Illini vs Nebraska

Illini win their opener at home over Nebraska 30-22. Nebraska QB Martinez was really bad in first half and really cost his team.

Looks like Illinois will have its pick of New Year’s Day bowl games this year.

Teetime wrote:Looks like Illinois will have its pick of New Year’s Day bowl games this year.

Once they get into the meat of their Conference schedule I’m afraid that they are in for some tough times but I’m happy for the win today.

As an Illini fans you take what you can get. A happy day.

I’m not sure that coach Frost has enough goodwill built up to withstand many losses like that.

Nebraska fans might be just about ready to try another path back to relevance.

Teetime wrote:I’m not sure that coach Frost has enough goodwill built up to withstand many losses like that.

Nebraska fans might be just about ready to try another path back to relevance.

Nebraska has a passionate fan base and they haven’t been close to being an elite program like they used to be for some time. Coach Frost’s seat is getting warm. He did well at UCF but there are a lot of 4 star players in Florida. Not very many in Nebraska though.

OSUBucks wrote:

Teetime wrote:I’m not sure that coach Frost has enough goodwill built up to withstand many losses like that.

Nebraska fans might be just about ready to try another path back to relevance.

Nebraska has a passionate fan base and they haven’t been close to being an elite program like they used to be for some time. Coach Frost’s seat is getting warm. He did well at UCF but there are a lot of 4 star players in Florida. Not very many in Nebraska though.

Might be more than warm:
One of the tamer comments in the Saturday Tradition column on Nebraska:

As always, this is on Frost. It may have been close to 100 degrees on the field, but that’s nothing compared to the heat Frost is going to feel from Nebraska fans and, most importantly, new athletic director Trev Alberts, who had to be beside himself watching this debacle.

and

After an offseason full of hype about this being a different Nebraska entering Frost’s 4th season, this is what the Huskers do? Lose to a head coach in his first game with a program that hasn’t had a winning season in 10 years? Lose to a team that lost its starting QB on the third series of the game? Lose to a team that was 2-6 last season and is predicted to finish last in the Big Ten West?

Read the article here: In the national spotlight for a day, Nebraska chokes the opportunity away

OSUBucks wrote:

Teetime wrote:I’m not sure that coach Frost has enough goodwill built up to withstand many losses like that.

Nebraska fans might be just about ready to try another path back to relevance.

Nebraska has a passionate fan base and they haven’t been close to being an elite program like they used to be for some time. Coach Frost’s seat is getting warm. He did well at UCF but there are a lot of 4 star players in Florida. Not very many in Nebraska though.

Exactly, kids do not want to go to Nebraska like they did back in the 90s. They are not the storied program they once were and going from Florida, Texas, or Ohio to go to Lincoln Nebraska. Nebraska may soon be a better fit for the Pac 12 than the Big Ten or even Big 12.

Prop 48 going away has really hurt their recruiting... that said, they still recruit fairly well, usually top 5 in the conference..

Not going to get too excited over this. Nebraska and Frost is a heaping pile of hot garbage if you ask me. Always good to get a W though. Still think 7 or 8 wins is possible if they play well.

I can't believe that this has gone without a mention on this board...

The Fighting Illini whooped the #7 team in the country last Saturday in 9 overtimes. It wasn't really a fluke win...Illinois pounded the ball for 350 yards rushing to Penn State's 65 yards (or so). If there was a fluke...I'd say it was Penn State being ranked #7.

Anyone see it? What do you think of the playoff format? Have a game decided on a 2 point conversion play?

Pretty sure the Illini are headed to the Rose Bowl now.

PSU came in to that game with a good reputation for defense. I think they still are. They have a few guys that will be NFL players. After 4 quarters of football and 9 OT they only gave up 20 points, that’s pretty good. PSU’s problem is offense. You’ve got to have a good QB. Their #1 QB Clifford isn’t outstanding but when healthy is a decent game manager. He was hurt in the Iowa game and I was surprised that he played against Illinois and it was obvious that he was playing hurt. Illinois still ran for over 300 yards and deserve credit. They put extra blockers in the game and decided to run the ball and it netted them a victory.
I don’t like the College football OT rule of going to 2 point conversion starting in the 3rd OT. They said they did it for the safety of the players. Is playing 9 OT’s safe for the players? I think not. They should look at this during the off season but I don’t know if they will.

OSUBucks wrote:PSU came in to that game with a good reputation for defense. I think they still are.  They have a few guys that will be NFL players. After 4 quarters of football and 9 OT they only gave up 20 points, that’s pretty good. PSU’s problem is offense. You’ve got to have a good QB. Their #1 QB Clifford isn’t outstanding but when healthy is a decent game manager. He was hurt in the Iowa game and I was surprised that he played against Illinois and it was obvious that he was playing hurt.  Illinois still ran for over 300 yards and deserve credit. They put extra blockers in the game and decided to run the ball and it netted them a victory.
I don’t like the College football OT rule of going to 2 point conversion starting in the 3rd OT. They said they did it for the safety of the players. Is playing 9 OT’s safe for the players? I think not. They should look at this during the off season but I don’t know if they will.

The last 7 of those OT's resulted in 14 total plays. I would say that is safer for the players than playing 4 normal OT's.

There are plenty of reasons to not like that format, but playing too many "overtimes" when each "overtime" after the second one is a total of 2 plays doesn't seem like a good one to me.

It isn’t a large amount of extra plays but those extra 18 plays are all goal line situation plays. In a typical game you don’t have that many snaps inside the 5 yard line in an entire game.

Teetime wrote:I can't believe that this has gone without a mention on this board...

The Fighting Illini whooped the #7 team in the country last Saturday in 9 overtimes. It wasn't really a fluke win...Illinois pounded the ball for 350 yards rushing to Penn State's 65 yards (or so). If there was a fluke...I'd say it was Penn State being ranked #7.

Anyone see it? What do you think of the playoff format? Have a game decided on a 2 point conversion play?

Pretty sure the Illini are headed to the Rose Bowl now.

So once again the Illini beat a top 20 team on the road in the BIG 14 and it doesn't get a mention here.

They might not get the Rose Bowl bid I was wishing for, but they are at least watchable again.

They’ve got 2 games left. I don’t think they beat Iowa but maybe NW. A 5 win season would exceed pre season expectations.

OSUBucks wrote:They’ve got 2 games left. I don’t think they beat Iowa but maybe NW. A 5 win season would exceed pre season expectations.

Agree to a point. The O/U on wins was 3.5. However, I think the Illini should have/could have beaten both Rutgers and Maryland. Overall, as an Illini fan it has been a frustrating season to watch. I'm happy hoops started last night!

USD24 wrote:

OSUBucks wrote:They’ve got 2 games left. I don’t think they beat Iowa but maybe NW. A 5 win season would exceed pre season expectations.

Agree to a point.  The O/U on wins was 3.5.  However, I think the Illini should have/could have beaten both Rutgers and Maryland.  Overall, as an Illini fan it has been a frustrating season to watch.  I'm happy hoops started last night!

well, i started to like this post until you mentioned 'hoops'.