Illinois Fighting Illini (you'll see)

[Sportsbuck28]

Our old friend ThaKid with another gem on scout. I head over there once a day when I need a good laugh.

Who are these 8 players he's talking about? I can see Benn, Wilson and Vontae Davis as potential/likely 1st rounders. Who the hell else?

LMAO thats the same guy on here that said that Illinois was going to reach a Miami level of dominance.

I got an infraction for calling him "dumb as fuck". Actually quite thankful for it because it makes it easier to find that when I need a good laugh.

 

[BUCKYLE]

Our old friend ThaKid with another gem on scout. I head over there once a day when I need a good laugh.

Who are these 8 players he's talking about? I can see Benn, Wilson and Vontae Davis as potential/likely 1st rounders. Who the hell else?

I hope we beat them by forty. It will just destroy the fantasy they've constructed.

 

[OregonBuckeye]

Our old friend ThaKid with another gem on scout. I head over there once a day when I need a good laugh.

Who are these 8 players he's talking about? I can see Benn, Wilson and Vontae Davis as potential/likely 1st rounders. Who the hell else?

I'm guessing Jeff Cumberland, Josh Brent, and a bunch of the incoming freshmen(Poicic, Scott, Liuget, Nixon). I can't think of any other notable Illini off the top of my head unless he thinks Juice is going to improve drastically.

I hope we beat them by forty. It will just destroy the fantasy they've constructed.

A-freaking-men!

 

[TheIronColonel]

I have to say, some days I tire of Gentleman Jim Tressel putting in the backups once a game is out of hand. There are two things I want to see this year: beat Illinoisand whichever SEC team we get in a bowl game bad. I mean really bad. I want the UN to have to consider sanctioning the team for crimes against humanity after seeing what we do to those poor saps. I want to see 5 dozen on the scoreboard with the starters in throwing the ball downfield with :55 on the clock.

Yeah, I guess I'm a little bitter.

 

[Buckeye86]

I have to say, some days I tire of Gentleman Jim Tressel putting in the backups once a game is out of hand. There are two things I want to see this year: beat Illinoisand whichever SEC team we get in a bowl game bad. I mean really bad. I want the UN to have to consider sanctioning the team for crimes against humanity after seeing what we do to those poor saps. I want to see 5 dozen on the scoreboard with the starters in throwing the ball downfield with :55 on the clock.

Yeah, I guess I'm a little bitter.

Charlie "I don't play my backups so Brady Quinn can win a Heisman" Weis shows that mentality taken to the extreme and he payed for it in '07 with a completely inexperienced team because they never got playing time the year before.

I understand your frustration, and we all understand that Tressel is going to be Tressel no matter what, so I guess I was just saying that to point out what a dumb fuck and terrible coach Charlie Weis is.

More on topic:
Fuck Illinois, I hope we crush them, and based on Tressel's history with playing teams he's lost to the next year, I think there's a good chance we put up quite a few points on them.

Mili has posted all the games before, but Northwestern is a good example, after the debacle in '04 we've hung nearly 50 a game on them since, same with Iowa.

Embarrass Tressel and he will let the starters play a little longer then they would otherwise the next year it seems.

 

[eobuck]

Rivals $

7/1

Jeff's most recent fearless predictions for the 2009 Illini recruiting haul.

No Boyd...no Watt...yet Hall remains...

lol....Replogle is on there and commits to Indiana about 12 hours after this is posted.

 

[TheIronColonel]

Charlie "I don't play my backups so Brady Quinn can win a Heisman" Weis shows that mentality taken to the extreme and he payed for it in '07 with a completely inexperienced team because they never got playing time the year before.

I understand your frustration, and we all understand that Tressel is going to be Tressel no matter what, so I guess I was just saying that to point out what a dumb fuck and terrible coach Charlie Weis is.

More on topic:
Fuck Illinois, I hope we crush them, and based on Tressel's history with playing teams he's lost to the next year, I think there's a good chance we put up quite a few points on them.

