Illini - Mizzou post mortem, a sign of good or bad things to come?
by Joe Kutsunis on Sep 6, 2010 11:59 AM CDT
2 comments
There plenty of different ways we can interpret the Illini's loss to Missouri in Saturday. On the one hand we could say that the Illini, at least for one half, looked poised and took Mizzou off guard with a remarkably balanced offensive and defensive effort. On the other hand, it could simply be an entirely new way for the Illini to lose to their supposed "Arch Rivals."
Dwell on what good you can, I suppose. Despite his three interceptions, Scheelhaase looked like he has a real future in college football. He only passed for 81 yards, but he ended up running for 76, and considering he had never seen real live college football action before, I will take that as a net positive. In the first half, the "good half" for the Illini racked up about 200 yards of total offense something that we can at least look to later as proof that the offense has the ability to be successful.
Mikel LeShoure went over a hundred yards, which allows me to still be hopeful that this could be his break out year much like Mendenhall in 2007. He found creases and holes and looked to be running with as much confidence as ever. Important to note now though his how the carries broke down for the running backs; twenty for LeShoure, four for Ford and one for Pollard. "Feed the studs" sounds a bit hokey, but I would very much like to see this trend continued, too many times under Schultz last year did we spread carries out unnecessarily, from about midway through last year on, it was clear who the best back was, and the carries should reflect that.
Hopes Deleted: Illini fall to Mizzou, post your frustrations here.
by Joe Kutsunis on Sep 4, 2010 3:01 PM CDT
2 comments
No post game til tomorrow for me, it is my birthday after all. Happy Birthday to me.
After a tantalizing first half, the second half was just so Arch Rivalry. Lots of INTs and the offensive line that sent Scheelhaase running around for his life in the backfield. I'm sure I'll have something to say about this tomorrow.
Everybody's talking 'bout Divisions
by Joe Kutsunis on Sep 1, 2010 4:01 PM CDT
4 comments
Since tonight is the night we learn once and for all what the future holds for the Illini and Big Ten Divisions, I figured it would be a good opportunity to feature what some of the more respected figures of Big Ten blogging have said about dividing up the Old Lady.
Frank the Tank, long the source of paranoid/accurate/conspiratorial/incredibly-awesome expansion talk has some issue with how the divisions might shake up.
Alas, the very smart people at the Big Ten conference offices are completely outsmarting themselves here. For whatever reason, the KISS formula of a logical East/West division split simply won’t do. I can somewhat understand the desire to split the 4 "marquee brands" of Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Nebraska evenly amongst the divisions. However, the thought of (1) sending Michigan and Ohio State to opposite divisions and (2) moving their rivalry game from the end of the season to the midseason is even worse than the idea of New Coke.
Our most fearless leader in blogging, OrsonSpencer SwindleHall is waiting for Big Ten divisional play with open arms and a brotherly slap on the back, as the Big Ten seems to shed its exceptionalism and join the rest of the country in the dirty business of big time cash football. He also warns against using tradition as a crutch of an argument against something that makes so much sense.
Beware anyone who defends things out of tradition, since tradition all by its lonesome makes as much sense as changing things for change's sake, i.e. none. Thus we arrive at the Big Ten's door, or more specifically its fans, who lag behind the rather forward-thinking conference by insisting that Ohio State and Michigan should not play more than once a year, that moving them into separate divisions would be a travesty, and that men should take their hats off inside and most especially in the presence of a lady.* ...
If the rivalry game is all that matters to you, the concept of greater glory means nothing, but for the Big Ten that greater glory and the ad revenues for the conference are very, very important indeed. In this instance Jim Delany is more than happy to jettison tradition for innovation, something the Big Ten has done more often than one might think in the past.
BUNK! Says Michigan bloggerand father of sports metrics that I cannot/do not care to understand Brian Cook (also the name thief of one of my favorite Illini players ever) There is much more than money and conference championships at stake in the UM OSU rivalry! Much that must be preserved! For without Michigan and OSU playing one another during the day on Thanksgiving, how can any of us truly rely on anything?
It so happens that a lot of the time OSU and Michigan do decide the Big Ten, but did anyone want to beat OSU less in the mid-90s when Michigan limped into the game with 3 or 4 losses every year? Or last year? No. Would it matter less as an October game to be followed by three or four more? Necessarily yes. Is that the worst thing in the world? Yes.
