LOOK OUT: Illinois is making a move

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RememberMurray

RememberMurray

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Illinois is coming on.

In their last 3 games, they gave Michigan a tough game, gutted out a win over Wisconsin and then throttled Purdue.

Next up: Rutgers. The Illini are 20.5 point favorites. If they win that one (highly likely), Lovie's team will be 5-4 overall, and 3-3 in the conference. They'll have serious momentum, and be thinking about bowl eligibility.

After Rutgers, here's their schedule:

@ Michigan State (Sparty is a team on the downswing, in a big way)

IOWA (at that point, after playing Wisconsin and Minnesota, Iowa might be ripe for an upset)

NORTHWESTERN (in-state rivals have hit rock-bottom)

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This situation bears watching.
 

RememberMurray said:
Illinois is coming on.

In their last 3 games, they gave Michigan a tough game, gutted out a win over Wisconsin and then throttled Purdue.

Next up: Rutgers. The Illini are 20.5 point favorites. If they win that one (highly likely), Lovie's team will be 5-4 overall, and 3-3 in the conference. They'll have serious momentum, and be thinking about bowl eligibility.

After Rutgers, here's their schedule:

@ Michigan State (Sparty is a team on the downswing, in a big way)

IOWA (at that point, after playing Wisconsin and Minnesota, Iowa might be ripe for an upset)

NORTHWESTERN (in-state rivals have hit rock-bottom)

--------------------

This situation bears watching.
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I hope they keep rolling and make our win against them look even better.

Just too bad they lost that game to EMU.
 

Their Iowa game might make them bowl eligible. Since it's their home game, there's better odds of them winning it. Go Lovie.
 


All it does is make me question Wisconsin and Purdue even more. That’s not a good football team.


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Livingat45north said:
Their Iowa game might make them bowl eligible. Since it's their home game, there's better odds of them winning it. Go Lovie.
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that's right. Iowa wins next week and loses to us and Illinois. Perfect...
 

PitinoFan said:
All it does is make me question Wisconsin and Purdue even more. That’s not a good football team.


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Wisc looked out of it and their coach's tried Jerry's Kent St. formula "just run the clock out and go home" and showed why that's kinda a risky move.

After that Illinois got some life and they're hungry.

I think a bit like us vs Iowa years ago, sad team that just wants to have fun and they played out of their minds.
 

Livingat45north said:
Their Iowa game might make them bowl eligible. Since it's their home game, there's better odds of them winning it. Go Lovie.
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Game is actually in Iowa. I'm all for Illinois running the table though. Would help us by making the win over them look better and would also hang another loss on Iowa. In order for Illinois to win the West over us we would have to lose all 4 remaining regular season games which feels highly unlikely at this point.
 

If it helps Lovie keep his job, it helps us in the long run.

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Illinois has a 4* transfer QB, 1 5*, and 13 4* after a series of transfers.
 


hungan1 said:
Illinois has a 4* transfer QB, 1 5*, and 13 4* after a series of transfers.
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Yes, but generally the high ranked players that transfer are doing so because they were beat out. Meaning they may not be quite that good.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Game is actually in Iowa. I'm all for Illinois running the table though. Would help us by making the win over them look better and would also hang another loss on Iowa. In order for Illinois to win the West over us we would have to lose all 4 remaining regular season games which feels highly unlikely at this point.
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Good catch, MNVCGUY. My error. The game is at Kinnick.

With the news about the Michigan State star linebacker being suspended, it sure seems that the stars are lining up for Illinois to gain some momentum down the stretch — which could be good for the Gophers.

The Illini should beat Rutgers easily. They'll then be 5-4 overall, 3-3 in the B1G at that point, and feeling really good about themselves.

Then they travel to Michigan State and play a Spartans team that appears to be falling apart before our eyes. If the Illini win that one, they'd be 6-4, 4-3 heading in to Iowa City. And Iowa could be reeling a bit at that point, after playing Wisconsin and then Minnesota.

I like how this is playing out! Go Fighting Lovies!
 



RememberMurray said:
Good catch, MNVCGUY. My error. The game is at Kinnick.

With the news about the Michigan State star linebacker being suspended, it sure seems that the stars are lining up for Illinois to gain some momentum down the stretch — which could be good for the Gophers.

The Illini should beat Rutgers easily. They'll then be 5-4 overall, 3-3 in the B1G at that point, and feeling really good about themselves.

Then they travel to Michigan State and play a Spartans team that appears to be falling apart before our eyes. If the Illini win that one, they'd be 6-4, 4-3 heading in to Iowa City. And Iowa could be reeling a bit at that point, after playing Wisconsin and then Minnesota.

