SOC – Penn State September 29, 2012
Blue helmets. BLUE. HELMETS.
I still can’t get over it. Pretty sure we went from leather to orange helmets. I want to say a number on the side in the 60′s, the arc Illini in the 70′s and 80′s, the slant ILLINOIS in the 90′s and 2000′s, and now, for the first time matte blue with an orange block I. Not just any block I. FAT I. I heart FAT I. It’s now at the center of our basketball court and our football field, and tomorrow it will be on our helmets. Mike Thomas said there’s a full rebrand coming in 2014 with new uniforms and logo and everything. Is this a hint at the helmet? Or will we do something completely different? I could talk about this for hours.
It will really feel weird cheering for the team in blue helmets. It’ll feel like we’re cheering for Rice or West Virginia or something. I’m guessing we’ll go all blue uniforms again. Or maybe blue tops orange pants. I’d like that – the standard 90′s home uni (blue top orange pants) with a matte blue helmet. Can’t wait to see how it looks in person.
OK, I nearly fell asleep writing that last paragraph. Like, seriously dozed off. I just went into the kitchen, drank a glass of water, and made myself a Nutella sandwich using the one single piece of bread in the house (an end, of course), and folded it for a mini Nutella sammich. This thing should be an hors d’ourve at some fancy party. I’d eat it. Man I really shouldn’t blog at one in the morning.
(Pretty sure I didn’t spell hors d’ourve correctly. But this is the SOC. And I can’t go back and edit or even look up the word because THOSE ARE THE RULES.)
THE GAME. Focus. I think this will be close. I think this will come down to the wire. I think our defense will be better, and I don’t think we’ll turn the ball over six times, and quite honestly we’re due to come out and look inspired. It’s been a rough month, what with the injuries and the blowouts and the six turnovers at home against a WAC school. I’d like to see us put a cap on this month with a performance that tells us a bowl isn’t out of the question.
What will we need to do that? How about four things.
1) Win the turnover battle. We’re 74th in turnover margin. Not awful, but still lower half of all FBS teams.
2) Develop a down-field passing game. I think Penn State’s front seven can give our offensive line fits, especially if Hugh Thornton and Graham Pocic are still out. So if we’re going to move the ball, it will need to be against their shaky secondary.
3) Win the field position battle. I don’t think this will be the snoozefest it was last year, but I also don’t think there will be many points scored in this game. Which means pinning them inside the 20 when we can will be key.
4) Play with heart. Our sideline looked so morbid during the second half of the Louisiana Tech game. If we’re going to wear all of this clothing with the word “ONE” on it, we need to maybe start fighting the fight together. Let’s fly around the field and show Penn State we’re ready for a fight.
I’m falling asleep again. I leave for the game in just over five hours. I need to get to the prediction and get to sleep.
My prediction is supposed to be gut feeling, right? No thought in it, just write the post and then see how I feel, right? Well, my gut says Penn State. I think it will be close, but we’re just not healthy enough or deep enough to pull out the victory. Gut says Penn State by 4.
Penn State 17, Illinois 13
Blue Helmets. This is a change, and change is good, but hard to embrace sometimes. As long as the players like the new helmets, fine by me.
Getting ready to make the trip to CU from Kokomo, IN for the game. Wish we would have picked some other game to do the stripe the stadium, as we’re in a “Blue” section, and we usually always wear Orange. Hate to be wearing any PSU color.
I still say that Penn State should be our “rival”, but that’s another story. PSU is bringing their band, and apparently we got under their skin by “recruiting” on their campus. Big deal; we did it properly by going through the channels. The story is that PSU harbored a pedophile, not our recruiting.
Hope the Illini are revved up and ready to go. I think this will be a more traditional BIG smashmouth game. We’ve got to throw some passes longer than 20 yards to keep their defense honest.
Ill: 20
PSU: 14
The Chief lives forever. ILL…..!
Illinois isnt deep enough to beat a depleted Penn State team? If you really believe that, its time to acknowledge Illinois is really really bad and is going to be for the foreseeable future.
Robert this is an awful football team. I expect to hear a very subdued angry disgusted from the stands today. No more excuses. You cant use the injury angle while getting blown out at home by a mediocre Penn State team. The difference in discipline and coaching is night and day between Penn State and Illinois.
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Scheelhaase is just not good, people – hurt or not. He was terrible in the last 6 games last year when he still had a first round NFL receiver. He throws the same pick over and over – you know, the one where he never sees the 240 linebacker who will pick the ball off in stride.
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240 lb linebacker, I meant. What a joke we are. That last play of the half – THAT’S Illinois football my friends. Trainwreck.
Penn State’s 4th string white running back has just ran over the Illini defense…where is the Illini defensive line? They are getting blown off the ball. Its like watching the good wisconsin teams making holes. I knew the offense would be bad today but the difference between this year’s defense and last year is outrageous. Konning really was apparently a miracle worker. Penn State just made things look easy today.
Penn State’s 2nd string defense shows more heart on the last play of the game than Illinois did the entire day. This coaching staff better stop the bleeding quickly or there will be some coordinators out of work at the end of the year. Then with a new defensive coordinator I can listen to the excuses about a new scheme again, its a viscous cycle. I get tired of excuses.
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That sound we all hear is the remnants of the Illinois fan base dissolving. You cannot blame fans for not attending horror shows like this. 28/46 passing with 2 picks (one that was almost a 100 yard TD when we we’re going for an end of half TD of our own) for a 5.9 yd average. Just seems like Juice 2.0 – has one good year that is never improved upon or even close to replicated.
It really gets old when people say its just because we don’t have talent. Ohio would most likely beat us at home by 35 right now, you’re telling me Ohio (not Ohio State) has recruited THAT much better than Illinois. Prove that to me, I don’t buy it. At least some of this train wreck has to be put on the coaches, they get paid to make these players better, however they look much much worse than last year. Besides Young, name a single player who looks improved.
Robert,
You’re the best and I really wish we had a team worth blogging about be/se I would love to follow you and read about it.
But this team is absolutely the worst I have seen in I don’t know how many years. They most certainly will not win another game. And, frankly, it looks to be a long 3 years until we fire Beckman and start all over again.
I hope you are still blogging then. I’ll check back and see.
Robert, I’m torn between illinitrueblue (savor the irony) and you. In the end, I can’t see myself walking away from a team even this horrible, with 2 almost certainly worse years to follow. It must be some kind of genetic defect.
It is hard to believe, but even with PSU’s sanctions, Illinois will be much worse for probably three years. The winning path will either be Beckman turning it around or getting a decent coach who can, a coach appointed by a new AD.