I have no tolerance for anyone too dense to grasp this, much less see it as a potentially good thing, as Dave at Maize N Brew does. I said his post on the matter was the stupidest thing I'd ever seen a Michigan fan write and it remains so. Orson's post on the matter is also the dumbest thing I've ever seen him write. The reason college football matters in a way the NFL does not is the idea it has that some things are not worth selling. Once the date of the Michigan-Ohio State game goes the only thing left is the labor of the players.
Illini Mizzou preview: Can we please end this rivalry now?
by Joe Kutsunis on Aug 31, 2010 2:47 PM CDT
7 comments
I love football, football season, the band, the three in one, the tail gating, the grilled foods and games of bags in the parking lot. College football is the greatest season known to sports, and it is for that reason I cannot wait to have this rivalry with Missouri out out to pasture like a lame horse. In past seasons, like say, the last three, Missouri offered an early test to what many thought could be a decent to good Illini teams. In every case it ended in a loss, in all but one case it led to the Illini not making a bowl. It has been a bad match up for this program, and hasn't served to benefit the Illini in any discernible way (which do you think was the bigger reason the Illini got Hawthorne and Scheelhaase, the Arch Rivalry losses or the Rose Bowl appearance?)
Three years ago the game featured an injury to our quarterback in the first quarter, last year our star wideout was injured in the first series! I am all for playing good competition out of conference, but why should Illinois schedule make its road to a bowl that much harder by playing a team that has gone to a bowl five straight seasons as its opener every year?
Starting the year off with Missouri, especially on a year where we are trying to rebuild, learn a new offense, break in a new quarterback, and replace two important offensive linemen, makes this opening weekend one of mixed emotions. I would rather we wait til the opening three weeks of the Big Ten season to give this offense a baptism by fire. Sadly that is not the case, and the Illini will certainly have their work cut out for them this weekend.
Podcast #19 Still working out the kinks from the long summer off.
by Joe Kutsunis on Aug 27, 2010 12:50 AM CDT
1 comment
BlogPoll Preseason Ballot, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Alabama
by Joe Kutsunis on Aug 18, 2010 12:30 PM CDT
3 comments
Hail to the Orange Ballot - Week 1
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 2 | Oklahoma Sooners | -- |
| 3 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 4 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 5 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 6 | Miami Hurricanes | -- |
| 7 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 8 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 9 | Florida Gators | -- |
| 10 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 11 | Texas Longhorns | -- |
| 12 | North Carolina Tar Heels | -- |
| 13 | Virginia Tech Hokies | -- |
| 14 | Iowa Hawkeyes | -- |
| 15 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
| 16 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | -- |
| 17 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 18 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 19 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 20 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 21 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 22 | Pittsburgh Panthers | -- |
| 23 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 24 | Georgia Bulldogs | -- |
| 25 | Utah Utes | -- |
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
Going out on a limb: predictions for the coming Illini football season
by Joe Kutsunis on Aug 17, 2010 1:13 PM CDT
6 comments
Considering that I believed last year that the Illini would be at minimum 7-5, I doubt anyone is really clamoring to see just was brilliant football mind predicts for this season, and honestly, neither am I. As wrong as I was last year, I knew an awful lot about what I was supposed to expect from each unit, and could tell from game one who wasn't living up to their end of the bargain. This year, there is so much new, so much unknown that I am having a really tough time setting a good barometer for success. When the Illini were running the spread option, I was confident in knowing (more or less) who screwed up if the play went bad, and who was playing especially well. I have not seen the receivers play in the Petrino offense before. I haven't seen this offensive line do this sort of pass blocking. I haven't seen this new quarterback, period.
If Scheelhaase gets sacked on a five step drop, I can't guarantee I'll know for sure if it is due to the offensive line breaking down, the running back not picking up the block, the receivers being late on their routes, or Scheelhaase himself hesitating. It is a lot not to know. That said, I honestly think this team will be better than last year.
Big Ten Media Days: Day 2, Audio from Ron Zook, Clay Nurse, and Eddie McGee
by Joe Kutsunis on Aug 3, 2010 11:44 AM CDT
4 comments
The second day of the media cavalcade has arrived, and with it comes the "1 on 1" interviews for the print and radio people, or in this case internet bloggers who have too much time on their hands. I hopefully got some good audio for all of you today, and rather than summarize I figured I would just put it out there for you, unfiltered. (Well except for some of the loud annoying loud speaker announcements.)
