0-for-11 And I Feel Fine September 4, 2010
So I’m now zero-for-eleven in attending Missouri/Illinois athletic contests in the state of Missouri. 0-11. And I gotta say, one of these things is not like the other.
That outlier was today. We blew a 10 point halftime lead, and I don’t really care. A few Missouri fans were up to their normal childishness after the game (screaming at an elderly couple in orange? really, jort-guy?), but it didn’t get to me. I felt… strangely… good.
We competed. We fought. We looked focused. We went into the 4th quarter with the lead. We faced seemingly our seventh 4th down from our own 20 with 2 minutes left, and our freshman QB spun out of a tackle, put everything into the throw, and missed 45-yards-to-go-to-tie-it-up by a whisker. In a game where we’re 13 point underdogs with 3 players at new positions since the semester started, I can’t ask for any more than that.
I’m not sure what the reaction was in Illini Fan land. I’ve yet to read any blogs, message boards, tweets, or instant reaction game articles. But for me, I’m damn proud of this team. Missouri has a really, really solid system going over there right now, and this rag-tag defense played them better than any of the last 4. I took a quick glance at the boxscore to find this: We held them to 379 yards (98 rushing). The last three Illinois/Missouri games, they’ve gained 442, 549, and 429 and scored 129 points. Today they scored 23. And the majority of that was in the 4th quarter when our offense just couldn’t stay on the field, and our defense was beyond tired. I’m not trying to make excuses – I’m saying one of these years did not look like the other. That’s the most effort I can remember from an Illini defense in quite some time.
A few quick hitter thoughts, and then I’m going to go join my family for a delayed holiday weekend at the lake.
+ 9 for 23 for 81 yards with one touchdown, three interceptions, and a fumble. Not the start that Nathan Scheelhaase was hoping for.
But honest to God that was the best looking 9 for 23 for 81 yards with one touchdown, three interceptions, and a fumble performance I’ve ever seen. The offensive line struggled to give him any room to work. The wideouts didn’t do him any favors by dropping several balls (these aren’t Juice fastballs, guys). And Missouri put a spy on him the entire second half, negating the scramble. Yet if Mikel’s toe had been inbounds, I have a feeling Nathan would have found a way to get us 45 more yards and a tie ballgame. This was game one of 50. I’m pretty excited to see what we get by game 15.
+ STEVEHULL looked pretty good at free safety. I sat in the south endzone for the game, so I watched a lot of coverages develop. He seemed to read the plays well, and made a few solid tackles. Not bad for having to learn the defense in 9 days.
+ The two long interceptions Missouri pulled down were really solid plays. The one-handed catch was amazing, and the other bomb to Eddie was a fantastic read. That play is designed to draw the safety from that side of the field up by sending two receivers to the left side, but the safety didn’t bite. He stayed back and caught the pass that was supposed to be 20 yards over his head.
+ The game really turned on two plays. First possession of the second half, we’re in third and 4, and Hugh Thornton misses Aldon Smith on a stunt. Sack, 4th down, punt. Next possession, 3rd and 5. Scheelhaase hits AJ Jenkins over the middle for a first do… no, he dropped it. Punt, two three-and-outs, momentum swing, ballgame.
+ My starting defense next September against Arkansas State (yes, that’s right, we START with a game against a patsy to get our feet under us. Yes – Illinois does this. Next year.)
Mercilus-Spence-Liuget-Buchanan
Thomas-Martez-Ashante Williams
Green-Hawthorne
STEVEHULL-Tavon
You know what? That defense has a chance to be pretty good. Heck, this defense has a chance to be pretty good.
+ You know who we missed today? Zach Becker. When the offensive line is having an off day, it helps to have a blocking tight end who can clear out a DE every once in a while. We didn’t have that today, and it hurt. I spot shadowed Evan Wilson on a few plays – on one, he missed his block completely, leading to a three yard loss. He’s young, and he’ll learn, but for now, we could really use Becker.
+ Be honest (if you noticed). On the first play from scrimmage, when our defensive end (er, bandit) was lined up 20 yards from the ball on a slot receiver, you were all “whuuut?” So interesting, this defense. Missouri is 5-wide, and we stay in the base defense. Defensive end takes one slot guy, Will or Mike linebacker takes the other slot guy, and Sam linebacker is more or less a safety. And, for the most part, it worked. Do your thing, Vic Koenning. I believe in you even more after today.
+ I feel pretty good about the SIU game and the NIU game. NIU lost at Iowa State, and with the defense we showed today, we should roll in both of those games. We’ll lose to Ohio State, but if we can steal one at PSU or at MSU, we might make something of this season.
My wife is honking the horn (not really), so I gotta go. I’ll end by saying this: It’s about 2.5 hours after Illinois lost to (my) hated rival Missouri for the sixth straight time, and I feel fine. Like, I’m nowhere close to my usual depression. Dare I say, I might even feel… good? We fought. We scratched and clawed. We tossed together a rag-tag secondary and held them to less than 300 yards passing. We competed.
That’s all I can ask for. At first glance, this Zook team looks nothing like what has come to be known as a “Zook team”. I want more.
Koenning and the defensive looked really impressive today. The offense has some work to do but the defense looked much improved — not only in play, but in fundamentals and attitude is well. What a good hire.
We expected growing pains for the offense with a new system, new qb, and new skill players. My only wish is I would’ve liked to see some more creative play calling in the second half — did we make any halftime adjustments? Sure didn’t seem like it. But, it was only one game.