Mili has posted all the games before, but Northwestern is a good example, after the debacle in '04 we've hung nearly 50 a game on them since, same with Iowa.

Embarrass Tressel and he will let the starters play a little longer then they would otherwise the next year it seems.

Oh I totally agree. Most of the time I'm really glad that Tressel gives reps to the second and third string - it's a big part of why the team has been so strong under his tenure. I'm just saying that there are times when I want to see a little blood, that's all. Illinois happens to be an uppity team that, in my eyes, needs to be on the receiving end of (another) solid beatdown.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I've seen the Zooker work his magic down here.

Illini fans are in for a roller coaster ride that will leave a large number of them more pissed off, frustrated, broken hearted and wondering "what if ?" than anything OSU can ever do to them.

They will come to expect the peaks (beating OSU) so the valleys (losing 10-7 to Iowa) will hurt even worse. It will never go away, his teams will always do that kind of shit. Always.

Pity Illini fans even as annoying as they are getting.

 

[Gatorubet]

I've seen the Zooker work his magic down here.

Illini fans are in for a roller coaster ride that will leave a large number of them more pissed off, frustrated, broken hearted and wondering "what if ?" than anything OSU can ever do to them.

They will come to expect the peaks (beating OSU) so the valleys (losing 10-7 to Iowa) will hurt even worse. It will never go away, his teams will always do that kind of shit. Always.

Pity Illini fans even as annoying as they are getting.

100% correct Jax. Thing is, what will get you canned at UF will make for a long tenured stay at Illinois. That Rose Bowl appearance and win over y'all is good for five more years at least.

 

[OrangeRoughy]

I've seen the Zooker work his magic down here.

Illini fans are in for a roller coaster ride that will leave a large number of them more pissed off, frustrated, broken hearted and wondering "what if ?" than anything OSU can ever do to them.

They will come to expect the peaks (beating OSU) so the valleys (losing 10-7 to Iowa) will hurt even worse. It will never go away, his teams will always do that kind of shit. Always.

Pity Illini fans even as annoying as they are getting.

Absolutes are fun. I guess, using that logic, Bill Belichick shouldn't be successful in New England after his debacle at Cleveland, Gary Moeller shouldn't have won 3 consecutive Big Ten titles at Michigan after his shitshow at Illinois, and Doc Rivers had no business winning an NBA title after ruining the Magic and running the Celtics further into the ground.

It's funny what, you know, talented players can do for a coach's reputation. Just like I don't buy into the "Tressel can't get his team ready for the Big Game" crap, I don't buy the "Zook can't get his team ready to win consistently on the road" schtick. You guys ran into two hot-at-the-right-time SEC teams that were finally healthy. We followed up two emotional home wins over #21 and #5 by laying an egg at Iowa. Most rational Illinois fans were OK with that, not swirled into an angry mob marching on Jeremy Foley's house.

Again, I feel like you guys are viewing our orange and blue world through your scarlet glasses. We're overjoyed at 4-loss seasons. You would be distraught. We're giddy at the prospect of the Outback Bowl and would send 20,000 strong. Your seasons are disappointments if you don't make a BCS bowl. Whereas the Zook losses in the State of Mississippi were meltdown inducing in Gator-land, our loss at Iowa was more of a "well, that was bound to happen after getting ranked for the first time since 2001."

Is Zook a perfect coach? No. But then again, you never sat through seasons with Ron Turner and Lou Tepper. 15 years of 62-96 football (2.4 Big Ten wins per season and 3 bowls) will tend to change a man's perspective. And even though we got destroyed, my view from the end zone of the Rose Bowl was downright gorgeous.

 

[matcar]

Absolutes are fun. I guess, using that logic, Bill Belichick shouldn't be successful in New England after his debacle at Cleveland, Gary Moeller shouldn't have won 3 consecutive Big Ten titles at Michigan after his shitshow at Illinois, and Doc Rivers had no business winning an NBA title after ruining the Magic and running the Celtics further into the ground.

