Illinois Might Be Kryptonite

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Gophergrandpa

Gophergrandpa

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I have been so caught up in schadenfreude of seeing Nebraska, Wisconsin and Iowa all snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yesterday that I only recently checked in on Illinois. The Illini yesterday had a nice, workman-like 24-3 victory over Virginia and their once-Gopher QB commit Brennan. The Illini defense was suffocating and its run game with Chase Brown was very good. Passing game OK, too. I know that Wisconsin and Iowa are the "targets" for a successful Gopher season, but this year Purdue and Illinois look to be formidable in their own ways, too. It's going to be a very fun B1G season for the Gophers IF we can play consistently up to our potential.
 

Burt has them in right direction. I don't their depth is as good as ours or their lines.

Minnesota will need to bring it each week, I don't think any of our b1g opponents are cakewalks

Home vs Rutgers is probably closest
 

I think, unfortunately for everyone else in the West, that Bert was a home run hire.

He has the capability to do exactly in Champaign what he did in Madison. Lot of big, corn fed linemen in the state. Big population in Chicago area.


Year 2 might be too early yet, but I think he can get it done there. Hope I'm wrong.
 

Also wonder about NW this year.

Hull (from Maple Grove) fumbled going into the end zone for what could have been the game-tying TD (they would've need a 2pt after). Freak accident
 

Gophergrandpa said:
I have been so caught up in schadenfreude of seeing Nebraska, Wisconsin and Iowa all snatch defeat from the jaws of victory yesterday that I only recently checked in on Illinois. The Illini yesterday had a nice, workman-like 24-3 victory over Virginia and their once-Gopher QB commit Brennan. The Illini defense was suffocating and its run game with Chase Brown was very good. Passing game OK, too. I know that Wisconsin and Iowa are the "targets" for a successful Gopher season, but this year Purdue and Illinois look to be formidable in their own ways, too. It's going to be a very fun B1G season for the Gophers IF we can play consistently up to our potential.
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Illinois lost to Indiana 8 days ago
 


Gophers_4life said:
I think, unfortunately for everyone else in the West, that Bert was a home run hire.

He has the capability to do exactly in Champaign what he did in Madison. Lot of big, corn fed linemen in the state. Big population in Chicago area.


Year 2 might be too early yet, but I think he can get it done there. Hope I'm wrong.
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I don't think he'll match his Wisconsin record, but Illinois should be solid.

He did fail miserably at Arkansas, but he also employed robb smith, so
 



fmlizard said:
ESPN FPI thinks the Illinois game (and Purdue game) will be tougher for Minnesota than Iowa.
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That's probably based on how lousy Ferentz Junior's Offense has been rather than anything else.

Though gotta wonder how many times that FPI will change over the next few weeks anyway.
 





It is actually pretty frustrating to recall the recent twisted trail of frustrating losses to inferior Illinois teams (and this weird history spans more than one coach on each side). Due to that, I will never take Illinois for granted.

It has been wildly inconsistent. Some of our easiest B1G wins, and some of our most frustrating B1G losses… all involving the same opponent.
 

Gophers_4life said:
I think, unfortunately for everyone else in the West, that Bert was a home run hire.

He has the capability to do exactly in Champaign what he did in Madison. Lot of big, corn fed linemen in the state. Big population in Chicago area.


Year 2 might be too early yet, but I think he can get it done there. Hope I'm wrong.
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Pretty sure he will physically explode before then. Man the dude is growing like a champion pumpkin only days from the State Fair. They're going to need a fork lift to move him if he gets much bigger.
 



Schnauzer said:
It is actually pretty frustrating to recall the recent twisted trail of frustrating losses to inferior Illinois teams (and this weird history spans more than one coach on each side). Due to that, I will never take Illinois for granted.

It has been wildly inconsistent. Some of our easiest B1G wins, and some of our most frustrating B1G losses… all involving the same opponent.
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Since Mason the gophers are 15-6 vs Illinois

2021 clearly a blown game by gophers
2018 got Robb smith fired
2014 Illinois was a bowl team
2009 the gophers were 6-6 under Brewster, Illinois won 4 games
2007 Illinois was rose bowl and gophers were 1-11
2001 Illinois big ten champs outright, gophers 4-7

So I get what you’re saying but I wouldn’t call it a twisted trail of frustrating losses. I would say 2014 the gophers lost to a mediocre Illinois team but were only 2 games up on them in the standings at the end and 2021 the gophers lost a really unexpected game.

Except for those two, the rest were even predictable losses and not shocking at all.
And Illinois has beaten the gophers just 6 times since 1996
 

2014 was also a surprise. It was Kill’s best team and it ended up costing the Gophers to lose that game at Illinois. Finishing up 2 games over a team in what was then an 8 game Conf schedule was extremely disappointing. Expected to win 2009 at home too. Of the six listed losses, expectations for me was to win the most recent 4 of those.

And that is part of why I call it a twisted trail because that was what it was for me.

By comparison, the Gophers have mostly beaten Purdue when it was the expected outcome, and even some times when it wasn’t expected. That is a straight trail of success to me.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Gophers are a LONG way away from being good enough to overlook ANY B1G team… ever.
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Who has said anything different?
Ohio state isn’t good enough to overlook teams (see Purdue game in 2018 that cost them the playoffs)
 

Some guy said:
Since Mason the gophers are 15-6 vs Illinois

2021 clearly a blown game by gophers
2018 got Robb smith fired
2014 Illinois was a bowl team
2009 the gophers were 6-6 under Brewster, Illinois won 4 games
2007 Illinois was rose bowl and gophers were 1-11
2001 Illinois big ten champs outright, gophers 4-7

So I get what you’re saying but I wouldn’t call it a twisted trail of frustrating losses. I would say 2014 the gophers lost to a mediocre Illinois team but were only 2 games up on them in the standings at the end and 2021 the gophers lost a really unexpected game.

