For the Fans

WE BEAT MICHIGAN!! Don't ruin this for me.

Posted by: Tom Young

Sunday, November 1, 2009 10:24 AM

“I was happily rewatching the game on DVR. My spirits perked right up, my day will be better, and my week will be great. I'll have hope all next week. You'll carry your little dark cloud over your head. No matter what each of us says or does, what will happen, will happen, next Saturday. I prefer to spend my week MY way.”

• bleedorangenblue in the comment section of Loren Tate's latest column on IlliniHQ.

 

Fans crack me up. Not just Illini fans, but sports fans in general. Yes, we all know that the Illini football season has been nothing like we were hoping for. Yes, we all know that the coaching staff has made some questionable decisions and at times it makes up want to throw objects at our radios and televisions. But for one day, a Halloween afternoon at Memorial Stadium, magic happened.

I'm looking at people's comments on IlliniHQ and pretty much every one says 'So what? It's too late now. They will just go out and lose next week.' Sure, that could happen. After all, this is a 2-6 football team that was probably ranked in the 110's before yesterday's game. But to all of you I say, “So what? We friggin' beat Michigan!!”

Illinois probably isn't going to a bowl. Juice Willams isn't back in the hunt for those preseason awards we was up for. Benn only touched the ball twice. Michigan isn't quite the Michigan of old. I know all of this, and I don't care. This year, Michigan is a better football team than we are. They've shown it on the field. Maybe it was all of that extra hard work in the offseason (sorry, low blow).

For those of you that said it was more of Michigan making mistakes instead of Illinois playing good, I ask you, did you watch the same game I did? The first half did look kind of similar to what we've seen before, but the defense did an excellent job of keeping Michigan out of the end zone and it gave Illinois a chance to come out in the second half and dominate. That goal line stand that Illinois had when it was first and goal on the half yard line, you're telling me that it was Michigan's fault for not scoring? Heck no! Illinois' line for the first time all season got great push up front and for four straight plays kept the running back from getting in. For the first time all season, the defensive line got pressure on the quarterback. Tate Forcier is a freshman, and we FORCED him into some freshman mistakes. Clay Nurse and company were awesome. No, this wasn't Michigan playing bad, this was Illinois playing very very good.

Offensively, the blockers blocked on running plays, and it gave LeShoure and Ford big holes to run through. Even Juice picked up some nice yardage running the ball. For the first time all year, Mike Schultz called a masterful game. We ran and ran and ran, and therefore we scored and scored and scored. What happens when you run often and run with success? The ability to throw deep opens up. Juice made some nice passes in that second half, and there were some better catches. Chris James' catch inside the five was sick, and can't believe he was able to adjust and snatch that ball.

Another thing great about this win was five touchdowns to five different players. When it become time to score, no one knew who the man was going to be. That play action pass to TE London Davis inside the five was perfectly executed, and a great call by Schultz. The hand-off to Arrelious Benn that didn't score last week because of a penalty, scored this week after Benn turned into a human helicopter. LeShoure and Ford showed off some good vision and break away speed as they scored TD's from 70 and 79 yards respectively, and Juice made a good senior quarterback decision to tuck the ball under and run it in on a goal line pass play. It was great to see the players that were playing well stay on the field, and it was great to see the play calling give Illinois a chance to win. Play calling doesn't mean anything if execution isn't there, so let's not forget the great play by our Illini to get the job done.

So once again, if you want to be the rainy cloud that ruins this sunny day, go right ahead. If there is absolutely no way for you to enjoy this victory, go right ahead. If you're going to focus more on Illinois' 2-6 record instead of Illinois beating the hated Michigan, once again, go right ahead. All I ask is that you stay as far away from me as possible because I will have a smile on my face all week long. I also ask that you stay away from anybody who was sitting with me in section 106. We don't want to hear it. Besides, we won't have time to listen to you whine and moan about yesterday's “issues”. We're all busy partying like it's 1983, and it all started when that clock hit 0:00.

I-L-L...

 

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