Special shout out to Jake from Bielema on Saturday.

Illinois scored to go up 40-28 with just over 5 minutes left, so they went for 2 as expected. Their OL was called for OPI in the end zone for blocking a defender as the receiver caught the ball over the middle just short of the goal line and then got into the end zone. With the severe 15 yards on that penalty, the ball is now on the 18 and Bert went for 2 again anyway, and of course they failed.

Then Purdue scores with just under 2 minutes left to get within 40-35 and recovers an onside kick. They get a first down in the red zone with a little over 50 seconds left, and then they should have let the clock run down to 30 seconds or so since they had 2 timeouts left. But they hiked it quickly, still in hurry-up modem and scored with 47 seconds left. Their successful 2-pointer put them up 43-40.

The Illini then cross midfield and get extremely lucky when a strip-sack gets a quick whistle as Altmeyer was holding the tip of the ball and pressing it against his leg as the guy is tackling him and ripping at the ball. I thought it should have been a fumble and game over, but it was one of those calls where replay wasn’t going to change it either way, So they get into FG range and tie the game at the end, which would have been a game-winner if Bert had kicked the long XP earlier.

Then in OT they both scored easily, the Illini went up, Purdue got it to 50-49 and went for 2 and the win, but their QB ate the ball under pressure so Illinois survived. If that 2-pointer had worked, Bert would have gotten some tough questions about the 2-point try from the 18-yard line.

Honor&Glory said:

It’s not one 1pt loss…it’s 1-7 and all the losses looking pretty much the same. But whatever

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3 losses were against a stacked deck
1 loss was against what will go down as Saban's best team ever (and with Fields playing with a cracked rib)
1 loss was against a generational repeat national champion that took MHJ out of the game
1 loss was by one point on the road against the #3 team in the country

Home vs Nebraska
@Ped State
Home vs Indiana
Home vs dUMb

Not easy. @Ped may be a must-win

Buckeyefrankmp said:

I though this loss was bigger than the game loss. In theory there is still a way to the B1G championship and Natty after losing to Oregon. It will be a lot harder without Simmons.

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I'm just catching up on individual threads but this would be very bad...it's not hyperbole to say Simmons was probably the most important player on our offense and he was coming into his prime this year. We're going to have to think hard about how to mitigate this loss, and keep our QB from getting crushed. Not to knock a player, but Zen is a significant downgrade at LT and that could be a big liability.

As for Simmons, speedy recovery my guy.

RhodeIslandBuck said:

Sorry, but pregame expectations don't mean squat when you establish a double digit lead in the 4th quarter and blow it. You gotta finish those, I don't give a damn who the opponent is.

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Left out the other part where the other team targets our star WR to take him out of the game.

buckeyemania11 said:

Yep. If we can't manage to land these types of guys out of HS, there is absolutely zero reason we should not be able to go find a at least capable kicker through the portal.

If Day and Staff are looking at what we have and saying "yea thats good enough" then that's a major problem.

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Or did we go after the Fredo kicker, and he felt that he wouldn't be developed to get to the NFL at Ohio State and chose Bama instead?

Nutriaitch said:

I was pretty sure they were 2 different people.
@Gatorubet tries to come off as a "Yat" but is most likely a Westbanker

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and to help explain why Ubet is such a confused individual:
the Westbank is due South of the Eastbank.
but to get to the Westbank from the Eastbank, you have to drive due East.

and people wonder why Louisiana is last in Education.

bucknut11 said:

The one in Atlanta where OSU was a 6pt underdog against the #1 team in the country?

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Sorry, but pregame expectations don't mean squat when you establish a double digit lead in the 4th quarter and blow it. You gotta finish those, I don't give a damn who the opponent is.

brodybuck21 said:

The answer is ZERO

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Unless there is some off the field issue or issues in practice, there is no excuse for this under the circumstances. Burke is probably the better player most days, but he certainly was not that night. I would even submit that Mathews should have been playing some even if Burke was killing it to keep guys fresh and because he is that good.