What did we learn Illinois edition

After sleeping on it…..I’m less optimistic moving forward. By the end of the game, Illinois was pimp handing us on both sides of the ball at the LOS. If the game goes another quarter, we lose by 10.  Another one after that, we lose by 20, etc. Shouldn’t make anyone feel good as we enter conference play. 

We should get to bowl eligibility. Not sure we get much further than that. 

 
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We learned (haven't learned) DISCIPLINE. How many drives for Illinois were extended because of lack of, on our defensive unit?

 
HuskersNC949597 said:
Someone else already posted that the play design was to go to the flat but Raiola went through his progressions and saw a wide open TD opportunity. Rhule said it after the game.

Unrelated: people are blaming Hohl when, once again, the snap/hold wasn't clean enough. Buschini didn't get the ball turned all the way out. Minor details like that not being automatic is baffling.
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Whether entirely his fault or not, my top want besides a QB this offseason was a FG kicker.  Why so many coaches think it isn't an important position to recruit at is baffling.

 
Jason Sitoke said:
After sleeping on it…..I’m less optimistic moving forward. By the end of the game, Illinois was pimp handing us on both sides of the ball at the LOS. If the game goes another quarter, we lose by 10.  Another one after that, we lose by 20, etc. Shouldn’t make anyone feel good as we enter conference play. 

We should get to bowl eligibility. Not sure we get much further than that. 
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I’m here too. This team is not anywhere as physical and tough as I wanted to believe. The 3-3-5 gig seems to be up. We’re soft in the middle of the field, don’t have the athletes to play tight coverage on decent receivers, and then cannot hold at the LOS against powerful teams. 
 

Dylan is better than I expected. I’m now worried he’s feeling he made the wrong choice. 

 
The first 3 games made me nervous with our inability to do anything in the second half of a game. Was it Satterfield not making adjustments or was it us taking the foot off the gas and putting the 2s in (which is traditionally a good thing and helps create depth) Kind of a paradox of a question, whatever the reason what I did learn was that it had the unintended consequence of our starters being absolutely gassed when they had to play a full game. 

bad officiating, another receiver acting like a baby deer on a 50/50 ball, not sticking with the run up the middle which was working on the drive that would have been the go ahead score, all didn’t help but those boys came out flat from half way through the third quarter on. 

 
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Nebfanatic said:
They are talented but man Neyor needed to snatch that TD that got intercepted. Mistakes overshadow really great play but the talent is there.
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That was a great defensive play by Illinois.  He was in much better position for the int than Neyor was for TD.  It would have been a season highlight if he completed the catch.  The defenders hand was between the ball and Neyors chest.  It’s actually amazing it didn’t just end as an incomplete pass.
 

Give the guy a break.

 
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Toe said:
  • Still can't win a close one.
  • O-line apparently thought the game was over at the end of regulation.
  • Our run defense is a lot worse than I thought it was.
  • Our defense apparently thinks it's legal to grab face masks.
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That face mask penalty was just a stupid, stupid play. The runner was stopped and our guy had nothing to do with the runner being stopped, just reached in and grabbed the face mask, after the fact. 

We had a lot of chances to put ILL away, just didn't.

GBBR!!!

 
The Dude said:
Rhule made it clear in the first 3 games he doesn't trust our kicking game.  It was the worst possible time to suddenly put your trust there.
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Totally agree.

The overwhelming majority of the time, fans judge play calling in a very black & white manner. A play call was either "good" or "bad." But I think the best way to analyze it is to look at the percentage chance of one decision working versus another.

So it's 3rd & 3 on their 21 with 3:13 left to go in the game. Illinois has burned one timeout already. What you really want is to get that first down with high percentage plays and drain the clock.

If you don't have faith in your kicker, isn't it 4 down territory? And if it's 4 down territory, don't you want to run on 3rd?

Looking at that pass play again though...Lindenmeyer is ridiculously open. He has inside position and the defender has no help. If we underthrow and he has to come back to it and he's down inside the 5 it's almost best case scenario. Ugh...but still, not really a high percentage play to call, IMO. That's the problem.

 
So the whole "f*** it; we're going to be aggressive this season no matter what" thing is kind of like, I don't know. It's kind of like "bro science." It sounds good but it doesn't necessarily make sense from an odds standpoint.

I'd say that you'd tend to want to drain the clock and go with two runs and try to pick up that first down on the ground if you don't have faith in your kicker.

Inb4 the inevitable "but then fans would complain if it hadn't worked" comments. This is my whole point - it's not as black & white as the average fan thinks. It's about analyzing the odds of one decision versus another.

We went with what I would say was the lower percentage choice and it failed.

 
Undone said:
Totally agree.

The overwhelming majority of the time, fans judge play calling in a very black & white manner. A play call was either "good" or "bad." But I think the best way to analyze it is to look at the percentage chance of one decision working versus another.

So it's 3rd & 3 on their 21 with 3:13 left to go in the game. Illinois has burned one timeout already. What you really want is to get that first down with high percentage plays and drain the clock.

If you don't have faith in your kicker, isn't it 4 down territory? And if it's 4 down territory, don't you want to run on 3rd?

Looking at that pass play again though...Lindenmeyer is ridiculously open. He has inside position and the defender has no help. If we underthrow and he has to come back to it and he's down inside the 5 it's almost best case scenario. Ugh...but still, not really a high percentage play to call, IMO. That's the problem.
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My suspicion is the Staff believed Dylan hits that throw in his sleep. Even then, we leave too much time on the clock for Illinois to tie it up; we showed no sign of being able to stop them. 
 

A 3rd down run play was the right call. But I’m not confident we pick up the first down. It’d have been 4th and 1 where we are more likely to go for it. 
 

A win would’ve been wonderful, but it masks deep issues with this team. We’re not tough at the LOS, our coaches got completely out coached, our ST is the stuff of nightmares, and when things don’t go our way, all the petulant 15 yard penalties scream there is no discipline on the team. 
 

it’s time to rethink the red shirt stance at some positions. 

 
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DefenderAO said:
My suspicion is the Staff believed Dylan hits that throw in his sleep. Even then, we leave too much time on the clock for Illinois to tie it up; we showed no sign of being able to stop them. 
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Just pointing out though that the ball was supposed to go to the guy in the flat, but he was covered.

 
teachercd said:
No QB run game makes the traditional run game look even worse.

TR and NH get almost no push anymore.

Sad loss and I feel a pretty big set back for the season.
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I haven't seen snap counts, but it felt like we rotated way less last night than the first 3 games. Obviously it was close unlike the others, but those guys got gassed. This also was the first B1G offensive they've played, so a step up in competition and it showed in the second half.

 
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