Robert, the only guys on the team that have gotten a season ending injury is Devin Church and Henry Dickinson..and no one was counting on them anyway. .i think you are vastly overplaying the injury angle.

Clearly your depth chart missed on Monheim.

Everybody gets dinged up during the season.
And one more thing…anytime STEVEHULL is not on the field…is a positive for Illinois. Dude is not a division 1 football player.

So on your 3 points so far….points 1 and 3 are ridiculous.
Point 2 has merit.

Leave it Joe John to rip a kid playing out of position, hurt, and one that publicly apologized to all of Illini nation after the Wisky game…I wish there was a “roll-eyes” emoticon here. What a ridiculous comment.

I know it’s crazy, but I’m starting to side with Joe John. What in the world has happened?!?!?!

Apparrently Coach Beckman has got the offensive struggles figured out. This from his latest video interview..”we’re not being successfull enough with the things we are successfull with. We have to go back and do those things again and again until someone proves they’re not successfull for us”. What? How’s that again?

Anyone siding with Joe John is just showing their cynicism and has been drug down to the dredges by his repeated “chicken little” attitude.
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And there’s a difference between “every team is banged up a little bit” and LOSING HALF OF YOUR 2-DEEP FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME. But I guess it’s easy to write it off when you want the coach fired.

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We have a whole scheme set up for our running QB and he went down for multiple games with a severe ankle sprain and you think that’s a non-issue? Seriously, JJ? I’d like to see how Michigan would do without shoelaces. I’m not saying they’re equal players, but their affect on their team is similar. You may blow off other injuries but not the starting QB. Few teams can suffer such a loss. Especially a team that is struggling to start with.

“Injurd kicking an extra point” pretty well sums up this season.

Overplaying the injury angle? Really? I know coaches and players have to talk tough, no exuses and all that. But fans can be realists.

Robert,
You have a valid point that the high number of injuries need to be closely looked at. You have to realize opponents know Nathan S. is gonna be running often and they will be gunning for him. So we lost coach Vic who had our defense at #7, anyone know why we also lost our strength couch Lou, who was well liked and respected by his players?

I think this is another good point. It could all just be bad luck, it could also be a very cautious staff (which frankly, would fit in with a lot of what the staff does. At times, they don’t even seem that interested in winning the game), it could be too strenuous practices, and it could be a lousy training staff. Either way, it isn’t helping.

This question has nothing to do with injuries, but does anyone think there is a chance that Spence and/or Brown will stay for their senior year? Their draft stock must have dropped given this year’s defensive debacles.

Grogs – even when Scheelhaase is healthy, the offense is still terrible. Plus, I think if the offensive coordinators had any aptitude at all…the offense would actually look better when ROT is in there because he’s a much better passer…however they still have ROT running the spread and with him not being a threat to run…the offense does actually get worse.

When ROT is in…how hard is it to simply go i formation and hand the ball to Don Young, and go play action to Ferguson out of the backfield or the tight ends…you know, normal football.

It just seems like there’s this yearning to believe Illinois really isnt as bad as how they’ve played “if the guys just played harder…or if they werent injured…or if the backups wouldnt play as much”…but they are.

And Indiana is going to be a rude awakening for some of you folks (really its just AHS and Robert left but yeah you two).

One last point on Scheelhaase…to expect him not to get hurt given how many times he runs (and hardly ever slides) is wishful thinking at best anyways. Scheelhaase just looks very slight out there…almost like a basketball player playing football. I’d think he’d appear way bigger given he’s been in the weight lifting program for 4yrs, but he hasnt. Juice was big enough he could take the beating…Nate cannot.

You just stumbled onto Point #5, Gusher.

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Look, I hear ya Joe John. I am not blaming our performance on injuries, my point was just that the one to Nathan was big and your leader going down can affect teh psyche of a team. And I’m really not a huge fan of his passing abilities either. I also think we came into the year rather weak and when people say we’re coming off of 2 consecutive bowl victories, it should have the world’s biggest asterisk. I think we are a rather bad team right now going through a transition to new schemes and coaches. I’d say the injury issue, while not a humongous factor is still a factor that weighed us down even more. To say it’s a ridiculous point is what I did not agree with.
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But for everyone who doesn’t like Beckman and wants him canned, what will that lead to? What coach in their right mind would ever come here knowing he can get the heave-ho if he doesn’t get things rolling within 6 games? It would set a ludicrous precedent.

“everyone who doesn’t like Beckman and wants him canned”. That’s me. Actually, I didn’t want him hired, but would’ve gladly eaten crow if he’d shown any signs of progress, or even maintenance of the SQ.

