Time for a defensive lineman to step up and take that loud leadership role! We got two of them we expected to be the heart of the defense, and they've been ok up to this point
Illinois vs Michigan, Saturday, October 19th, 2:30pm CT, CBS
The Purdue offense we saw yesterday was basically “Michigan lite”.
Maybe we crapped the bed after planning for Hudson Card all week? To be fair, that’s a complex wrinkle to throw at a team 48 hours before kickoff after spending a bye week preparing for a totally different offense, But..yikes.
Many in the Purdue threads want to blame Henry and the scheme. Ultimately it falls on him, but we have real personnel problems at linebacker and d line that can’t be fixed until the offseason.
Maybe we can tighten up this scheme, get a lucky bounce or two, feed off this sellout energy, and pull this one out. I don’t see many reasons for optimism, but Luke and the passing game are firing on all cylinders!
Maybe we crapped the bed after planning for Hudson Card all week? To be fair, that’s a complex wrinkle to throw at a team 48 hours before kickoff after spending a bye week preparing for a totally different offense, But..yikes.
Many in the Purdue threads want to blame Henry and the scheme. Ultimately it falls on him, but we have real personnel problems at linebacker and d line that can’t be fixed until the offseason.
Maybe we can tighten up this scheme, get a lucky bounce or two, feed off this sellout energy, and pull this one out. I don’t see many reasons for optimism, but Luke and the passing game are firing on all cylinders!
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BZuppke
- Plainfield
Bert will have the team ready and we’ll win this game.
I will add that we really need to enjoy what we have in Luke Altmyer. He made so many great great plays. I can’t think of a moment when I thought he made a bad play - not one that didn’t work but one where you questioned him. And finally look at his stats! Enjoy him and what he is doing to lead this team.
I will add that we really need to enjoy what we have in Luke Altmyer. He made so many great great plays. I can’t think of a moment when I thought he made a bad play - not one that didn’t work but one where you questioned him. And finally look at his stats! Enjoy him and what he is doing to lead this team.
Bret Bielema is a next level strategist. All the things that went bad during the Purdue game were planned to go bad. Give Michigan a bunch of red herrings to concentrate on and then BOOM, shut the door on them. Next level I’m telling you. /s. (and some hopeful thinking)
Need some turnovers. We haven’t had one in a few games now.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I think it's more that nothing on film indicated that Browne was going to be able to make more advanced throws into coverage the way he did in the second half.
He was slicing up zone windows all over the place, impressive stuff.
I'm on Browne's side of the inevitable QB controversy over there.
I can't believe there would be any controversy.
Dan
Admin
"Big Ten Network will debut its documentary "A House of Brick: 100 Years of Memorial Stadium" on Monday at 9:30 p.m. CT. The 30-minute documentary narrated by Illinois alum Ryan Baker chronicles the creation and 100-year life of Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Illinois."
fightingillini.com
Big Ten Network's Memorial Stadium Documentary to Debut Monday - University of Illinois Athletics
The 30-minute documentary chronicles the creation and 100-year life of Memorial Stadium.
fightingillini.com
A bit surprised it's as low as it is. I expect this to steadily creep towards Michigan. Wouldn't be surprised if it ended closer to -5. In general, Vegas has had some very strange lines for us this year. My guess is that the systems the professional sports books use to make our lines are having issues properly defining this Illini team. We're an oddity for sure. Let's get our d line right and pull the upset. Keep this magical season rolling.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Just like I feared, he was their John Paddock. Thankfully we still pulled it out.
I feared the same thing, and in years past we would have lost this one.
We finally pulled one of these games out, and we'll soon find out if the second half was a fluke or not.
I think we're in a new era of Illini football, now let's beat Michigan.
When was the last time both Michigan and Illinois were ranked and Illinois was the higher ranked team.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
I would argue Michigan is terribly difficult to predict as well. They are 4-2 but have not looked very good in the process.
The two games vs USC and Minnesota could have easily been losses for Michigan. Just so many question marks going into this game for both teams. Both of Michigan's wins have come by a field goal at home, so it is not surprising for the open to be within that type of spread. I can see it creeping up a couple points over the week, but the spread will stay within 1 td.
I think we are all having issues properly defining this Illini team.
Illinivek23
- Gurnee
I do know this - I was at the game yesterday and got home late. I need to do something today besides monitoring this board for everyone's takes. Life is hard sometimes.
I figured that may have happened it in the 80s but it didn't, however in 1990 we lost at the big house as the 17th ranked team and Michigan was 19th.
I thought it would be at least -10 for Michigan… gotta jump on this. My heart says Illini but my betting mind says Michigan by at least 2 TD
We may think this way as fans but many will also see how bad Michigan has been this year and bet Illinois where line would never get to -10
So officially...
22 vs 24
22 vs 24
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
And nothing suggests that Michigan can beat anybody in conference by 10+ points. They have not been good this year so far.
Expect a very volatile early line. I have seen this as a pick em in some books. It will likely settle as Michigan as slight favorites, but anticipate a much different game than yesterday. Now if Illinois did not comeback yesterday, this line would be much, much different.
These two teams are so difficult to predict right now.
My issue is that looking at our strengths and weaknesses vs theirs.
Their run game against our Defense… this is what separates us.
I believe our O vs their D will be the breaking point. Can we score 21 points against their D?
Can we limit their explosive run plays against our D
And then… I think about the injuries we have in the secondary right now.
If Purdue can run our Defense off the field at will like they did in the secondary half, what will Michigan be able to do?
Over all analysis when I step back. If our O clicks against a better defense in Michigan like it did against Purdue, then we have a chance. But if we get stuck calling run plays up the middle on 1st and 2nd downs consistently allowing Michigan to blitz us on 3rd downs effectively we are going to be in trouble.
Barry earned his money against Purdue, now he can earn his raise against Michigan if O puts up 28 plus points against that D.
Back to the strength vs weakness to close it out.
Our strength is our passing game and their biggest weakness is their pass defense coming in at 107th and our pass offense ranking 64th. The biggest glare, their rush D is 3rd and our rushing attack is 87th.
The straight up stats… are not titled in our favor at all…unless you look at the what matters stat.
We are better per game in both points scored and points allowed. In the end… isn’t that what only matters.. the final score?
We might win, we might lose, we might not even be competitive... but there was ZERO chance the line would be - 10.
Like, seriously
Like, seriously