Saunders Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 SBNation: Illinois has bad, bad vibes For a moment, ignore the stories that have made the most noise during Tim Beckman's tenure at Illinois. Ignore the poaching in Penn State's parking lot, ignore the disastrous first season in charge, and ignore a former lineman's Twitter rants about Beckman trying to force players to play hurt and passive-aggressively trying to get players to leave. It's hard to put those things to the side, considering how much oxygen they have occupied in Beckman's three seasons, but let's do so for just a moment. Focusing only on the on-field product, you can find evidence that Beckman has done a pretty good job. His Fighting Illini were dreadful in 2012, falling to 2-10 and 107th in the F/+ rankings, but they surged back to 4-8 and 74th in 2013, and with new bodies at quarterback, receiver, and throughout the defense, they not only held steady in the rankings last year (78th) but also eked out bowl eligibility. They went to the postseason for the first time since 2011 and the fourth since 2001. In 2015, they return an experienced four-star quarterback (Wes Lunt), an explosive threat (Josh Ferguson), five of last year's top six receiving targets, five offensive linemen with starting experience, four of their top six defensive linemen, three of four linebackers, two experienced safeties, and basically every cornerback. Looking at things from a certain angle, you could talk yourself into Illinois being ready for another 2013-level breakthrough. Depth is questionable, but the first string could be capable of an above-average Big Ten level. http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2015/5/22/8638261/illinois-football-2015-preview-schedule-roster/in/8400608 Athlon Sports: Illinois Tim Beckman’s teams have improved every year he’s been at Illinois. But an offseason fraught with negative headlines and a very difficult Big Ten schedule have raised questions about his long-term future with the Illini. A critical fourth season could go either direction for a team that has underachieved for the better part of a decade. http://athlonsports.com/college-football/top-25/illinois-fighting-illini-2015-preview-and-prediction#sthash.nGS47kLM.dpuf Magazine says: 6-6 (3-5) 6th in Big Ten West Off Tackle Empire: Illinois Cocktail Party About Last Season The Good News Illinois made it back to a bowl game! Hm? What happened there? We're not taking questions at the moment, thankyewverymuch. Anyway, Illinois' road back to the postseason involved springing upsets on both Minnesota and Penn State, a pair of teams who probably thought themselves somewhat above the Illini before those games were played. Tim Beckman's boys also asserted their claim as Chicago's Big Ten Team or Our State Our Hat or whatever their slogan aimed at Northwestern currently is by rolling the Wildcats in the regular season finale to retake the LOLHat. The Bad News They made a bowl game, sure, but boy did they ever ride the roller coaster to get there. 3 of the 6 victories needed to return to the postseason came against lower-tier competition. Illinois also couldn't solve its ongoing blowout issue, as 5 of its 7 losses on the season came by at least 15 points. Presumed program savior, QB Wes Lunt, looked good initially, but got hurt and showed enough rust when he came back that minimally-effective senior Reilly O'Toole had to step in and save Beckman's bacon. The bowl game...did not go well. Facing a middling Louisiana Tech team, Illinois yielded a handful of huge plays that swung the Heart of Dallas bowl La Tech's way, including an 80-yard TD reception and a 69-yard INT return TD. The most stinging part may have been former Illini Houston Bates going Rambo on his former team to the tune of 4 1/2 sacks. Despite the poor result, this was the first bowl game of Tim Beckman's tenure. http://www.offtackleempire.com/2015/6/8/8606997/b1g-2015-illinois-cocktail-party Scout.com: Illinois Preview Depending on how you view head coach Tim Beckman, Illinois showed that it just might be possible to take a leap back by taking a step forward. The Illini have struggled for years to become consistently relevant, going to a bowl game here and another one there, but without really throwing any sort of a scare into the rest of the Big Ten. The hiring of Beckman didn’t exactly do anything to change that. And now Illinois is in a strange situation. To be fair, the program needed to be built up and needed time to start improving, and it’s been doing that under Beckman. All you can reasonably ask for is an improvement, and he has been two wins better in each season, starting out 2-10, taking four wins in 2013, and six wins with a bowl appearance last year. So in terms of the bottom-line record book, Illinois appears to be on the right track. The 2015 recruiting class wasn’t at a Ron Zook level, but it was solid. The team has enough good parts in place to seem like there’s a little bit of hope to at least shoot for another bowl appearance. But … Tim Beckman is Tim Beckman. http://cfn.scout.com/2/1555932.html More to come... 1 Quote Link to comment
Saunders Posted June 11, 2015 Author Share Posted June 11, 2015 Added OTE Preview. Quote Link to comment
Saunders Posted June 18, 2015 Author Share Posted June 18, 2015 Added scout preview. Quote Link to comment
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