Except for those two, the rest were even predictable losses and not shocking at all.
And Illinois has beaten the gophers just 6 times since 1996
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They were a bowl team because, in part, Cobb fumbles at the goal line for the game winning score
 

Schnauzer said:
2014 was also a surprise. It was Kill’s best team and it ended up costing the Gophers to lose that game at Illinois. Finishing up 2 games over a team in what was then an 8 game Conf schedule was extremely disappointing. Expected to win 2009 at home too. Of the six listed losses, expectations for me was to win the most recent 4 of those.

And that is part of why I call it a twisted trail because that was what it was for me.

By comparison, the Gophers have mostly beaten Purdue when it was the expected outcome, and even some times when it wasn’t expected. That is a straight trail of success to me.
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Since glen Mason the gophers are 11-12 vs Purdue
Since glen Mason the gophers are 15-6 vs illinois

Forgive me for feeling more positive about our Illinois results


The gophers have 4 losses vs Illinois in years where Illinois doesn’t finished ranked in 26 years.
 

noamfromm said:
They were a bowl team because, in part, Cobb fumbles at the goal line for the game winning score
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Yup. So they beat us one of their 6 times in the lives of 26 year olds that year
 

For context
Iowa 16-3 since 1996 vs Illinois (84%)
Wisconsin 18-4 since 1996 (82%)
Michigan state 11-3 (78)
Minnesota 15-6 (71%)
Purdue 15-6 (71%)
Nebraska 6-3 (66%)
Northwestern 17-9 (65%)


I wouldn’t consider our Illinois series a long series of unfortunate events. Seems pretty normal based on the level of the programs. It’s hard to beat a team 5 years in a row. Any team.
 

They have some nice rbs and some athletes on D and at WR, but they aren’t exactly a well oiled machine as shown in the ugly loss to Indiana. BB has never built a program, so we’ll see if he can do that at Illinois. Too early to call it a home run hire.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Gophers are a LONG way away from being good enough to overlook ANY B1G team… ever.
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Kind of goes without saying, I mean there are no easy games in the Big Ten. But while the Gophers aren't in a position to overlook anyone in the conference they are also getting to the point where they shouldn't feel overmatched against most teams in the conference either.

We have very definitely closed the talent gap with the majority of the teams in the conference to the point where we have a legit shot of winning all our games against teams in the West and we are on equal footing talent wise with the majority of the East as well. Only Ohio State, Michigan and maybe to a lesser degree Penn State have us at a fairly sizable talent mismatch.

As for Illinois being our kryptonite as the thread implies, I don't know that I agree with that. I think we have been a sort of kryptonite for Purdue and Nebraska even at times when it seems like they should have the upper hand against us.

If any team has been our Kryptonite of late it is Iowa. We have had them dead to rights and have not been able to seal the deal.
 

Gophers_4life said:
I think, unfortunately for everyone else in the West, that Bert was a home run hire.

He has the capability to do exactly in Champaign what he did in Madison. Lot of big, corn fed linemen in the state. Big population in Chicago area.


Year 2 might be too early yet, but I think he can get it done there. Hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

No one in Chicago cares one lick about Illinois. They aren't even on the radar. It is sad but it has been that way since forever. He will never recruit there well because to Chicagoland Champagne might as well be in Indiana. Hell NW barely is on the Chicago radar and Evanston is much closer.

He will have them better but I think people are overrating how well he will do there and it will be without any presence in Chicago.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
Illinois will be tough, and Bielema always has his teams ready to play against Minnesota. Illinois will be a no joke, tough road game.
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Bielema was a coach who stole Frank Ragnow at the last minute from the Gophers while he was at Arkansas. He is a ton and will be a torn on the Gophers. He can coach.

Brohm's teams were previously unlucky with injuries to key players at the wrong inopportune times against the Gophers.

I worry about these two teams more than Iowa or Wisconsin going into the future.

The Gophers can beat any team in the conference today if they bring their A game which will make the Big Ten West more exciting.
.
 

hungan1 said:
Bielema was a coach who stole Frank Ragnow at the last minute from the Gophers while he was at Arkansas. He is a ton and will be a torn on the Gophers. He can coach.

Brohm's teams were previously unlucky with injuries to key players at the wrong inopportune times against the Gophers.

I worry about these two teams more than Iowa or Wisconsin going into the future.

The Gophers can beat any team in the conference today if they bring their A game which will make the Big Ten West more exciting.
.
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Bielema has only proven that he can keep the wheels rolling at Wisconsin. He still has a lot to prove as a program builder. Purdue will never be a serious threat until they develop a run game and a defense.
 




Dave H said:
No one in Chicago cares one lick about Illinois. They aren't even on the radar. It is sad but it has been that way since forever. He will never recruit there well because to Chicagoland Champagne might as well be in Indiana. Hell NW barely is on the Chicago radar and Evanston is much closer.

He will have them better but I think people are overrating how well he will do there and it will be without any presence in Chicago.
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Given the number of ILL alumni living in Chicagoland, I'm guessing your first couple statements are not correct.

Overall you could easily be correct, depending on the level of semantics argument one wishes to go down (I don't have much interest there).
 

Gophers_4life said:
Given the number of ILL alumni living in Chicagoland, I'm guessing your first couple statements are not correct.

Overall you could easily be correct, depending on the level of semantics argument one wishes to go down (I don't have much interest there).
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Dave is correct. I live here and no one cares. Even the alumni expect the team to suck if you ask them.
 

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