You are right!If we play a good game and lose, oh well... Just don't play a poor or average at best game.
No siree! That is the old IU mentality, and one Cig specifically wants us to do away with. There should certainly be an expectation of a win and a disappointment if we lose. Not just with Illinois but with Oregon and PSU as well. To be a contender, you must go in expecting to win every game, not hoping to win. That's how teams feel like they can't get over the hump or are stricken by bad luck. No, its just the mentality. IU wins this by 17 or more.
But too bad... lol,as a fan... I just go by, if you get play well and get beat, you get beat. Congratulate the other team on a great game, move on.
One game at a time. Not going to hang my head over it. If we play well. Of course I'll be very disappointed, but oh well, I'll have to learn to live life.
But, if we play a good game, we won't get beat.
Nope! IU will walk that orange dog on Saturday. Illinois isn't truly in that top tier of the B1G conversation. They just aren't. If you watched their games last year, their own fans freely admit they should've lost 3-4 more games. They lucked into some wins against some bad competition and the hype coming into this year was purely on their record last year. They had no ranked wins.
To put it bluntly, they needed overtime to beat Purdue (yes Purdue) and Nebraska last year and squeaked by at home vs a 7-loss Kansas team. They lost to a bad Minnesota team and almost lost to Rutgers and Northwestern.
Illinois is essentially equal to Washington last year. It's a game IU should win by a couple touchdowns. Believe the hype if you choose but I for one am not falling for it.
@yothn Par...IU wins, I agree. But Illinois is very capable of beating IU on Saturday.
I think Illinois benefits from returning most of its team, and having a known, solid quarterback returning. And I do think you're over doing your critiques on them. Kansas was ranked when they beat them. Nebraska game was in Lincoln. They beat Michigan by more than we did. They were pretty competitive at Penn State. And they beat a South Carolina team that many thought should have been more heavily considered for the CFP.
I don't see anything from their performance and schedule last year, their roster, or what they've done this year, that should have them as a top 10 team. But I'm glad they are. Because the rankings don't really matter. Will they show up as the team that beat South Carolina, or the team that needed OT to beat Purdue? Will IU show up as the team that destroyed 7 out of its 9 B10 opponents, or the team that didn't handle the moment well against OSU and ND?
@iunorth ehhh. That Michigan team was a mess in early October. They had stuff figured out by the time they played us. Plus Rourke wasn’t fully back and really was never the same. Illinois has all the marks of an overhyped, overrated team. Their o line isn’t good. Their defense is not as good as is being said. They are a rushing team who is actually struggling. Their QB is barely a 200 yard passer on a good day. We will force them to pass and that will get ugly if they do.
@d-b-cooper obviously hope you're right. But Michigan came to IU the week after getting absolutely destroyed by Oregon, at home, if I remember right. Its not like they were rolling coming in against us either. I do think they figured some things out against IU. But maybe our weaknesses led to some of that?
As for the rest... I believe I stated somewhere that I don't think Illinois is an actual top 10 team. But they did beat South Carolina in their bowl game, and returned their QB and a lot of their team, from a 10 win team.
I think if we lose to them, it'll be a lot worse loss than most will. But it won't be any sort big upset. A key turnover or two, some bad penalties... and they can easily beat us. I was going to say Vegas will have us as a 3 point favorite (just checked, 3.5). That's about right. Betting will likely drive that up a point or so this week, but when it shakes out, Vegas will think its going to be a 1 score game. And Vegas is more than a little bit smarter than we all are.
@iunorth I don’t think Illinois is really a top 10 team. Their team this year is no better than it was last year, and last year they barely made it through their schedule. There are probably 20 teams I would be more worried about playing.
Im glad they got over ranked though, will help up climb the polls
as to the Vegas lines, we opened at -4.5, which is the same as when Nebraska came to town last year.
