I need Custard to weigh in.
The game was an abomination. I didn’t have a good feeling about it all week long. We lost in the trenches on both sides like every other loss this year. Somehow what should have been a solid veteran O line has been a glaring weakness week in and week out. It was obvious early on in the season that we were fucked there.
The loss of Xavier Scott was huge because he erased so many mistakes on D. Especially given the fact that our D line can’t get any pressure while we sit in soft zones. Rich, lazy Gabe Jacas playing like a guy on his a huge second NFL contract rather than a guy that should be playing for a second round NFL draft pick.
I think Aaron Henry needs to be demoted (not fired) to DB coach and we need to go get a proven DC. I imagine there will be hell to pay after this season for the line coaches, and the new line staff will need to go out and get some big uglies so we don’t get ragdolled by 2/3 of the teams we play.
Here’s the thing: We brought back a ton of starters from last year, and guess what? We have basically the same team as last year. Just with a considerably tougher schedule this year. We have lost to #1 and #2, a talented Washington team at their place, and a better-than-their-record Wisconsin team in Camp Randall. The USC win is better than any regular reason win we had last year. The CFP talk was mostly nonsense, because while we stuck with the status quo and ran it back, a bunch of other teams we played went out and got better. We simply don’t have the depth other programs do because we haven’t had the NIL money.
That being said, even if we lose to NU, (and we will) Bielema’s stretch at Illinois will still be the best 5 year stretch here since who knows when. Late 80s to early 90s? Fans are still showing up at games in November. We just got a $100 MILLION (with an M, for Murph) donation for football. We are light years ahead of where we were at the beginning of this decade.
People will point out, oh, look what IU is doing, though! They have been worse than us historically and they got a mid major guy and now they’re awesome! That’s a great point and all, but that’s the exception that proves the rule. IU donors have ponied up way more than UI donors have for NIL bags the last couple of years. (Until the Gies windfall, how that gets spent TBD)
Also, yeah, he signed a big money extension with them, but let’s see what actually happens when the blue bloods come calling and up the ante. Cig is a scumbag egomaniac and I have to believe he’ll have eyes for a big time program. Will definitely be interesting to see where both programs are a few years from now.
I kinda like the situation we are in with a steady return to relevance with limited resources and now having a huge infusion of cash pumped into the program, versus a flash-in-the-pan situation at a shit program with a shit stadium that’s just not going to sustain this level of success. I can’t think of a single modern situation where a coach came into a similar situation, built a powerhouse, and then just stuck around until he retired.
So yeah. We still have head scratching losses, but you’d have to go back to the time when Ray and Alum were in knickers to find a stretch of football better than this at Illinois. It’s a golden era.
When Lovie was dismissed, everyone just said, “Give me 6-8 wins a year with an occasional 9-10 win season and I’ll be happy!” That is exactly what we have right now, despite bottom half of the B1G resources to this point. Under Bielema, we have been punching above our weight when it comes to resources and tradition. I think we continue to build and get better.
As always in this pay for play era, remember to donate 10% of your earnings to NIL or STFU!
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