Celebrating!

don't look now but winning streak!!!!

trap game for NW next week...

No thanks to Cumberland, Charest looked fantastic today. The last time I had that kind of confidence in our QB dropping back in a passing situation was when Kittner was leading our offense.

Didnt get to watch the game were we that good or were they that bad

Hope the team remembers the cheap shot on Benn last year in Evanston the way I do.

Yes.

Clay Nurse was a beast.

And I know Hawthorne wants to play offense, but I have a feeling he'll play on Sundays no matter which side he ultimately ends up on.

It's gonna be so great being 4-6 then ending the season with Cincy and Fresno State instead of having those 2 non-conference games being against the likes of North Texas and San Jose State, you know, like a good AD would do.

Agreed! Hawthorne stands to make a lot more money in the NFL as 6'0 190 pound corner rather than a receiver with those same specs. I'm beginning to think he might be our best cover corner on the team. The D-Line with Nurse, Luiget and Brent dominated today.

Pretty good game, but I'm still a bit down on our coaching. We were up by three scores and we almost let them come back to almost tie or beat us. We were in too much of a prevent defense in the second half. The special teams was horrendous. That missed field goal really screwed up our momentum. I've said it before and I'll say it again, our punt formation sucks. That three man wall isn't very effective. Why not slow them down at the line of scrimmage. We won and I'm happy, but our coaching still blows balls. This game shouldn't have been this close.

I didn't know Illinois beat Northwestern yet.

Check out my "zone read" post.

I wouldn't count your chickens before their hatched.

The play he made on the pass break up in the endzone at 28-7 was outstanding.

The pick 6 showed his ball skills but was more of a terrible play by Weber than anything else.

Well, it wasn't always pretty, but it is another win. A couple things that jumped out at me:

1. Jacob Charest played well. He had some good luck (dropped INT's by Minn.) and some bad luck (dropped passes by Cumberland). He stood in the pocket pretty well, completing big passes with defenders in his face. And got his first TD pass of his career to Benn (who got his first receiving TD of the year).

2. 3rd and 24! 3rd and 24! After a couple good plays to force a long third down situation with Minn. still trailing by a couple scores, we let the tight end get open over the top of the linebackers? That is completely unacceptable and could have cost the Illini the game, if not for the clutch drive by Charest and the offense their next series.

3. Big play by McGee on that 3rd down reception. Set us up for what ended up being the game-winning score.

4. The blocked punt that went for a Minn. TD late in the game is completely unacceptable. Everyone knows they are going to come after the kick (except maybe our coaching staff). Let's them back in the game.

5. It looked like the defense started playing prevent midway through the 3rd quarter. Keep up the pressure. We were doing well limiting the long pass plays. No need to drop back in coverage.

6. Pre-snap penalties kept popping up again. One probably cost us a FG, turing a 40 yarder into a 45 YD attempt Eller missed wide right. Although I was very glad to see NO holding penalties. That's awesome.


So, a lot of things to work on, but a win is a win. Great play by Hawthorne and Nurse on defense. And the offense produced when it had to. Great start to my weekend. Should be a tough one next week against Northwestern who just upset Iowa in Kinnick Stadium.

GO ILLINI

That said I really hope Schultz isn't shown the door at the end of the year.

Something has finally clicked with this team. This is the type of game I expected us to be playing in all year.... a shootout.

All in all, a great win.

Momentum and confidence is everything in football.

Terry Hawthorne literally saved the season by hustling.

I forgot to mention how well I thought Charest played. When Minnesota brought pressure, Charest stood strong in the pocket and made a throw. I don't want to compare apples and oranges, but Juice would have tucked the ball down and just taken a sack. I'm really hopeful about the future of this team now, we actually have a quarterback who can throw the ball in Charest instead of a running back that can sometimes throw the ball in Juice. Juice also played well today until he got hurt. If he's gonna run the ball, he needs to secure the ball better.

Cosign. Charest showed good poise today under pressure on the road, appears to have a nice, soft touch, and sees the field well.
A win is a win and it is nice to emerge from the cellar and see Michigan lose again and take a spot next to Indy.
The major negative for me today was Cumberland who played like a wuss. Catch the damn ball! The guy is 6'5 and should be able to dominate, at least on occasion.

Cumberland is what he is at this point. And the coaches know it, too. Once Hoo-Man and/or Graham get back, Cumberland's role will be very limited again.

He did enough positively for me today. The block that sprung McGee for 20 additional yds. turned out to be a huge play.

Not sure about anyone else, but Ian Thomas' hit on the Minnesota receiver looked clean to me. All of the replays looked like he hit him with his shoulder.

