There’s going to be 10 bowl eligible Big 10 teams assuming Northwestern and Purdue can win 1 of their last 2 games.

So yeah – beat Minnesota and go to Detroit.
Or lose, and probably no bowl.

I am guessing that Mike Thomas will not accept that this is “normal”.
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Sorry, but it’s time to start over.
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This is (at best) a program that is spinning its wheels.

robert,

such a great job again capturing the mood of football first Illini fans. man, what a tough run. This is the straw that breaks the camel’s back on the Zook era right? like you said, “Wisconsin will absolutely destroy us next week.”
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Is it possible Zook can survive this finish? I shudder to think if this guy is still our coach in December.
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I want Mike Leach so bad it hurts.

forgot to add. this defense just…
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PLAYS
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ITS
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HEART
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OUT
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They deserve so much better than this finish.

warrior poets… warrior poets.

Wow, I feel like I was there. I didn’t even have to make the walk from Lot 48. Absolutely pathetic showing after a bye week.This has got to be the worst time ever to be hiring a new head coach, but a move we have to make.

A rather quick return to reality (insignificance) in a few short weeks. You may not always be right Robert, but you sure are objective and loyal. The non-scoring for 4 consecutive first halves thing is so preposterous, that it’s hard to even discuss….regardless of the better defenses we’ve played.
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On the other hand, when you say, “I just feel normal”, it sums it all up.

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I’m not sure the last time I’ve seen a team play with such ineptness. I literally have to cover my eyes whenever we punt or return a punt. It’s like the other team is the 49ers in Super Bowl Tecmo. Then I uncover my eyes to watch the offense and am mad I uncovered them. I’d love to see the ratio of 3-and-outs to first downs in the first half of our last 4 games. This was normal. Right when we had Uncle Mo (momentum) on our side and I really was feeling good, Nathan stares at AJ for 6 seconds and then throws the ball in stride to the cornerback. I should have left the stadium at that point. Shame on me. Wow – we really suck. We have a loser mentality now and it really shows.

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One more thing – all carries go to Troy Pollard for the rest of the year. I can’t watch Butterfingers I (Young) and Butterfingers II (Ford) cough the ball up like it’s a greased pig any more. One more thing pt 2 – Mike Thomas should put together a video of every punt, punt return, kickoff and kick return this season and show it to Ron Zook. Then he should say, “Even you would fire you, right? Just leave your parking pass on the desk on your way out”.

Grogs, you are so spot on in your last post. I think I heard the stat on the radio that we average 1.8 yards per return. Even that sounds high. And even as bad, sorry, “normal” as we are, I never imagined we would ever have the very last spot or second to last spot, out of 120 teams in ANY category, EVER. But there we are. I have a feeling you could add X number of 1AA teams to the stats, and we would still hover close to the bottom. How can we be so hopelessly inept on kick returns?

I was there today with my dad and young son. I tried to shield my son from some of the language in the stands, but I realized with the first F bomb dropping on the second play of the game, that was going to be impossible. It’s one thing to be embarrassed by your team when you are watching in your living room, but it’s quite humiliating to be surrounding by yellow and blue and have your team put on a showing like that.

After leaving the stadium, we got stopped by the Marching Illini heading over to do their regular after-game concert. My son turned to me and said, “You mean they still play a concert even when we get creamed in our own stadium?” I think he’s got something there. After a performance like that, everyone should just go home in shame.

Robert, Once again, you nailed it. I could go on with my personal take on the situation, but why bother? We’re all in agreement here. Until Zook is gone, I won’t be buying any football tix from the DIA. Maybe I’ll go to a game with a cheap eBay or StubHub ticket in hand, but the U of I gets no more money from me until we have a new coach. And I am a former season ticket holder.
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More importantly, Dude, you sound exactly like Seth Rogan.