Grogs, what are you afraid of? What worse reality in the multiverse of possible realities so frightens you? We know UI is not a top job or a desirable destination for proven coaches, but since when is this news? I believe the job had a desirability peak of sorts when Thomas sought to replace a coach that had at least fielded two consecutive post-season teams, but he (Thomas) apparently didn’t capitalize on this, and maybe it wasn’t entirely his fault. The formula he’d utilized had proved successful in previous hires, but maybe he didn’t realize where he was and how he needed to adjust. Who can blame him really?

At UI, as it is, you’re not going to attract top-drawer proven head coaching talent. For that reason, perhaps, it is a mistake to limit yourself to experienced head coaches. That criteria in itself limits the pool of candidates to a great degree.
I for one believe that a proven successful head coach would not come here because he would probably have no reason to leave his current situation. If we did manage to attract a successful head coach it would only be because he was:

1) Extremely successful veteran at a particular program and had walked away or retired with nothing left to prove, save having resurrected a dead program from the depths. This is the “bucket list” candidate, and is a super long shot because he’d only bite if retirement wasn’t all he’d hoped for and he still felt “the itch”.

2) The disgraced successful former head coach. Successful, but scandalous for one or multiple reasons. Top of the head examples: Leach, Tressel, Petrino. I for one want no part of these damaged goods, but I’m by no means a majority opinion.

3) The UI grad/player (see Fitz/NW) that happens to be an awesome coach and for absolute loyalty reasons would come here to stay and never have second thoughts for his decision. This would be awesome if it were currently realistic. Tim Brewster didn’t work out so well for Minnesota. I can’t think of any other candidates right now, unfortunately.

4) The shooting star. This one is hard to locate, but has the best payback if you have the knack for spotting talent or just get lucky. Low risk because they can’t expect much of a guarantee in contractual terms from a storied big ten program, but huge dividends if you strike gold.

5) The successful coordinator/assistant from a major program. When all else fails or when there is no other option, this seems like by far the best risk. For this reason, I was hoping for consideration of Monken to replace Zook, but alas, Thomas from the get-go had narrowed his list to head coaches, thereby greatly limiting his options. Again, it seems to be low-risk because you can shorten the leash on the contract. On the other hand, you can attract greater talent, if you can recognize it.

6) Recognizing talent. I guess that’s the AD’s job, to sum it up. Who among us believes that MT has fulfilled that expectation at this point in the football season?
At some point you need to cut your losses and not be afraid to give it another go.
I for one hate how people assume that for, other than financial reasons, coaches need/have earned a minimum of 3 years to prove themselves/recruit to their system, etc. . . I don’t think it’s so difficult to extrapolate future results based on coaching staff decisions that have taken place to date, and I’m no expert. Then again, this isn’t rocket science – it’s just college football. What other job (outside the financial industry) extends such security for such a lucrative payday?

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I’m not saying Beckman was the best guy out there (but actually, maybe he was given the state of our program and its reputation, who knows) and maybe he’s not the right guy but I’m trying to give him at least a season or two.
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You can keep your #2 16th. I’ll take a program with integrity as priority number one over wins. I still think it’s too early to fire someone unless there is some major (probably off the field) issue going on.
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Look, we started off with a nice win over a decent opponent who we barely beat last year and actually beat us a few years back (any reason Beckman gets zero credit for that win – a win in which Robert said he was so relaxed at halftime that he could actually enjoy a snack) and then faced the toughest part of our schedule. Granted, the losses were lopsided but those opponents’ records range from 5-1 to 4-2. You will see them all in really good bowls save Penn State. But I was at that Wisconsin game and we were in it. The Hawthorne injury really took the wind out of our sails but that crowd was downright nervous right up until early in the 4th quarter and that team will be representing our side of the division in Indianapolis. When is the last time we won in Wisconsin anyway?
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Becks has a lot of work to do, but can we at least try to support our team and see if he can. If he can’t, then don’t worry – he’ll get fired. And yeah, it may not come for another year and a half at the earliest. But I think he inherited a team that could maybe have gone .500 this year but is probably more biased to the downside. But I also get that there is a contingent that is similar to the “Fire Ron Zook” group who will just ride a coach they don’t like from day one until he’s gone. And it’s a free country so go ahead. I’ll choose to support my team and its coach and try to believe that my school’s AD knows more than me regarding football coaches and hired someone they thought would do well. To fire him after 7 games, 5 of which were against the toughest part of the schedule seems odd.
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“I for one want no part of these damaged goods, but I’m by no means a majority opinion.”

Grog’s – I’m quoting myself only to make it clear that I agree with you on not wanting that option. i’ll take a Becks over an ethically challenged coach any day.