Tibbs said:
I know what you are saying , but there are kicks that sometimes linger & bounce right around 8-11 yards from kickoff , and those dudes in the front line need to be able to fall on it in some cases .

no doubt it’s a tricky situation , and as long as the proper people are in and they understand their assignments , you can at least make it real hard for the kicking team to recover .

we all agree that wasn’t the case Saturday .

at that point , I got disgusted and turned it off . knowing they would score and being fairly certain we would lose the game .

it was overall , an embarrassing win , but that’s how it goes sometimes . all good teams get an embarrassing win every once in awhile . it’s part of the game .

the lack of PI calls on Purdue was odd, but again , it’s part of the game
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you missed a great finish.
 
#557      
Illini2010-11
Mr. Tibbs said:
at that point , I got disgusted and turned it off . knowing they would score and being fairly certain we would lose the game .
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At the game, the feeling was exactly the same. If I got a dollar for every "this is so Illinois" I heard when that happened, I would get enough to payoff the season tickets for next year.

Also when Altmyer got sacked on the last drive in OT, there was a general acceptance that it would be called a fumble, because "we are Illinois".

Yes, very lucky to get the win, but every win counts the same in the record books. A loss would have derailed the entire season, and potentially, the Bielema tenure.

Hopefully 20 years from now when a statue of Coach B is unveiled, we will remember this game as the one that almost killed the Bielema era, and the week later the one that made a huge statement of saying "Illinois has arrived".
 
#558      
illiniwil
and somehow i was pretty confident we'd go to overtime. the offense
had moved the ball consistently and a field goal seemed reasonable.
Once that happened i felt like we'd win in overtime. gotta believe,
i fail to understand that our fans would invest 4 hours of their day
and give up and go home. You should have heard the idiot behind me.
if i were him, i'd be embarrassed to show up again.
 
#559      
Illini2010-11
illiniwil said:
and somehow i was pretty confident we'd go to overtime. the offense
had moved the ball consistently and a field goal seemed reasonable.
Once that happened i felt like we'd win in overtime. gotta believe,
i fail to understand that our fans would invest 4 hours of their day
and give up and go home. You should have heard the idiot behind me.
if i were him, i'd be embarrassed to show up again.
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Decades of letdown will do that to a fanbase. But hey, I remained the whole game and some with my 19-month old. Certainly a story to tell him years from now.
 
#565      
WolfpackIllini
illiniwil said:
they teach the front guys on onside kicks to block and slow the first
group of guys down, but there has to be someone right behind to
be there to get the ball. there was mass confusion on that play. we'll
get that fixed. i'm just glad it didn't cost us the game.
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It did cost us the game.
But Altmire just didn't get the memo.
;>)
 
#567      
kyillinifan
It was the scoop n score and the on side kick. They should have never gotten the on side kick. We left the middle wide open. You knew it was coming.
 
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