Still, I can't believe that guy held on to the ball AND got up right away.

Unless you're being sarcastic, this is what a pussy would like to see on the schedule.

Or someone who would like to see more W's than L's.

yeah, by scheduling weaker teams....pussy. Maybe we should start a petition to get Illinois into the MAC.

Maybe. Personally, I think you do what you need to do in order to give yourself the best chance to get to a bowl game. If Illinois were at a point where they needed to concern themselves with a remote chance at NC contention, then you might have a point.

Why don't you run along and get that petition started.

Leave the football talk to people that know what the hell they're talking about.

Look! It's an Internet Tough Guy! In the Wild! Quick get a picture!

Nice job with the insults. Fabulous stuff. Nobody here is being a pussy, they just want what's best for the long term.

And what's best is Ws. We're not trying to crack the BCS. We don't need strength of schedule. We need a string of three bowl games in a row our coaching staff can point to that four years from now when they recruit. Do you think people are flipping through history's pages to see who it was we beat to be 8-4 last year or 7-5 the year before (hypothetically)? No, they're not.

There's a way to build a program - a way that's been proven successful by a dozen teams or so - and it involves getting wins outside of conference. When you're established, you turn up the heat. There's no reason to make things harder than a Big 10 schedule already is -- not at this point for *this* program.

One more thing.

Coach Brewster: Eat me.

Why the animosity on Brewster?

It was a clean hit. Typical awful officiating by LeMonnier and his crew. I'm glad the Big Ten has demoted this crew from always doing the biggest game of the week, but they still suck. The Thomas hit is exactly what you want your linebacker to do.

I understand trying to keep the game safe, but collisions happen in football.

I'm not that down on Schultz yet. The offense has actually shown some life. I say give the guy another year with the players to learn his system and we'll see what he can do. His system may fit Charest better at any rate.

Winning is better than losing but making a concerted effort to schedule believed inferior teams = pussy.

Anyone who thinks lowering the bar makes makes the success equal is a rationalizing fool.

There are a lot of pussies in college football then.


It has nothing to do with lowering the bar. It has everything to do with setting yourself up for success.

Where have you been, not sure and trip? You sure are trippin'

We need to schedule to make bowl games - this will allow for more practice time and and an easier sell for recruits. Playing a tough out-of-conference schedule has hurt our bowl chances. No one remembers who you played when you don't make a bowl game.

It has everything to do with lowering the bar. Success for 'going over' a lowered bar is not an equal success, to say otherwise is rationalization. Rationaliztion is the comfort crutch for pussies.

That's all there really is to say.

Got one:

Success is also relative. With the current condition of the program in mind, if Illinois were able to go to a bowl game in part because of a weak non-conference schedule, it would be a successful season.

On Charest: I'm not saying he's better than Juice at this point, but I AM saying that he's better at getting the ball out to a hot receiver when the defense is heavily blitzing. He did it consistently today. And that covers what was a huge hole in our offense before today.

I think Minn game-planned for blitzing the crap out of Juice and kept doing it, understandably, because Charest is an RS freshman. But they paid for it and should have stopped doing it earlier than they did.

List of Pussies according to Internet Tough Guys:
Florida - Charleston Southern, Troy, FIU
Alabama - FIU, North Texas, Chattanooga
Texas - Louisiana-Monroe, Wyoming, UTEP, UCF
Penn State - Akron, Syracuse, Temple, Eastern Illinois
LSU - Washinton, Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulane, Louisiana Tech
Ohio State - Navy, Toledo, NM State

This isn't like getting Cs at Harvard vs. getting As at Kent State. No bowl game with losses to big-time teams means SH!T. Pure and simple. Bowl game with some cupcakes = Far better for the program.

Why do you feel it necessary to insult Kent State?

See you are catching on. That is why there will be no true national champion. Because the 'upper tier' schedules pussies. Good job.

Playing in the Motor City Bowl=#$%&@!. If that's your standard for a successful program then I can't help you. Personally, as a competitor, I would rather play better competition.

Not to mention the blown pass interference call against Cumberland in the 3rd quarter. That may have cost us a TD. But a win is a win. Charest showed nice poise under pressure today. I have more confidence in him now that he's shown what he can do.

Don't jinx us. We have had a terrible time beating NW in recent years.

I've been calling for the upset of Cincy since the beginning of the season (I knew they would be good, but not undefeated). Ironically, if Illinois pulls that off, Guenther looks like a genius.

He would look like a genius if you take out, you know, the whole Zook hire thing.

Seriously? A genius?

Leave Navy alone, I enjoyed their win very much today! Hopefully Coach Front Butt is shown the door after the season.