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Illinois Fighting Illini (you'll see)

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Hope springs eternal. You can't blame Illini fans for being excited, they've barely been a blip on the national radar for the last two decades. They finally have a passionate, energetic coach that "gets" the importance of recruiting and is doing a pretty solid job of selling his vision to these kids. Like Roughy has pointed out, they're bringing in more touted recruits than they have in decades. I think Zook will keep them in the second tier of Big-Ten teams with the occasional shot at a Big-Ten title, but thinking that they're gonna join tOSU and scUM as the flagship programs is simply delusional. History proves that. This is how I look at it (in a "big picture" sense):

tOSU
scUM

Wisconsin
PSU (barely)

Illinois
MSU
Purdue
Iowa

Northwestern
Minnesota

Indiana


That's how I look at it right now. Illinois could concievably jump up there with Wiscy and possibly replace PSU in that second tier.



 
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NFBuck;1155739; said:
Hope springs eternal. You can't blame Illini fans for being excited, they've barely been a blip on the national radar for the last two decades. They finally have a passionate, energetic coach that "gets" the importance of recruiting and is doing a pretty solid job of selling his vision to these kids. Like Roughy has pointed out, they're bringing in more touted recruits than they have in decades. I think Zook will keep them in the second tier of Big-Ten teams with the occasional shot at a Big-Ten title, but thinking that they're gonna join tOSU and scUM as the flagship programs is simply delusional. History proves that. This is how I look at it (in a "big picture" sense):

tOSU
scUM

Wisconsin
PSU (barely)

Illinois
MSU
Purdue
Iowa

Northwestern
Minnesota

Indiana


That's how I look at it right now. Illinois could concievably jump up there with Wiscy and possibly replace PSU in that second tier.
Click to expand...

since 1994 when PSU joind, the B10 by conf win % only:

t1 OSU 86-26 (.768)
t1 scUM 86-26 (.768)
2 PSU 67-45 (.598)
3 Wisky 65-45-2 (.589)
4 Purdue 57-52-3 (.522)
5 Iowa 57-54-1 (.513)
6 MSU 49-62-1 (.442)
7 NU 49-63 (.438)
8 Illinois 35-76-1 (.317)
9 Minny 35-77 (.312)
10 IU 26-86 (.232)

You can do this by any time frame you want to, you can add in weight for a B10 title, BCS games or whatever....its still the Big 2 and little 8(9) and its not even that close. The only arguments is ever who's the latest school to lay claim to distant 3rd.
 
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Jaxbuck;1155747; said:
since 1994 when PSU joind, the B10 by conf win % only:

t1 OSU 86-26 (.768)
t1 scUM 86-26 (.768)
2 PSU 67-45 (.598)
3 Wisky 65-45-2 (.589)
4 Purdue 57-52-3 (.522)
5 Iowa 57-54-1 (.513)
6 MSU 49-62-1 (.442)
7 NU 49-63 (.438)
8 Illinois 35-76-1 (.317)
9 Minny 35-77 (.312)
10 IU 26-86 (.232)

You can do this by any time frame you want to, you can add in weight for a B10 title, BCS games or whatever....its still the Big 2 and little 8(9) and its not even that close. The only arguments is ever who's the latest school to lay claim to distant 3rd.
Click to expand...

I agree absolutely. I just look at it in tiers.
 
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Just wanted to jump back in the thread (Since I haven't been here in a while) and say what's up to everybody. I read a lot of the stuff in here and I'm not even going to respond. Besides I know I'm not too liked here anyway. Just wanted to say what's up.....:)

:wink:
 
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ThaKid101;1155754; said:
Just wanted to jump back in the thread and say what's up to everybody. I read a lot of the stuff in here and I'm not even going to respond. Just wanted to say what's up.....:)

:wink:
Click to expand...
JaxBuck can count to 14, NFBuck sheds tiers and Oh8ch is looking for nacho lady.
 
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NFBuck;1155739; said:
I think Zook will keep them in the second tier of Big-Ten teams with the occasional shot at a Big-Ten title, but thinking that they're gonna join tOSU and scUM as the flagship programs is simply delusional. History proves that. This is how I look at it (in a "big picture" sense):

tOSU
scUM

Wisconsin
PSU (barely)

Illinois
MSU
Purdue
Iowa

Northwestern
Minnesota

Indiana


That's how I look at it right now. Illinois could concievably jump up there with Wiscy and possibly replace PSU in that second tier.
Click to expand...

I think we'll jump over PSU and Wiscy and lead the rebellion in pursuit of the Big 2. Here's why:

Combining Scout and Rivals' recruiting class rankings since Zook arrived on the scene, here's the average national ranking for each recruiting class listed in your second and third tier over the last three years:

Penn State: 23.2
Illinois: 23.3
Wisconsin: 36.8
Iowa: 40.3
MSU: 45.3
Purdue: 57.2

Penn State's number is inflated because of their top-notch 2006 class (Williams, King) that ranked #6 on both Rivals and Scout. In 2008, their recruiting class ranked 43rd and 41st, respectively. And Wisconsin, Iowa, and Purdue have all seen a recruiting dip in the second half of this decade. Which means that now is the perfect time to make our jump.

Yes, I understand that football is more than just recruit rankings. As we will see on the field next fall in Ann Arbor, top-10 classes sans skill position talent + overhauled schemes = disaster. RichRod will have them back at the top soon, but it opens a door for our nice little run the next 3-4 years.

Here's how I would project the next 10 years. These rankings reflect one thing: I really think Zook can and will out-recruit any coach in the conference not named JT or DickRod...

tOSU
Michigan

Illinois

PSU
Wisconsin
MSU
Minnesota

Iowa
Northwestern
Purdue

Indiana
 
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OrangeRoughy;1156799; said:
I think we'll jump over PSU and Wiscy and lead the rebellion in pursuit of the Big 2.
Click to expand...
Any window of opportunity Penn State has left the Illini to cement themselves as the perennial 3rd best team in the Big 10, would be slammed shut if Paterno's departure is followed by the hiring of a "name" coach like Greg Schiano.
 
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Oh8ch said:
I stand corrected - the Scout sort function wasn't working as I expected.

Per the Illini board the number of Illinois offers to Ohio kids is 17.

Five have committed to OSU. One to UM and one to MSU.

There are two still on the board with confirmed OSU offers (Hall and Hunter).

None of the 17 have committed to Illinois.

If you are hunting deer on the King's land is it poaching if you don't shoot anything?
Click to expand...
yes, if you shoot and miss....
 
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