Official 2013-2014 NCAA Football Thread

[RockRaines]

HAHAHAHAHA the streak continues, no Big Ten COY award for OSU since 1979. Classic.

[Buehrle>Wood]

They got by with Bert as a figurehead and now Andersen who appears to be the real deal. There is something missing from the ILL athletic office and I believe its knowledge of how to develop a football program.

Goes a lot deeper than the AD. Ohio's governor banned the letter M this weekend. Could you imagine Illinois' governor doing anything like that? The state won't even fund the flagship state school itself. And then you have the absolute worst administrative staff working for the university when it comes to anything with sports. Billionaire alum who loves the school and owns a NFL team? Hey, let's turn down his donation because of some minor incident that occurred 20 years ago. I'm sure our chancellor and president would love to ditch sports all together if they could. They certainly don't seem to see the great benefits of it.

[IlliniKrush]

I believe it's the board of trustees not giving two s***s about the football program. It's never been a priority there.

 

Really though it comes down to piss poor coaching selection. You had two good hires in White and Mackovic. Tepper was the Lovie Smith of the program - a great defensive mind that could never get the offense going. Turner was the opposite as his offenses flourished but it was never enough to win. And unfortunately he forgot you had to recruit every year to win. Zook was brought in to recruit but he couldn't coach or develop guys. And now Beckman, who can't do anything well, but admittedly has a stacked deck to play with.

 

I also blame Guenther. He made mistake after mistake in his hiring and then compounded the problem by waiting too long to get rid of his bad decisions.

And scheduled terribly.

[RockRaines]

Goes a lot deeper than the AD. Ohio's governor banned the letter M this weekend. Could you imagine Illinois' governor doing anything like that? The state won't even fund the flagship state school itself. And then you have the absolute worst administrative staff working for the university when it comes to anything with sports. Billionaire alum who loves the school and owns a NFL team? Hey, let's turn down his donation because of some minor incident that occurred 20 years ago. I'm sure our chancellor and president would love to ditch sports all together if they could. They certainly don't seem to see the great benefits of it.

To be fair football is a lot bigger in Ohio than it is in IL and OSU is like combining the Hawks, Bulls, Bears and Cubs/Sox into one team.

[danman31]

I never understood why. It's a basketball school yes, but as a kid my family tailgated every home game from the mid to late 80's to the late 90's and it was a decent program back then. They'd win some games, lose some games and usually end up in a decent bowl game (and lose, but still). Since then they've won a big ten championship and gone to 2 BCS bowls, so clearly you CAN win there.

 

Wisconsin is what Illinois should aspire to be at this point. They were awful for a long time and then got a coach and stuck with him for a long time.

I will say that Illinois high school football does not produce a lot of talent so if you're relying on that you're going to be up and down. I know they never would completely rely on in-state talent, but any state school is better when the in-state talent is better. Illinois is a basketball state, U of I reflects that.

[gatnom]

I will say that Illinois high school football does not produce a lot of talent so if you're relying on that you're going to be up and down. I know they never would completely rely on in-state talent, but any state school is better when the in-state talent is better. Illinois is a basketball state, U of I reflects that.

 

The problem isn't so much the amount of in state talent but the fact that Illinois gets essentially none of the top recruits in the state. Illinois is always going to have to fight for the leftovers in states like Ohio, but it would be extremely helpful if the few really good players in Illinois actually stayed.

 

For those interested, the guy who used to run the Illinois Rivals site wrote a lengthy post about what he believed to be the problem with Illinois here:

 

Yeah, Guenther kept head coaches around for too long, yes he wasn't smart enough to figure out how to win at Illinois. But he also never had a lot of oversight, commitment from the higher ups at Illinois to make winning at football a priority. He did what he thought was best without anyone ever questioning him till Hogan came along. Until the school 'goes to bed with football' like Iowa or Wisconsin or Michigan State have, like I have written, history will continue to repeat itself unless somehow the DIA finds that head coach that is smart enough to figure it all out, how to win at Illinois under the current conditions.

 

 

 

 

[danman31]

The problem isn't so much the amount of in state talent but the fact that Illinois gets essentially none of the top recruits in the state. Illinois is always going to have to fight for the leftovers in states like Ohio, but it would be extremely helpful if the few really good players in Illinois actually stayed.

I understand that. That's why they've been bad in recent years. I'm just saying that even if/when they do get the top in-state talent that's not always good enough. It sometimes is.

[LittleHurt05]

My God please stop with this nonsense, the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl was a joke. They went 2-6 in conference, losing 6 straight. That was an epic meltdown.

 

Let's not honor that as some sort of great accomplishment. History of the program or no history.

 

An Illini fan calling a bowl game a joke? That's like a Northwestern basketball fan calling the NIT a joke. But I guess that goes back to my expectations being more realistic than everyone else.

Edited December 4, 2013 by LittleHurt05

[ZoomSlowik]

An Illini fan calling a bowl game a joke? That's like a Northwestern basketball fan calling the NIT a joke. But I guess that goes back to my expectations being more realistic than everyone else.

 

The NIT IS a joke.

[Buehrle>Wood]

 

Assuming that's true for a second, can we just fire him now? Please? Why delay the inevitable?

[Jenksismyhero]

An Illini fan calling a bowl game a joke? That's like a Northwestern basketball fan calling the NIT a joke. But I guess that goes back to my expectations being more realistic than everyone else.

 

I half agree with you. Yes, expectations are out of whack. We can't really expect to be OSU over night. But I also don't think it's wrong to expect a bowl game every year, even if history says that's an unlikely goal. It's 6 f***ing wins. You're guaranteed 3 a year playing crap opponents. How hard is it really to go 3-6 the rest of the way?

 

There really is no excuse for any Big Ten program not to be a bowl eligible team almost every year.

