In a rare moment of rational Illini thought, I'll give my honest prediction on this season. You will not get this much realism from me again -

09/04/10 vs. Missouri L 10-42
09/11/10 vs. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS W 27-10
09/18/10 vs. NORTHERN ILLINOIS W 21-17
10/02/10 vs. OHIO STATE L 3-31
10/09/10 at Penn State L 13-27
10/16/10 at Michigan State L 17-21
10/23/10 vs. INDIANA W 31-20
10/30/10 vs. PURDUE L 17-28
11/06/10 at Michigan W 28-24
11/13/10 vs. MINNESOTA W 23-17
11/20/10 vs. Northwestern L 21-31
12/03/10 at Fresno State W 30-17

6-6 (3-5)

No Iowa and No Wisconsin is a huge break. Michigan game could go the other way but, even in Illinois' worst years, they've been a thorn to Michigan.

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You know me like that.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Anybody gonna be in St. Louis for this one? I'll buy you a beer -but Illini fans only.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I was being nice.

W 31-0

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You know me like that.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

OK, my prediction of a 32 point loss aside, here's the way, the only way, Illinois wins tomorrow.

They get the ball before Missouri's offense and score on a trick play or possibly a long run or return. ILL 7 MIZZOU 0

Then, they get a turnover, maybe a good ball punch, or arm rake which leads to either a return TD or short offensive drive for a score. ILL 14 MIZZOU 0

At this point, Missouri takes over for about 2+ quarters. Defense holds them to 3 TDs or so while the Illinois O scrapes out 2 FGs. MIZZOU 24 ILL 20

Now we muddled around into the 4th quarter. Illinois needs only one defensive stop / turnover and one big play to Freshman tight-end Evan Wilson.

Illinois wins 27-24.

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You know me like that.

Dare to dream, Doc.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

9 carries for 100 yards and a tuddie in a win against Providence last night. Ferguson isn't very big (5'9" 180) but he is fast as hell and if the Zooker can get him in Bob Papa's open space he can be a dangerous weapon for the Illini.

I found that to be a very encouraging game. I've gone from feeling like this team could be another embarrassment to thinking they can legitimately compete against actual teams.

Their defensive line with Nurse and Liuget can make up for the problems of the secondary and, unlike Irish Boy, I was encouraged by the first half performance of the offensive line.

My fear is that now that there is tape on Scheelhaase (I always thought it was pronounced "Sheel-hoss") the glaring weakness of his lack of throwing ability will be exploited. But, thanks to those weird announcers, we've learned that even though Scheelhaase is still developing "he's a man below the waist. He's built like a quarter-horse".

I've always been a Leshoure guy but I would have thought they would have worked Ford in more to give Leshoure more of a rest. I thought the secondary performed pretty well and hope Hawthorne can get back quickly.

Martez Wilson is a waste of talent. He just stands there when he's shadowing the QB - it's like he has no football instincts at all.

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You know me like that.

Wrong twice. The O-line was bad in the first half too. Some of those running plays were in spite of the blocking. That scares the hell out of me. But Wilson played a good game today. Nothing was really happening over the middle--the attack all went through the edges. My fears are in the secondary, but not too many teams are going to spread out like that, and Hawthorne is coming back.

I worry about this teams ability to hold up against a team that will pound the ball, but we will see.

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Fire Phil Emery

Double wrong. There were openings in the line in the first half.

And watch that play where Nurse and Liuget combined to get the sack with Wilson coming in. He's just standing there as the QB is rolling left and it's only because he's super-fast that he even gets in that play.

Just because he played a "good" game doesn't mean he isn't wasting tremendous talent.

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You know me like that.

OK. If he's that kind of waste of talent and still plays an above average linebacker, I'll take it. Maybe that's not 5* production, but I can't be picky at this point. They stayed away from the middle today.

I don't buy Michigan yet. I was somewhat high on them, but I'm not buying the hype just yet for this game. UConn is playing badly independently of Michigan.

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Fire Phil Emery

Saying that they stayed away from the middle is being kind. They probably only went there 1/3 of the time.

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You know me like that.

How will you ever beat SIU with Michael Buchanan on the pine for his weekend DUI?

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

It took almost 12 hours but the Illini football team finally got their first bar/alcohol-related incident out of the way.

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You know me like that.

It is refreshing to watch the Illini look like a competent college football team. They are not the greatest, but they do not look like they are a high school freshmen team anymore. Kudos to the new coordinators.

Zook: you still suck.

So they are playing tonight?

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Yeah, right now on Big Ten Network.

Let's see what they look like when they get back to playing 1A teams.

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I didn't say they were great, I just said that compared to Zook's tenure (sans 2008) we look 4000% better. The days of giving up 700 yards of offense seem a thing of the past. That shit, no huddle offense is gone. Our players don't look lost. We may only win 6 games, but to believe that when they go out there they aren't the laughing stock of Div 1 football is a nice thought.

God its sad to be saying this about a team that may only make the Motor City Bowl, but that is what it has come to for Illini fans nowadays.

Illini favored by 7 1/2 at home over the mighty NIU Huskies.

Paging Dr. Ken.......

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I don't think a football team has ever been disrepected as much as the Illini have with this line in the history of all worlds.

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You know me like that.

Exactly. Who in their right mind expects them to win by 8 or more?

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Everyone. And Ron Zook.

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You know me like that.

Huskies cut it to two points with 6 minutes to go on the half-back option TD pass.

Time for Zook to kill the clock and kick another FG.

Time for Illinois to score another touchdown! BOOYAH!

Time for the Huskies to kick a meaningless FG! Big Fan's homer spread was 6 1/2 instead of the TD+ everyone else had.

Final margin: 6 points.

I wanted to go bump the NIU Football thread from last year to gloat but....it no longer exists.

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You know me like that.

NIU covered. I await the large amount of cash we wagered.



Watching Zook on the sidelines, his facial expressions and body language suggests that the language being spoken in his headset is not one he understands.

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Yes. Jerry Kill made sure of that.

No doubt he was "sick" this week. Probably the Italian Flu.

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You know me like that.