silly me for thinking companies wanted to make MONEY ! ! !
Illinois at Penn State, Saturday, September 28th, 6:30pm CT, NBC
+10>
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
Personally, I feel you are in the know.This is what I love about college football. Nobody really knows if Luke's jump is as real as it looks right now. Nobody really knows how good our WR room is or can be. There is just so many unknowns
When a college QB makes a huge leap from one year to the next, he is going to win games that you may have thought we didn't have a realistic chance. (Hi Nebraska!)
This includes the national media and predictors going off of previous performance metrics. It only tells you so much.
Luke has clearly made a jump. The WR room is clearly a difference maker. We'll know just how big soon enough.
(And yes...the bold is me trolling myself!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I know, haha. The DIA and/or Nike are leaving so much money on the table by not giving us more throwback material, particularly the Script font (which seems to be universally liked on social media, from what I have seen). I would have wasted so much more money on Illini apparel by now if most of it weren't of the 1LL1NO1S style.
Yea, they need to create more "arched Illini" apparel and retro gear. Illinois has a ton of really cool fonts and styles they have used over the years. I have to find that stuff on ebay to get it!
-19??? Wow
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
I have a white script Illinois hoodie (like the basketball team's jerseys) that I adore.
I would absolutely shell out $80 for another one that had the Illinois stiched on instead of screen printed.
Yup, that's spot on! Can't beat the quality of apparel like that
That's incredible, the line has increased. Wow. What is going on? I guess Vegas knew there'd be a lot of heavy PSU ATS bettors even with a 17.5 spread. Pretty surprising.
The PSU bettors aren't crazy about the line, not from what I've heard. They don't believe (most of then anyway) that they'll do that to Illinois. My guess is that the "casual" bettor still sees Illinois as a patsy coming into Beaver stadium, ripe for a rollover. And Vegas is saying, come to me.
Vegas:
Suckers born every minute:
Bring back the Chief!
During the 2023 game, with 4 turnovers and a game that the Illini seemed lost at times, Penn State only won by 17 points. I have not bet, so I am not sure how the whole thing works.
This season
- Penn State has won their games with an avg score of 41-13
(wins over West Virginia, Bowling Green, and Kent State)
- Illinois has won their games with an avg score of 32-12
(wins over EIU, KU, CMU, and UNL)
Without any sophisticated data analysis, I would have anticipated the spread to be about 9 points (difference in our scoring for the year).
Coach wasn't blitzing in 1st half against Nebraska and the game thread on here was going nuclear. We did this for a reason. Penn St. is going to try and rush for 8 yards per carry and if we slow them down, not a chance of 17.5 spread. I'm taking under and my Illini with points. It will be a glorious Saturday if we win outright.
The new OC for Ped. St. is the same guy who was the OC at Kansas last year... Sooooo.... IF Aaron really did watch that Kansas game film from last year 100 times, it should be a help for this weekend.... I do think Ped St. will prevail this time, however I believe we'll cove the spread and make it close...
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I think the Nebraska game was our "prove it" game for (A) us to be thought of as a legitimately good team this year and (B) the narrative start to shift toward "Illinois since Bielema got there" being consistently competitive. Regarding point (B), we were kind of hanging in the balance after last year. Everyone gave him a pass for 5-7 in his first year (and a lot probably saw it as an impressive improvement), and 2022 was definitely a surprise success. However, 2023 did its best to erase that momentum, and we came into this season with zero hype from non-Illini fans. I think getting that #24 ranking and proceeding to beat another top 25 team on the road in a VERY hostile environment was quite the statement.
So, I think we come out "on pace" if we at least play PSU tough ... very few people are expecting us to beat a top 10 team on the road in a "Whiteout Energy"-type environment, and probably for good (objective) reason. If we win on Saturday, what we "proved" is that we just might be a CFP contender, as crazy as that sounds. Obviously, a letdown is totally possible one week, but if you can beat #9 Penn State in Happy Valley, you at least stand a chance to win out after that. On that point, I DEFINITELY agree it's the biggest game of BB's tenure! Winning this one is a MASSIVE statement to the college football world that you can't blame this on KU being overrated or Nebraska always choking ... this isn't your daddy's Illini, they are for real, and they're here to stay.
I don't think Indiana is getting enough respect...I know that they haven't really played anyone yet, but they are taking care of business, absolutely crushing the opposition. I haven't checked, but they must be among the leaders in point differential through the first few games.We're gettin' some love over on Black Shoe Diaries. They see Saturday's night's game as a big one. Then there's this. I'll ignore that they believe they're better than Oregon, and somehow thought that UCLA was the 10th best team preseason. I like the Illini trajectory here. "Pretty pretty pretty good," as Larry would say.
View attachment 36482
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
That's exactly what the "prove it" was. Next level. We win that and *gulp* we can have a scary good season.I think the Nebraska game was our "prove it" game for (A) us to be thought of as a legitimately good team this year and (B) the narrative start to shift toward "Illinois since Bielema got there" being consistently competitive. Regarding point (B), we were kind of hanging in the balance after last year. Everyone gave him a pass for 5-7 in his first year (and a lot probably saw it as an impressive improvement), and 2022 was definitely a surprise success. However, 2023 did its best to erase that momentum, and we came into this season with zero hype from non-Illini fans. I think getting that #24 ranking and proceeding to beat another top 25 team on the road in a VERY hostile environment was quite the statement.
So, I think we come out "on pace" if we at least play PSU tough ... very few people are expecting us to beat a top 10 team on the road in a "Whiteout Energy"-type environment, and probably for good (objective) reason. If we win on Saturday, what we "proved" is that we just might be a CFP contender, as crazy as that sounds. Obviously, a letdown is totally possible one week, but if you can beat #9 Penn State in Happy Valley, you at least stand a chance to win out after that. On that point, I DEFINITELY agree it's the biggest game of BB's tenure! Winning this one is a MASSIVE statement to the college football world that you can't blame this on KU being overrated or Nebraska always choking ... this isn't your daddy's Illini, they are for real, and they're here to stay.
The Wild Goose about one block north on Lincoln is a great sports bar. Has more than ten screens.
Last edited:
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
Bonus: it's just north of Hop Butcher, one of my favorite breweries.
It's also not far from Begyle, Dovetail, and Koval, which are all great stops in their own right.
skyIdub