We have brief sit down interviews with Clay Nurse and Eddie McGee, as well as a nice long two part Zook audio chunk that covers everything from last night's seventh inning stretch performance, to the abilities and strengths of the young Nathan Scheelhaase. I hope you enjoy
The transcript of the Ron Zook press conference, every last word.
by Joe Kutsunis on Aug 2, 2010 3:03 PM CDT
3 comments
Because I believe there is no such thing as too much information being made available, I hereby present to you, good citizens, all four pages worth of transcribed Zook material. Pour over it as you will, because there is no way anyone can keep up with him when he gets to talking at full speed like he was today.
THE MODERATOR: Next up is Ron Zook. COACH ZOOK: Sorry if my voice is a little raspy, took in a little too much water yesterday. But yesterday was the end; and I, like everyone else, is excited to be here. Obviously at the University of Illinois we have a lot of new things going on and excitement. Got a new quarterback that I think everyone will enjoy watching. And we all want to see the progress that he's going to make and obviously new coaches. So we're excited to get going, looking forward to it. The attitude has been great. The transition was probably as smooth as it possibly could have ever been with the coaching changes. And I just, like everyone else, I'm looking forward to getting going. We start come in Wednesday night and Thursday is our first practice. So with that THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Big Ten Media Days: Day 1 part 3
by Joe Kutsunis on Aug 2, 2010 12:10 PM CDT
3 comments
If only I could remember who was up next...
More updates soon
Everyone STFU...he speaks. But no opening statement.
The USA Today wants to know if like a pope, no one will replace Joe Pa until the day he dies, his handlers prying his headphones from his vice like grip. Joe Pa says eh. Then poop jokes. I am not kidding.
We now move on to real questions, this is a good thing. Joe Paterno is a big fan of bringing Nebraska into the Big Ten, and it turns out before he was coach at Penn State, JoePa was an assistant at Nebraska. Presumably prior to the invention of the internal combustion engine.
I'll be completely honest, the day that this man stops coaching, is the day college football will jump completely into modern boredom. This guy schedules a home and home with Bama, deftly jokes about his own mortality, makes a poop joke, and STILL TAKES HIS TEAM TO A MAJOR BOWL EVERY YEAR. The man is a joy.
I want to point something out, Joe Paterno is 80 some years old, and still has salt and pepper hair, and I don't think he dies it.
Joe Paterno will have 400 wins by the end of this year, probably 405. 45 seasons, 405 wins. That is an average. AVERAGE of 9 wins per year, the majority of which had only 10 games per year.
and with that, the visage of Tim Brewster appears....
Great summer recruiting....positive. Thanking Larry Fitzgerald for having a camp on University of Minnesota campus. Thus far, this is kind of a depressing opening statement, he also thanked James Laurenitis for being from the area, I guess. Indeed both of these hometown heroes showed the kids in Minneapolis how to be a success, go to schools other than Minnesota.
With Brewster at the mic, the feeling of the room has moved from one of joy and laughter under JoePa to one of depression and malice. Seriously this guy kind of scares me.
Now back to the fireworks with ...Kirk Ferentz? groan.
Although perhaps with his hip, fancy young person's belt that he purchased from the hotel gift shop, he can talk about something exciting. Then again, perhaps not.
Kirk Ferentz is a Luddite in the tradition of my father "I can read texts, I just can't send them yet." We would not want to get too flashy here.
I honestly don't know how Ferentz inspires his players to win like he does, for me, listening to Ferentz is like sitting through a high school chemistry class. I barely feel motivated to write anything about this Q & A let alone let a huge man tackle me.
"I am not wild about west coast road trips in the middle of the season." IF THIS MAN IS WILD ABOUT ANYTHING, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IT.
Jim Tressel has arrived at the mic......despair.
...seniors.....maturity....leadership...freshmen seem good.
He did just say, "I don't want to bore the people with that story." IT HAS BECOME SELF AWARE.
Oh boy, an expansion question..."will anything be taken away from the rivalry if you guys don't play on the last day of the season where everyone has to bow down and kiss the ring of both of your programs?" (I am paraphrasing here.)
People asking Tressel a lot of, "how good is the Big Ten now?" questions. The reality is, we won our BCS games this year, after not winning one since like 03. If we had won some of those games during that seven year span, (Illinois included) the judgments would have been different, but I think it is short sighted to base things purely on BCS games.
Wait! Seriously? Is his time up already? Did his voice send me into a coma or something?
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