Completely agree with this post, especially insofar as it regards Nate. I’m afraid when you get around to checking the message boards, you’re going to be shocked with the kind of treatment Nate is getting from the fans. I’m not sure what they were expecting today, but I thought he looked and played like a redshirt freshman in his first college game who was running for his life most of the second half.
Ultimately I am a little concerned with his arm strength (especially over 25 yards), and the line’s play was pretty alarming, but I thought he looked poised and collected, made good decisions for the most part, and bounced back when it counted.
Now, for a piece of information I have no idea whatsoever to do with:
Juice, 2006 vs. Iowa (his first start):
9-32, 161 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs, 78 yards rushing (17 carries)
Nate, today:
9-23, 81 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs, 90 yards rushing (16 carries)
*scratches chin*
I was at the game today as well and came away with the same feeling. If only we could have played the second half like the first, we’d be celebrating a win. I’m glad to see the defensive play despite the personnel set backs. I am cutting Scheelhaase slack as it’s his first start and 1 int should go to I think McGee for the ball going through his hands. Oh well, bring on SIU after their blowout of Divison II Quincy 70-7.
Also, I just want to say keep up the good work with the blog and the podcasts. As someone who bleeds orange and blue, your work is appreciated and enjoyed. The Benny Hill and Vanilla Ice music intros kill.
How far have we fallen when people are happy about not getting blown out?
Chief—
It was a game we should have been blown out in, and we held them to 23 points. So I would say that is reason to be happy. Would you rather have been blown out?
Chief makes the point that we have fallen far. I don’t think anyone disagrees with him. The point, Chief, is to compare your expectations/outcomes at last year’s rivalry game with this one. I think I’ll take this one. But you’re right, we’re all starting to feel like Cubs fans here.
As a life long Illini fan, I am just tired of moral victories and signs ‘hope’ for next year. Instead I want to see actual victories and wins this year. If Cincinnati, Northwestern, Boise State and Connecticut can be successful then Illinois can.
Waited 3 days to think things over. Generally agree with Erik’s comments above. Other boards have been extremely critical, especially targeting NS. I’m going with the glass half full approach. Saw some solid gang tackling that I don’t remember from last year. The NS scramble to set up the field goal just before the half was a thing of beauty. Would really like to think the 3rd and 5 dropped pass could have made a big difference in momentum (I know…good teams get over stuff like that). I am not going to be part of the fan base that seemingly secretly hopes for failure so they can take out their personal frustrations and shortcomings on people they know only via newspapers, tv, radio and the internet.
Thanks again Robert for your objective analysis. I want more too.
Overall: We were competitive and we saw at least a game plan on defense and on offense in the first half.
The Good:
Very few missed tackles on defense.
Guys lined up in the right spots
Showed Man coverage pre snap and then swtiched to zone
Ian Thomas – tackling machine
Nate Bussey – he caused the FF, not Tez
Steve Hull – some good hits
Corey – first half
LeShoure
The Bad
OL play – very poor on the pass protection, numerous false starts, very few running holes. This group gets a D overall, though Pocic played OK.
TEZ – a complete non-factor – dont let the stats fool you. His half a sack was a gift from the score keeper, he did not cause the FF and those 8 tackles were all 6-7 yards down field. Most of the time, he spyed the QB and did nothing. He avoided contact all day and just chased the ball.
Passing game – I know he started his first game, but 81 yards passing is not going to get it down.
The Ugly
Second half play calling on offense – I think we had 15 total yards offense in the 3rd qaurter with three posesssions
Paul Petrino – zero adjusts, we all knew that Mizzou would stack 8 in the box and he had no counter. Panicked on a few of those play calls on down field passes that were picked. No boots in the 2nd half
Zook – waiting 1o seconds to call timeout after sack by Liguet
ZERO pass rush – 48 attempts with one sack and 3 QB hurries
VK scheme where Buchanan lines up in the slot and then tries to pass rush 10 yards outside the tackle. Never even made it close
The Disappointments
fayson – a better gunner than WR
Tavon Wilson – complete non factor at safety
TE -they were open a few passes, but NS ran the ball
No one made a play – Zero difference makers for the O&B
Overall, Our defense got lucky that Gabbert is only a one read QB and hates being in the pocket. Most of his reads are pre-snap and he stuggled with the pre-snap reads on Saturday. Becuase he scrambled on almost half his pass plays when he did not need too, that really helped out defense. If he stood tall in the pocket and stepped up and alowed his WRs to find the soft spots, Mizzou would have scored over 30 on us
We are going to really struggle scoring points this year. the OL is not very good. Very few running lanes.
A lot of good comments above. Here’s what I liked – remember point 2 from Robert’s “19 point plan”? “Zook as a figurehead.” If you listened to the announcers, whenever they talked about coaches, they talked about Koenning or Petrino. Hardly a mention of Zook at all. A couple of shots of Zook with the clipboard and look of consternation, but from what I could tell, it was all Koenning and Petrino. (There was even one shot of VK screaming at a bench of D guys. Loved. It.)
Robert, I hope you will go back at some point and review the 19 points and see how many were followed and/or came true, and the effect on the team.
I plan on doing something like that after the season.
And I second the “good comments above” comment above. Robert likes good comments. Good comments make Robert feel smarter. Robert want more good comments.
Chief, you’re simply wrong about the forced fumble, it was Tez, not Nate.