** 2019 Opponent Previews : Illinois (Game 4) **

Saunders

Saunders

Heisman Trophy Winner
CollegeFootballNews: 5 Things You Need To Know About Illinois & Season Prediction

This isn’t the 13th year of rebuilding with some sort of a youth movement, but it certainly seems like it. Yes, Illinois actually went to a Rose Bowl after the 2007 season. Yes, Illinois actually went to the Sugar Bowl at the end of the 2001 campaign. Yes, the program was annihilated in both big bowls, but it got there. And yes, since 2000, Illinois has suffered through 15 losing seasons in the 19 years, and it hasn’t known a winning season since beating a UCLA team with a losing record in your 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. Lovie Smith was supposed to come in and change all of that.

https://collegefootballnews.com/2019/06/illinois-football-preview-prediction-players-2019
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Athlon: #92 Illinois Fighting Illini Preview & Prediction

There hasn't been a bowl bid for Illinois in five seasons. The last winning record came in 2011. The players have had enough. "I'm sick of losing," says starting center Doug Kramer, who joined the team in 2016. He looks forward to better days. To a time when Illinois is relevant in the Big Ten West. "What's happened in the past stays in the past," Kramer says. "It's time to move on. We're ready to get going in this next season and win a lot of games." In his third campaign, Lovie Smith won the most games (four) of his tenure. But he still fell short of a postseason berth. Going into Year 4, it's the best Kramer has felt about the team's prospects. "Absolutely," he says.

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/illinois-football-fighting-illini-prediction-preview-2019
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The Athletic: Lovie Smith believes Illinois has been building toward a Year 4 breakthrough

Nothing about the Lovie Smith era at Illinois has been conventional, from the timing (hired in March 2016), to the pedigree (out of college coaching since 1995), to the two-year contract extension late last fall (after a 4-8 season). Contrary to popular belief, Smith was never on the hot seat last year, and though he can thank a $12 million buyout for some of that job security, the fact of the matter is that he had started in such a deep hole, under such dire circumstances, that another program reboot just three years into this regime would have risked setting the Fighting Illini back even further from where they were when Smith arrived.

https://theathletic.com/1026679/2019/06/18/illinois-football-2019-schedule-roster-depth-chart
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More to come...

 
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This will be a close game and a real slugfest. Well, not really a slugfest more of pillow fight.  It will come down to which team wants to coast less.  There will be long stretches in the game where you'll wonder if both teams are on a concession break while they have a punting dual.  We should play for the ADD trophy.

 
4skers89 said:
This will be a close game and a real slugfest. Well, not really a slugfest more of pillow fight.  It will come down to which team wants to coast less.  There will be long stretches in the game where you'll wonder if both teams are on a concession break while they have a punting dual.  We should play for the ADD trophy.
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Mavric said:
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Different Illinois team tonight but we looked focused and energetic the whole game.  Hopefully they figured out that you can't play with the mouse too long and should just eat it and that's exactly what they do next week.

 
4skers89 said:
Different Illinois team tonight but we looked focused and energetic the whole game.  Hopefully they figured out that you can't play with the mouse too long and should just eat it and that's exactly what they do next week.
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Or Illinois isnt that good.... 

 
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