Loren,
Why is Zook so stubborn with keeping Juice in the game? He is not a Division 1 qb. You have to be able to pass the football. He has never demonstrated that ability consistently. He should be a rb instead. I don't question his heart, but his talent. I would love to have Illinois State quarterback Brown to pass to our wideouts instead. Bring on Jerry Kill from NIU as our next coach. Everywhere he has gone he has won.

Loren....after watching Illinois football along with you for the last 50 years it always seems that the difference between the premier programs in The Big Ten and the rest of us comes down to the line play. The last 2 Saturday's were a microcosim of years of frustration; our inability to stop the run and our inability to open holes for our running backs and not protecting the passer. All the excitement in recruiting is about the skill positions, when in truth a bunch of good lineman who stay in the program for 4 or 5 years would lift us out of mediocrity and into the upper part of the conference. Why is that so difficul to achieve?

Ok. You're the history buff, but I'm still not understanding the reasons behind Illinois' pathetic football history. Just comparing their recent history to comparable Big Ten schools is depressing and head-scratching.

Wisconsin - A down and out program until hiring Barry Alverez; and after a couple of rebuilding years Wisconsin goes on a string of several consecutive bowl appearances (wins a couple of Rose Bowls even). He passes the torch to Brent Bielema. Program drops a little bit (still goes to bowl games though). Looks like this year might be a tough one for him. But no! 5-0 and headed for another bowl and successful season. Wish Illinois had this history.

Purdue - Remember the Jim Coletto years? (Very similar to most Illinois football years.) Purdue instantly fixes this football problem by hiring Joe Tiller. Presto! 10+ years of bowl appearances, winning at least half of those, beating Notre Dame, and there is much fun and pride for any Purdue alum. They're a little down this year with a new coach, but they're COMPETING (something Illinois teams rarely do). Obviously, next year they'll be back to a bowl. I Wish Illinois had this football history. Why don't they?

Northwestern - Played Illini-type football for most of the 80's and early 90's until they hired Gary Barnett. Then they were successful more years than not with him, Randy Walker, and now Pat Fitzgerald. They went to a bowl game last year and are heading for another one this year. And they always COMPETE! I'd definitely take their recent 20 year history over what ours is now. What's really irritating about Northwestern's success is none of their alums or current students seem to give a flying fig about it. They're lucky to get 35k in attendance for most of their home games, and their stadium's pitiful. But boy, I wish their football history was Illinois'.

Even Minnesota is on the upswing now (by an Illini alum no less) and they enjoyed consistent success under Glen Mason for several years prior to now.

Same with Iowa. Who was Kirk Ferenz, except just one heck of a football coach.

Is it really this hard , in a world with billions of people, that a midwestern US university cannot find 22 human beings who are physically coordinated and smart enough to play a game of football on a consistent basis?

Other comparable universities just don't seem to have this football problem that Illinois always seems to have.

Is it really too much to ask of the Illini to go to 2 consecutive bowl games instead of their customary 1 every 5 years or so?

Loren, Here is my opinion of this whole fiasco with the Illini football team. We are all to blame to a certain extent. First it starts with the scouting services who put a lot of these kids on a pedastal by rating them in their polls as a can't miss player. Then the media picks up on this and they put these kids on an even higher pedastal with all of the hype. The desperate Illini fans ( me included) read all of the head lines and get really excited and expect immediate gratification. The coaches don't set up the right schemes for the players they have. The players don't play up to their potential. There is poor play selection, poor execution, etc. etc....... So you can see that we all have to share in the blame for this mess from the rating services to the media to the fans to the coaches to the players and so on. Can it be fixed? Maybe but it is going to take time and I don't think you are going to see any perceptible change in the near future. These players are 18 - 22 years old and they are not professionals and they are going to make mistakes and many won't live up to their lofty ranking from the rating services. People need to be patient but that is not human nature especially after all of the ALL AMERICANS were recruited to come to Illinois.
By the way, thanks for these chats I really enjoy them but I marvel at how you and your fellow writers handle some of the questions and the repetitive questions. I'm sure it really gets old after a while. Keep up the good work.

Loren & Jim,
Two questions for you - 1] Is there a lack of "vocal" in your face leadership on the field? It appears that this team "sags" after something negative occurs. 2] As a former offensive coordinator, it appears that this QB and receiving corps is best suited to vertical seam & fade routes. However, we do not seem to attack vertically until we are forced to by the scoreboard. Have we made any vertical/deep attempts in the first quarter of any of our games?

Hello Gentlemen-
It seems that the offensive playcalling is horribly suited for the talent that is currently on this team. Juice certainly doesn't have the accuracy to run this offense, and I have my doubts about Eddie's ability as well.

It seems back in the old days, the strength of a good coach was his ability to adjust to the other team's strengths during a game, and his own team's strengths beforehand. I could be wrong about that, but when I see Coaches Zook and Schultz say that they have to believe in what they're doing and stick with it, I cringe.

Am I off base?

Mcgee is starting, but will Juice play as well or Charest? I think Eddie deserves a chance to start but I think using both Eddie and Juice could help us out.

I do think this will be a good move the team and especially in the passing game. I think the play calling should and will be changed based on Eddie's strengths.. He is a more accurate passer then Juice and he is faster. I say less options and when you do run Eddie run the QB sneak or lead Draws.. Get him going North and South instead of East and West.. I also expect to see more deep passes being called.

How can this be seen as anything more than a desperate move by a desperate man/coach?

With all the turnover at the top of the university, whose decision would it be to fire RG and/or Ron Zook? Is that even possible in this present interim state?

I think it's about time we turn to McGee, he is the better passer. Does this mean better production from Benn, Fayson, and the receivers now? HOPE so.