Sorry to belabor the point, but we learned nothing yesterday. Nothing. OK, we learned a few things, but we really learned nothing.  And for an Illini football junkie, that’s a big disappointment.  Ohio State fans got to learn that Braxton Miller might just play right away while Pryor is suspended.  Iowa fans learned that Keenan [...]

Thanks to a pushed-back project deadline, a couple extra hours of vacation time, and an understanding wife, I drove to Champaign on Friday afternoon to get a head start on the Spring Game.  I figured I’d watch practice, catch up on some blogging, and get a good seat for the game.  All that, and I [...]

I’ll have much more on Tuesday, chronicling my 24 hours of Illini Spring Football, but for now, here’s the main thought bouncing around in my head: I hate that feeling.  That “we weren’t crisp at all, were we” feeling.  I told the people I was sitting with that I wanted something to get excited about.  [...]

1. To me, this defense has the thinnest of thin margins.  Keep everyone healthy and get everyone back from current injuries/suspensions, and this defense will surprise a lot of people.  Lose a Brent here and a Hardeman there, and things will go south quickly.  If the defense is Pilcher-Brent-Liuget-James, Ellington-M. Wilson-I. Thomas, and T. Wilson-Hicks-Edwards-Hardeman, [...]

1. Mike Schultz preaches balance. Says he never wants to exceed 60/40 in either direction. Which means we’ll never, ever see another second half of the Western Michigan game where we ran the ball 7 times out of 41 plays. We came out after halftime, ran the ball on 3 of 8 plays on a [...]