Non Conference Schedule
by lshaffer_69 on Aug 19, 2011 2:17 PM CDT
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PrintI think we need to man up on our non conference schedule. This junk of a schedule I Think hurts this team. We play these lousy teams and then we go into conference play without any real challenges. Arizona St is OK but crap this year they have a few injury's. If we want to compete for a Big Ten we will have to be challenged and none of these teams can do that. When we play our first Conference game, the other team is gonna look like an NFL team.
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Arizona State is a little better than "OK", even with the injuries.
They’re currently 26th in the Coaches’ Poll.
But you’re saying if we want to win the conference, we should have OOC schedules similar to those of the conference heavyweights. We already do. OSU plays Akron, Toledo, Colorado, and a soon to be crippled Miami. Nebraska plays Tennesse-Chattanooga, Fresno State, Washington, and Wyoming.
Starting off against a good team (Mizzou) didn’t work out so well the past four years. It’s about time we got out of our own way. If we string together a few bowl game seasons, we start becoming more relevant and picking up better recruits.
"Many people need desperately to receive this message: 'I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.'"
I agree with you
but Zook gets alot of good recruits so i don’t think that is the problem. We did play teams like Rice and Fresno state, those are the teams we do need to play. I dont care if we play bottom feeder teams but at least be major conference bottom feeders.
by lshaffer_69 on Aug 20, 2011 10:04 AM CDT up reply actions
A challenging non-conference schedule is only helpful
if the team is in the BCS mix at the end of the season. Most years, that’s not going to be an issue for Illinois.
In the Illini’s best two seasons in the Big Ten in the last 20 years (2001 and 2007), the best non-conference opponent they beat was an 11-2 Louisville team in 2001, back when Louisville was still in C-USA. I don’t think that win “prepared” them to go 7-1 in the Big Ten any more than beating an 11-3 NIU last year prepared them to go 4-4 in conference play.
For a team that badly needs momentum, a challenging non-conference schedule only serves to apply the brakes. Illinois needs winning seasons, and it needs a string of them to build on. A team that hasn’t had consecutive winning seasons since 1990 doesn’t need any more challenges.
by Broncanous Mendenhall on Sep 12, 2011 3:22 PM CDT reply actions
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