University of Illinois Football

[Flowers4Heisman]

No update on suspended players Mon, 09/03/2018 - 3:13pm | Scott Richey

CHAMPAIGN — Illinois played Saturday’s season opener against Kent State with several key missing pieces. Part of a group of five players suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules was one of Illinois’ most disruptive defensive players in 2017, a shutdown corner and a top target in the passing game.

http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/illini-sports/football/2018-09-03/no-update-suspended-players.html

[El_Toro_86]

Figure I’d start a thread with some Illini discussion.  Looks like their starting QB got injured last week and the freshman came in and moved the ball some.

https://fightingillini.com/news/2018/9/9/football-illini-freshmen-help-spark-scoring-and-win-over-western-illinois.aspx

 

Mods:  just saw USF@Illinois thread please feel free to merge

Edited September 10, 2018 by El_Toro_86

[El_Toro_86]

Illini banter on the game if interested

https://www.illinoisloyalty.com/Forum/threads/illinois-vs-usf-saturday-september-15th-2-30pm-ct-btn.24574/

[BullFan98]

They are very negative about their chances against us. Apparently they have a bunch of key players out on suspension for team rule violations. I didn’t read through all of the self loathing, but it didn’t seem like they know when these suspended players will return (seemed like they will miss our game). 

Has anyone watched either of their two games and have a gauge on this team?  My guess is that we have the speed and they should have the size on both sides of the ball. 

[NewEnglandBull]

24 minutes ago, BullFan98 said:

They are very negative about their chances against us. Apparently they have a bunch of key players out on suspension for team rule violations. I didn’t read through all of the self loathing, but it didn’t seem like they know when these suspended players will return (seemed like they will miss our game). 

Has anyone watched either of their two games and have a gauge on this team?  My guess is that we have the speed and they should have the size on both sides of the ball. 

They are wondering if those guys come back this week. Apparently those players are very good. I watched both of their games. They always start slow in defense so it would be nice to jump out early. The other thing is that they are slow on both sides of the ball. They play freshman QB who looked good in the second half last week. We have better athletes but they do have some big boys. 

[Bulls On Parade]

The fcs team they played seemed to get long plays in air vs them so we should exploit that.

Will have to beat them with speed not strength.

[NewEnglandBull]

3 minutes ago, Bulls On Parade said:

The fcs team they played seemed to get long plays in air vs them so we should exploit that.

Will have to beat them with speed not strength.

Their secondary is easily their biggest defect 

[Bullrush33]

Starting QB bush got hurt last game but if healthy is a dual threat

 

[NewEnglandBull]

40 minutes ago, Bullrush33 said:

Starting QB bush got hurt last game but if healthy is a dual threat

 

Their back up looked better than the starter but he is freshman 

[Blackice12]

Through the first two games, USF has faced a massive amount of rushing plays compared to passing to the likes of 106 to 30 respectively.  Therefore I feel comfortable in saying there is a healthy bit of experience playing the run, I won't go as far as to say we are good at stopping the run.   So the question will be how well will USF's defense play against the pass.

 

USF totaled 7 punts through the first 2 games.   Against Western Illinois, Illinois punted 8 times and 5 times against Kent State.  Although the game against Ga Tech was up and down. I suspect that USF's offense is somewhat with further analysis I would attempt to calculate the number of scoring drives relative to offensive possessions.  

With that said, I think USF's offense may open up a bit this weekend especially the pass. Kent State threw for 270 and WIU threw for 295.  IMO USF has better receivers than Kent and WIU.  I thinking this game may be WR showcase if Illinois sells out to stop the run.