Saunders Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 CollegeFootballNews.com Better to have Lovie and lost than to never have had Lovie at all. As long as he starts winning in Year Two. The one big question after Lovie Smith was hired by Illinois still hasn’t been answered. Can a successful NFL head coach really be a rebuilding college football head coach for a program that has so much work to do? Read the rest: 2017 Illinois Preview: Can Lovie Smith Rebuild This? 2017 Illinois Preview: What You Need To Know 2017 Illinois Schedule Breakdown & Analysis HuskerOnline: Spring Opponent Preview - Illinois After a disappointing 3-9 campaign in Lovie Smith's first season as head coach, Illinois is looking to take a big step forward in 2017. However, the Fighting Illini are still looking to find answers for some major questions facing their team coming out of spring practices. To get the latest on where UI stands heading into the summer, we caught up with Doug Bucshon of OrangeandBlueNews.com for his thoughts and perspective of the team. Overall 2017 win-loss expectation “Illinois only won three games last year. They were hoping for more, obviously, especially with the buzz of the Lovie Smith hire to maybe try and get to a bowl game. It didn’t happen, and they lost some games early in ugly fashion. "You want to come in this year and take care of business in those early non-conference games and try to win games at home and get some momentum going. But we’re still looking at a team right now that’s young, that has question marks at the quarterback position, and they lose players off the defense. "So I think they’ll improve on the three-win season because the schedule’s a little bit better, but right now you can’t project this team for a bowl game. Four or five wins is what we’re looking at.” https://nebraska.rivals.com/news/spring-opponent-review-illinois SBNation: Lovie Smith’s first Illinois team was all-or-nothing. When will it be something? The Illini were explosive on both sides of the ball ... and inefficient on both sides of the ball. The relationship between efficiency and explosiveness is a delicate one. Virtually every coach preaches the importance of big plays. And however you define explosive plays, if you have more of them than your opponent and fewer turnovers, you’re going to win 90-plus percent of the time. Big plays matter even more than you think. But what creates big-play opportunities? Efficiency. Successful plays give you more plays. Staying in favorable down-and-distance leads to more successful plays and therefore more big plays. Smith certainly understands this relationship. The dude has been a player and/or coach at every level of the sport. He was a high school coordinator, a college linebackers and defensive backs coach, a pro coordinator, and a pro head coach. He brought a team with Rex Damn Grossman at quarterback all the way to the Super Bowl. He fits into the "has forgotten more about football than you or I will ever know" category. But it doesn't matter what you know; it matters what your players can do. And the players on his first Illinois team couldn't stay on schedule, or keep other teams from doing the same, to save their lives. 2016 record and S&P+ ranking: 3-9 (95th) Projected 2017 record and S&P+ ranking: 4-8 (85th) Biggest strength: Few teams have a running back duo as explosive as Kendrick Foster and Reggie Corbin. Biggest question mark: Can the Illini avoid the onslaught of negative plays? Biggest 2017 game: Nebraska (Sept. 29). A bowl is unlikely, but it’s almost impossible without a home win against the Huskers. Summary: Illinois was explosive and dreadfully inconsistent, and there’s no guarantee that changes in 2017. But there’s enough potential that you can convince yourself of impending improvement if you try hard enough! https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/6/21/15801152/illinois-football-2017-preview-schedule-roster More to come... 1 1 Quote Link to comment
onlyHskrfaninIL Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 basically any chance they have of being competitive hinges on Dwayne Lawson getting eligible. And from my experience, guys who have to take all spring and summer to get their grades up typically don't pan out. Quote Link to comment
Redux Posted April 13, 2017 Share Posted April 13, 2017 I will honestly be disappointed if we don't score over 50 points in this game. Quote Link to comment
Saunders Posted June 21, 2017 Author Share Posted June 21, 2017 Added the SBNation preview. 1 Quote Link to comment
Caliborn72 Posted September 27, 2017 Share Posted September 27, 2017 A couple of future opponents on here but I figured this would go best in this thread with an immediate opposing corner on the list. 1 Quote Link to comment
admo Posted September 27, 2017 Share Posted September 27, 2017 On 9/25/2017 at 2:36 PM, Mavric said: Sooo in other words, it's going to be a close one Quote Link to comment
brophog Posted September 28, 2017 Share Posted September 28, 2017 Watching Illinois....believe it or not, Cav would improve that line play. Their pad levels are so high. Get pushed around up front against all 3 opponents. It's actually kinda gross to watch. Don't let your kids watch Illinois. Quote Link to comment
Hooked on Huskers Posted September 28, 2017 Share Posted September 28, 2017 pregame: postgame loss: 1 Quote Link to comment
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