It's funny what, you know, talented players can do for a coach's reputation. Just like I don't buy into the "Tressel can't get his team ready for the Big Game" crap, I don't buy the "Zook can't get his team ready to win consistently on the road" schtick. You guys ran into two hot-at-the-right-time SEC teams that were finally healthy. We followed up two emotional home wins over #21 and #5 by laying an egg at Iowa. Most rational Illinois fans were OK with that, not swirled into an angry mob marching on Jeremy Foley's house.

Again, I feel like you guys are viewing our orange and blue world through your scarlet glasses. We're overjoyed at 4-loss seasons. You would be distraught. We're giddy at the prospect of the Outback Bowl and would send 20,000 strong. Your seasons are disappointments if you don't make a BCS bowl. Whereas the Zook losses in the State of Mississippi were meltdown inducing in Gator-land, our loss at Iowa was more of a "well, that was bound to happen after getting ranked for the first time since 2001."

Is Zook a perfect coach? No. But then again, you never sat through seasons with Ron Turner and Lou Tepper. 15 years of 62-96 football (2.4 Big Ten wins per season and 3 bowls) will tend to change a man's perspective. And even though we got destroyed, my view from the end zone of the Rose Bowl was downright gorgeous.

I like this post. It IS funny to look back at all the successful coaches who "failed" at earlier jobs. I have no idea what Zook will bring to Illi in the coming years, but it's awfully easy from the high perch of a Buckeye fan to mock Illi now much as we mocked Wiscy for 30 years. Perhaps Zook will baffle Illi fans with periods of success and failure or perhaps he'll do better. It's certainly possible that he grows and learns just as the rest of us do over our lives.

 

[DaddyBigBucks]

Absolutes are fun. I guess, using that logic, Bill Belichick shouldn't be successful in New England after his debacle at Cleveland, Gary Moeller shouldn't have won 3 consecutive Big Ten titles at Michigan after his shitshow at Illinois, and Doc Rivers had no business winning an NBA title after ruining the Magic and running the Celtics further into the ground.

It's funny what, you know, talented players can do for a coach's reputation. Just like I don't buy into the "Tressel can't get his team ready for the Big Game" crap, I don't buy the "Zook can't get his team ready to win consistently on the road" schtick. You guys ran into two hot-at-the-right-time SEC teams that were finally healthy. We followed up two emotional home wins over #21 and #5 by laying an egg at Iowa. Most rational Illinois fans were OK with that, not swirled into an angry mob marching on Jeremy Foley's house.

Again, I feel like you guys are viewing our orange and blue world through your scarlet glasses. We're overjoyed at 4-loss seasons. You would be distraught. We're giddy at the prospect of the Outback Bowl and would send 20,000 strong. Your seasons are disappointments if you don't make a BCS bowl. Whereas the Zook losses in the State of Mississippi were meltdown inducing in Gator-land, our loss at Iowa was more of a "well, that was bound to happen after getting ranked for the first time since 2001."

Is Zook a perfect coach? No. But then again, you never sat through seasons with Ron Turner and Lou Tepper. 15 years of 62-96 football (2.4 Big Ten wins per season and 3 bowls) will tend to change a man's perspective. And even though we got destroyed, my view from the end zone of the Rose Bowl was downright gorgeous.

Nice perspective there, OR. One of the best parts of BP is getting the perspective of some of the most level-headed fans of other schools.

But I really don't think it's you that Jax was referring to. While he spoke in generalities, he does that to save time, just like the rest of us. Some of his broadest generalizations are about SEC fans, but he also talks about golfing with SEC fans and joking about Notre Dame.

The point is, while you provide a good counter-example to what Jax was talking about, fan-wise; the people he's talking about have been here in droves. We've just banned most of them.

The people he's talking about did not have a "gorgeous" view of the Rose Bowl, because they were too busy throwing things around their parents' basement in frustration. They were expecting to beat the Trojans down.

And let me be the first to say that OSU has fans like that too. Everyone does. But those kinds of fans who wear Orange and Blue are going to experience precisely the roller-coaster that Jax described. Not because that's who Zook was at that other Orange and Blue school; but because that's who he's already shown that he still is.

