Illinois - What Did We Learn

[lo country]

I’m glad you said this.   There were multiple missed passes/dropped balls thatbwowukd have kept drives alive for Illinois that a competent team completes.   I still think the D plays too far off the receivers on one side.   

Against a "better" passing team in the next 3 (MSU, NW, Purdue) our D might have some issues.  Unsure how good out pass D really is tbh.  

 

[Archy1221]

That was directed toward Satterfield's play calling. He needs to stop that.

Gotcha and agree with you.  I don’t think any drive will work out very well when three or four passes in a row are called.  

 

[Toe]

Six games into Frost's tenure...

this doesn't seem very relevant. baylor had lost most of its talent in year 1 and temple is temple.

You guys do remember the last time we saw Sims he couldn’t even field a snap? I mean what are we talking about here.

Some like to pretend that they didn't just watch Haarberg put the ball on the turf, including a snap...

You guys do remember the last time we saw Sims he couldn’t even field a snap? I mean what are we talking about here.

You're dreaming.

 

[Archy1221]

Against a "better" passing team in the next 3 (MSU, NW, Purdue) our D might have some issues.  Unsure how good out pass D really is tbh.  

Ya, same.  I kinda feel like the back seven closes better and tackles better, but they are still susceptible to the short passing game when the other team has a competent QB. 

 

[Husker03]

Yeah, we know much of his passing sucks, so why are we doing it three plays in a row? Whose fault is that? Are there higher % passes that could've been called instead of flinging a dying duck into the secondary? Did anyone say Haarberg was Rattler? There are plenty of headscratcher calls by Satterfield.

Satt has done an incredible job working an offense with a lame duck EVERTHING.  Haarberg is the worst QB in NU history. Not sure how you can say “just call better passing plays,” for a QB that can’t literally not pass. 
 

Satt may prove to be wretched, but it’s not fair to blame him for not having magic to overcome ineptitude at the QB position. 

 

[Archy1221]

He doesn't throw sidearm every pass attempt so I think it probably is correctable.

We’ve already been told by some people earlier in the week it isn’t!!  He’s too old to change from what it sounded like.  

 

[Husker03]

We’ve already been told by some people earlier in the week it isn’t!!  He’s too old to change from what it sounded like.  

It’s not correctable in 2 weeks, that’s for sure. 

 

[LennynSquiggy]

We’ve already been told by some people earlier in the week it isn’t!!  He’s too old to change from what it sounded like.  

Those same people ignore the fact that he doesn't throw sidearm every pass.

 

[Micheal]

HH should have had three interceptions yesterday if Illinois was competent. 

Well probably only 1 as three of the drops were on the same drive haha. It was pretty bad! 

 

[Undone]

As to the discussion here about "not calling so many pass plays" on a given drive. I had said the same thing coming into this one but it was in the context of the pass blocking being so bad.

I'll probably rewatch the game on the 25 minute whistle-to-whistle video when it comes out on YouTube and check again, but it seemed like pass protection was better in this one.

There was a play where the announcers called out Benhart for getting beat in pass pro, but he at least worked the guy to the outside instead of letting him go inside. Haarberg showed great poise by stepping into it and getting outside, Coleman is open...and he just throws a bad pass that could have been a good completion.

Seemed like there was a lot of that last night that was on the QB. I'm seeing more of the bigger picture on how much Ricky H is struggling with his throwing after seeing more of him.

I thought Satterfield actually called a good game. And also, don't forget about how we're missing Rahmir & Gabe.

 

[PasstheDamnBallGuy]

Those same people ignore the fact that he doesn't throw sidearm every pass.

And QBs with good mechanics throw side arm sometimes also. Sidearm throws are not his only issue with mechanics. Those non side arm passes he throws are very inaccurate. At this point he will default back to side arm naturally and would take a ton of work to make that not the case if it's even possible, and at the same time you would have to be improving all the other aspects of his throwing motion first and foremost his footwork. 

 

[Hayseed]

Satt has done an incredible job working an offense with a lame duck EVERTHING.  Haarberg is the worst QB in NU history. Not sure how you can say “just call better passing plays,” for a QB that can’t literally not pass. 
 

Satt may prove to be wretched, but it’s not fair to blame him for not having magic to overcome ineptitude at the QB position. 

It may be unusual for him to be in this position, but he's in it and can't pretend it's something that it's not. I'm not BLAMING anybody, just making an observation. I like that the staff is being very creative while trying to make a silk purse from a pig's ear. He absolutely CAN call higher percentage pass plays and Haarberg is not the worst passer in history.

 

[macroboy]

Yes we have had problems in the past. This year has been much cleaner. Watching the game last night the movement I saw in the O line wasn't the raise up and step back movement I usually see. Rather it was lifting their head to hear the new play call while the defense points out the movement to the refs. Like most Big Ten crews these officials were clueless as they threw the flag.

One place I will absolutely agree is just the terrible officiating. When you are a bad team, playing another bad team, you get the bad officiating crews.

I'm not one of those people that thinks they are out to get us...they are just bad. BUT there was crazy holding going on from both of their tackles. On the only Illinois TD the LT put on a master class on how to get called for holding....and got away with it. And then when they did call him for holding it really wasn't. :dunno

 

[Toe]

One from an Illinois board:

The final week of October 2022, we were 7-1, ranked #14, first place in the west, and had arguably the best defense in college football.

To go from that height to this low in less than one year is a collapse on a scale and at a speed I never imagined was possible in my worst nightmares.

 

[Hayseed]

And QBs with good mechanics throw side arm sometimes also. Sidearm throws are not his only issue with mechanics. Those non side arm passes he throws are very inaccurate. At this point he will default back to side arm naturally and would take a ton of work to make that not the case if it's even possible, and at the same time you would have to be improving all the other aspects of his throwing motion first and foremost his footwork. 

It seems like his short sidearm passes are better, like what Mahomes does on the run....it's the long pocket passes that look kind of bizarre. I bet they've actually considered all of these things we're talking about.