[bmags]

One thing that is terrifying me about this weekends game b/w Auburn and Mizzou is if Mizzou comes out with a 3 DL look, Auburn will go no huddle and pound the s*** out of them for a quick TD. We give a lot of different looks for whole drives, and can be susceptible to substitution on no huddles here.

[RockRaines]

One thing that is terrifying me about this weekends game b/w Auburn and Mizzou is if Mizzou comes out with a 3 DL look, Auburn will go no huddle and pound the s*** out of them for a quick TD. We give a lot of different looks for whole drives, and can be susceptible to substitution on no huddles here.

Auburn is going to run the ball successfully, there is not much you can do there. You have to hope you can outscore them as their defense is suspect.

[LittleHurt05]

I half agree with you. Yes, expectations are out of whack. We can't really expect to be OSU over night. But I also don't think it's wrong to expect a bowl game every year, even if history says that's an unlikely goal. It's 6 f***ing wins. You're guaranteed 3 a year playing crap opponents. How hard is it really to go 3-6 the rest of the way?

 

There really is no excuse for any Big Ten program not to be a bowl eligible team almost every year.

 

I agree, but the last 20 years says differently.

 

What blows my mind, is that from 2000-2009, Illinois made two bowl games, but both were BCS bowls. twice you managed to make the BCS, yet the other 8 seasons you couldn't even win 6 games once? You almost have to try to fail that bad.

[IlliniKrush]

An Illini fan calling a bowl game a joke? That's like a Northwestern basketball fan calling the NIT a joke. But I guess that goes back to my expectations being more realistic than everyone else.

Whatever man. If you really think Zook needed to stick around and you think the results would be much different, that's your choice. To try to say that season was a success is indeed a joke. 2-6 and an 0-6 run met expectations? You must have forgot what happened that season.

 

You have no idea what my expectations are, but it was clear Zook had to go. This is you seeing Beckman and now saying Zook should still be here. That's wrong. If Zook isn't the answer, you have to make a change.

 

But, this is coming from the guy that wants to dirty up the basketball program. So I guess we do disagree on expectations.

Edited December 4, 2013 by IlliniKrush

[bmags]

Auburn is going to run the ball successfully, there is not much you can do there. You have to hope you can outscore them as their defense is suspect.

 

It's not really about shutting down their run as it is preventing the quick 1-2 minute scoring drive. As we've switched up formations and looks we've gotten blown up guessing wrong a few times, which would be magnified with Auburn. I think we'll see a 4 man line all game this time, but even if we were to get a lead and try and move into pass coverage, the crazy thing with auburn is they can score as fast with a run.

 

[Jenksismyhero]

I agree, but the last 20 years says differently.

 

What blows my mind, is that from 2000-2009, Illinois made two bowl games, but both were BCS bowls. twice you managed to make the BCS, yet the other 8 seasons you couldn't even win 6 games once? You almost have to try to fail that bad.

 

I was reading up on the Illinois football wikipedia page yesterday (so depressing). All time Illinois is 8-9 in bowl games. 17 bowl games in their HISTORY. That's f***ing pathetic, even if there were only like 10 bowl games a year up until the 80's.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Jenksismybitch

[cabiness42]

I was reading up on the Illinois football wikipedia page yesterday (so depressing). All time Illinois is 8-9 in bowl games. 17 bowl games in their HISTORY. That's f***ing pathetic, even if there were only like 10 bowl games a year up until the 80's.

 

Also, the Big Ten did not allow any participation in bowl games other than the Rose Bowl until 1975.

 

[clyons]

Greg Doyel is kind of a troll, but I've been wondering this same thing :

 

http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer/gr...buckeyes-do-not

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Greg Doyel is kind of a troll, but I've been wondering this same thing :

 

http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer/gr...buckeyes-do-not

 

It's an easy answer if you've watched FSU play. Their strength of schedule has sucked this year. But they demolished all three ranked opponents they played. It honestly shouldn't even be a question. You want to criticize the schedule or strength of opponents? Fine. But that team is good. It's obvious to anyone who watched them. They are fast, skilled and probably boast at least 10 future NFL players, including 3 or 4 who will go in the first 2 rounds next year.

[RockRaines]

It's an easy answer if you've watched FSU play. Their strength of schedule has sucked this year. But they demolished all three ranked opponents they played. It honestly shouldn't even be a question. You want to criticize the schedule or strength of opponents? Fine. But that team is good. It's obvious to anyone who watched them. They are fast, skilled and probably boast at least 10 future NFL players, including 3 or 4 who will go in the first 2 rounds next year.

Theyve only played one ranked opponent.

[LittleHurt05]

Greg Doyel is kind of a troll, but I've been wondering this same thing :

 

http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer/gr...buckeyes-do-not

 

1. No one likes Urban Meyer

2. Ohio State got routed in a final several years ago (not that it should matter)

3. FSU has looked more impressive beating up their s***ty conference than OSU and their closer games against their s***ty conference.

 

Either way, they both deserve the final if they win Saturday, then they can decide it on the field.

[RockRaines]

1. No one likes Urban Meyer

2. Ohio State got routed in a final several years ago (not that it should matter)

3. FSU has looked more impressive beating up their s***ty conference than OSU and their closer games against their s***ty conference.

 

Either way, they both deserve the final if they win Saturday, then they can decide it on the field.

The game OSU got routed in just so happened to be AGAINST their current coach. Weird.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Theyve only played one ranked opponent.

 

I worded it poorly. They played three opponents that were ranked when they played them.

[RockRaines]

Just shows how much the media wants clicks though. There is still a game this saturday that would put all of this to bed one way or the other. Auburn getting blown out by a 3 loss team and then smoked by Mizzou can sit the f*** down.