Will he, and Illinois, change? It doesn't seem likely. Last year was the first year that he showed that he'll be as good at Illinois as he was at Florida. But what reason is there to believe that he'll do any better, apart from Illini wishful thinking? Recruiting? He left a full cupboard for Urban Meyer, but he still got fired. What else? A win against a big name opponent on the road? He did that at Florida and still lost his job. Sorry, we just don't see it.

I like this post. It IS funny to look back at all the successful coaches who "failed" at earlier jobs. I have no idea what Zook will bring to Illi in the coming years, but it's awfully easy from the high perch of a Buckeye fan to mock Illi now much as we mocked Wiscy for 30 years. Perhaps Zook will baffle Illi fans with periods of success and failure or perhaps he'll do better. It's certainly possible that he grows and learns just as the rest of us do over our lives.

Some people grow and learn. It is a fact of life that most people don't. When it comes to Ron Zook, or any other coach for that matter; I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Steve19]

We're overjoyed at 4-loss seasons. You would be distraught. We're giddy at the prospect of the Outback Bowl and would send 20,000 strong. Your seasons are disappointments if you don't make a BCS bowl. Whereas the Zook losses in the State of Mississippi were meltdown inducing in Gator-land, our loss at Iowa was more of a "well, that was bound to happen after getting ranked for the first time since 2001."

And someone with an attitude like yours is the kind of football fan we want around here. Nicely said, greenies to you.

 

[OrangeRoughy]

And let me be the first to say that OSU has fans like that too. Everyone does. But those kinds of fans who wear Orange and Blue are going to experience precisely the roller-coaster that Jax described. Not because that's who Zook was at that other Orange and Blue school; but because that's who he's already shown that he still is.

Will he, and Illinois, change? It doesn't seem likely. Last year was the first year that he showed that he'll be as good at Illinois as he was at Florida. But what reason is there to believe that he'll do any better, apart from Illini wishful thinking? Recruiting? He left a full cupboard for Urban Meyer, but he still got fired. What else? A win against a big name opponent on the road? He did that at Florida and still lost his job. Sorry, we just don't see it.

When a new coach takes over any program, I give them 5 years. 5 years to develop their system, recruit to their system, and purge the roster of any recruits left over from the old regime. I see the Willingham/ND, Orgeron/Ole Miss, and Zook/Florida firings as silly. Why was Charlie Weis successful in his first two years at Notre Dame? Because Willingham had recruited pretty well, and left him with a large stable of upperclassmen talent. Why was Meyer so successful in his first two years at Florida? Because Zook had recruited pretty well, and left him with a large stable of upperclassmen talent. Why will Houston Nutt be so successful in his first two years at Mississippi? You get the picture.

I don't hold a single thing about our 2005 and 2006 seasons against Ron Zook. He gets a 100% free pass from me. You say that last year was "the first year he showed he'll be good" - I say he had zero chance to be good his first two seasons. He took Turner's pro-set recruits and tried to build a spread option. He took Turner's beefy D and tried to build one based on speed. Hell, all he had at QB was the slow, plodding Tim Brasic with which to run his spread option. Should he have run a pro-set until the recruits arrived? No way. While Brasic was trying to figure out how to pull the ball from the RB's stomach and turn upfield, Martin O'Donnell was learning the new blocking schemes for the guards and realizing that he needed to work on his footspeed if he was going to get out in space like that. While switching over the D and allowing 56 first half points to Penn State, Will Davis and David Lindquist were learning the new pass rushing schemes.

It's why Michigan will be so awful next year. It's why Ferentz had such horrible teams his first few years at Iowa. It takes time to build a program, especially when the former coach left you pretty thin in the talent department.

Next year will be a slight step back for us (I see 7-5 unless these defensive recruits prove to be fantastic). And then, in year 5, I think you'll see the deepest run of any Illinois team in 25 years. Coincidentally, it will be the first time Ron Zook has had a team full of his own recruits.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

5 years? Notre Dame laughs in your general direction.