I think everyone on the message boards needs to listen to this one. Instead of “Alright, 6-6 bowl game season!” It’s all “BAH FIRE ZOOK….I’M NOT GOING TO THE BOWL GAME THATLL SHOW EM…IM DISSAPOINTED IN THIS SEASON”

Seriously? People are flipping out just as much from a 3-9 season as this season.

Crazy…

Robert. I believe it was your in the stands post after the Minny game where you mentioned you don’t know anyone who’s as much of an Illini football fan as yourself. All I can say is that you are correct.
This game had that really really weird (i.e. bad) feeling from the first 5 seconds of the TV feed. The start was so awful it’s hard to even put in words. One team was the aggressor, and one team was back on its heels. As for everything else….I’m going to go with the old saying of “if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything”.
Thanks as always for your unmatched loyalty.

In addition to my first post up there, I just saw a post on the rivals board that says “Don’t accept the bowl game invite”

Are these people serious? A 3-9 team from last year that has been to 2 bowl games in the last ten years and people aren’t satisfied with a 6-6 + minor bowl season?

I don’t understand. Two weeks ago it was “OMG GATOR BOWL VS FLORIDA !!!!11!!!” and now it’s “No matter who we play we’re going to lose this bowl game blah blah blah I say we decline it to send a message” I don’t get it where these people think they have a point. You can’t not fire a coach after a 3-9 season, and then can him after a 6-6 one.

I just don’t get it. At the beginning of the year, there wasn’t one fan out there who would have been disappointed with a 6-6 record and a bowl game. And now people are already writing it off as a loss? Declaring the season a failure? The way to catching the eye of the bigger recruits and developing a strong program is to string together a few bowl seasons.

Sure, 7-5 sounds better than 6-6, and everyone out there has a right to be disappointed with the way the last few games of the season went after starting 5-3, but the fact is this; there was only one game this year where this team was overpowered, the MSU game and even that was close for a little bit. To have thought that was going to happen before the season would have been ridiculous.

Sometimes you just have to take a step back from the computer and realize that there’s a lot of people with crazy opinions on the internet. I wouldnt have thought that people would have been disappointed with a bowl game, but here we are…

Robert – I think this blog is fantastic. I love your enthusiasm towards the Illini. But we are in complete disagreement on the direction of this football program. Games like last night, Minnesota earlier this year, Minnesota ’08, Iowa ’07 and Western Michigan ’08 are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Zook’s coaching ability. I have been a fan of the Illini since I was able to walk and like you I care wayyyy too much about the success of this football program. I would love to have a point counter point with you on the direction and leadership of this football program because we could not disagree more.

Illini125 – Why are fans who want Zook fired crazy? The guy is 27–45 at Illinois and 9-22 in games decided by 7 points or less. We are going to our 2nd bowl in 9 years. Tim Brewster went 6-6 for two years in a row and he was fired. Why? Because the fans and the powers that be saw the writing on the wall. That is just not good enough. This is THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, a BIG TEN school with a huge alumni base and the only major state school in the 5th largest state in the country. The fans and alumni DESERVE better than we see year in and year out at Illinois. The exceptions need should and need to be higher than they are. Accepting 3-9 or 6-6 is one of the reasons that Illinois has not sustained any success in football.

5-7 vs D1 teams would not be a good season.
Illinois needs to find a way to win the bowl game.

Robert,

As always, love the blog. Completely disagree that I am “proud of this team.” If you had told me before the season that we would be 6-6 I would have been happy, but, you can’t lose two games like the Minny and Fresno game. JUST CAN’T DO IT.

Fire Ron Zook. Sat’s game was the last straw. Guy can’t get the kids to play at any level of consistency – or with a brain.