@hoosierdaddy Line likely moved down with some public money going towards Illinois, I would guess due to the rankings, and Indiana still lacking name recognition. That line will stabilize, if not move back towards IU, I assume, as kickoff approaches. But if it stays in that 3-4 point range... well, that means "Vegas" thinks the game is going to be pretty close. And they have all the same advantages we all have from watching the Nebraska game last year, etc... They're not big on purposefully making big mistakes with their initial spreads. They're designed to drive evenly spread betting, and they know that the closer they are to what the actual spread ends up being, the more evenly spread the betting will end up being.
IU destroyed the spread in many of their games last year. How is that impacting how Vegas looks at them this year, I wonder???
@yothn Par...IU wins, I agree. But Illinois is very capable of beating IU on Saturday.
I think Illinois benefits from returning most of its team, and having a known, solid quarterback returning. And I do think you're over doing your critiques on them. Kansas was ranked when they beat them. Nebraska game was in Lincoln. They beat Michigan by more than we did. They were pretty competitive at Penn State. And they beat a South Carolina team that many thought should have been more heavily considered for the CFP.
I don't see anything from their performance and schedule last year, their roster, or what they've done this year, that should have them as a top 10 team. But I'm glad they are. Because the rankings don't really matter. Will they show up as the team that beat South Carolina, or the team that needed OT to beat Purdue? Will IU show up as the team that destroyed 7 out of its 9 B10 opponents, or the team that didn't handle the moment well against OSU and ND?
Ranking at the time of playing means nothing. Thats like saying last year Georgia Tech beat #10 Florida State. What a team is ranked at the time you play them doesn't matter. Its what they were ranked at seasons end.
Michigan also lost to Washington by 10 pts. IU would've beat Penn State last year so I am simply not high on Penn State. Did you watch that South Carolina game? Kyle Kennard, SEC DPOY sat out, RB Raheim Sanders sat. Even one of their safeties, Nick Emmanwori left the game at halftime to declare for the draft. ha Illinois was at full staff because most all had another years worth of eligibility they were going to use. Plus, IU would've put a boot into SC even if they were at full staff.
IU wins this game by 2 touchdowns. You can believe me or not.
@yothn Hope you're right. And Cig has made a habit of beating Vegas. But when Vegas sets it at 4 points or so... makes me think there's a good chance its going to be a close game.
@yothn Hope you're right. And Cig has made a habit of beating Vegas. But when Vegas sets it at 4 points or so... makes me think there's a good chance its going to be a close game.
IU has been on the road for any games that were considered "big", once the season ends. When in real time, IU beat the brakes off a ranked Nebraska when the nation didn't think we had a chance. IU is really tough to beat at home. I wish we were at Illinois and home vs PSU but we take what's given to us.
Lotta confidence! I guess that’s better than the alternative.
@openwheel screw that. If IU plays well and loses, the playoffs are out of reach. Cig isn't here to lose, "oh well" games.
If IU plays well, they win by more than 6. I think Cig has been scheming for UI for weeks. Win Saturday, go whip Iowa and IU is in the top 10. Perfect scheduling.
@tammany I share this sentiment. I dont expect Illinois to make many mistakes, they have a veteran team that is cohesive and are well coached. We have more new pieces, and it probably doesnt help that Mendoza is getting buzz (aka pressure) as a possible #1 overall draft pick.
@iunorth I know some people coming from Illinois and they think they will win by 2 to 3 touchdowns.
ive kept my mouth shut to this point but if they lose I’m unloading on them.
Most of what im reading online is the same,every is all in on Illinois this year,I’m not sold on them just yet.
@tammany I share this sentiment. I dont expect Illinois to make many mistakes, they have a veteran team that is cohesive and are well coached. We have more new pieces, and it probably doesnt help that Mendoza is getting buzz (aka pressure) as a possible #1 overall draft pick.
I believe if both teams play well we win by 10-14 points.
What does concern me is that the ILL QB has a big experience edge over Mendoza in big games. Mendoza's never played in a game of this magnitude. Also, the level of competition he's faced overall has been lower.
Also, I don't expect Illinois to fold if we get them down.
That said, I think we are better at TB, at WR, and on the OL. And on D overall.
Illinois on D is very focused on getting TOs. Mendoza needs to protect the ball, and the TBs and WRs need to be tough with the ball. Avoid early TOs, and we'll be OK, imo.