I like how this is playing out! Go Fighting Lovies!
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Michigan State and Iowa better fear the beard!
 

Illinois had Nebraska on the ropes (led 35-21 late in the 3rd) before pissing the game away, with the help of some very questionable calls that went against them and their QB Peters being knocked from the game. If they had held on, they'd be looking at 4-2 with a win over Rutgers.
 

If Minnesota has been a sleeping giant, Illinois is too. That's a program with a distant history of success, lots of tradition, all the resources of a Big Ten school, and lots of nearby talent. And I don't know about his recruiting prowess, but Lovie Smith can really coach.

I've been hoping that Illinois would come out of the doldrums, and maybe now I'll be sorry.
 

everybody knows my name said:
If Minnesota has been a sleeping giant, Illinois is too. That's a program with a distant history of success, lots of tradition, all the resources of a Big Ten school, and lots of nearby talent. And I don't know about his recruiting prowess, but Lovie Smith can really coach.

I've been hoping that Illinois would come out of the doldrums, and maybe now I'll be sorry.
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I live about 2 hours outside of Champagne, and if Illinois wants to join Minnesota as a rising program I'd be all for it. Would really enjoy watching a major implication game here every other year.

Much rather the Illi as opposed to Iowa, Wisconsin, Purdue or Nebraska.
 

So, I came back inside from raking leaves, and noticed that Illinois and Rutgers are tied 10-10 in the 3rd quarter, and figured maybe something flukey happened, but I checked the stats, and saw that Rutgers is outgaining Illinois by a decent amount, and has the edge in TOP. At that point, I remembered this thread. Illinois is who we thought they were.

As I typed this, Illinois busted off a long run, so maybe they’ll take over now.


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PitinoFan said:
So, I came back inside from raking leaves, and noticed that Illinois and Rutgers are tied 10-10 in the 3rd quarter, and figured maybe something flukey happened, but I checked the stats, and saw that Rutgers is outgaining Illinois by a decent amount, and has the edge in TOP. At that point, I remembered this thread. Illinois is who we thought they were.

As I typed this, Illinois busted off a long run, so maybe they’ll take over now.


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Lol that didn’t last long. 38-10 Illinois as I’m typing this


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ty Illinois helped me cash a parlay from Diamond Jos [emoji6]
 


Sparlimb said:
Yes, but generally the high ranked players that transfer are doing so because they were beat out. Meaning they may not be quite that good.
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Exactly. Minnesota has gotten quite a few ex-4 and 5 stars from the fancy pants programs over the years. They have generally ranked from low to medium impact. St. Juste might be an exception especially since he gets 2 more years after this one.
 

fmlizard said:
Exactly. Minnesota has gotten quite a few ex-4 and 5 stars from the fancy pants programs over the years. They have generally ranked from low to medium impact. St. Juste might be an exception especially since he gets 2 more years after this one.
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Which players have transferred here that were 4 or 5 star recruits?
 

fmlizard said:
Exactly. Minnesota has gotten quite a few ex-4 and 5 stars from the fancy pants programs over the years. They have generally ranked from low to medium impact. St. Juste might be an exception especially since he gets 2 more years after this one.
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St-Juste is already making a huge impact, since they’re able to use him and Durr in single coverage, which frees up Winfield to play closer to the box. I wouldn’t trust any of our other corners on an island, besides those two. I think St-Juste’s situation is different, because of the injury he had. . Having said that, Williamson and Treadway are certainly valuable players on that defense, as well.


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fmlizard said:
Exactly. Minnesota has gotten quite a few ex-4 and 5 stars from the fancy pants programs over the years. They have generally ranked from low to medium impact. St. Juste might be an exception especially since he gets 2 more years after this one.
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Quite a few eh? Can you help me remember who?


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noamfromm said:
Which players have transferred here that were 4 or 5 star recruits?
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The only two I can think of right now are our DB's, Chris Williamson (4 star from Florida) and Benjamin St.-Juste (4 star from Michigan).

OJ Smith (DT Alabama) and Micah Dew-Treadway (Notre Dame) are both from helmet schools, but were 3 stars.

Randal Grimes (WR, USC, 4 star) transferred here for a hot minute.
 

Oregon Gopher said:
Quite a few eh? Can you help me remember who?


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Off the top of my head there was OJ Smith (Bama), the USC WR who never played a game here, Dew-Treadway (ND), St. Juste (Michigan), Brian Bobek (OSU), Vic Viramontes (Cal 4*)
 

fmlizard said:
Off the top of my head there was OJ Smith (Bama), the USC WR who never played a game here, Dew-Treadway (ND), St. Juste (Michigan), Brian Bobek (OSU), Vic Viramontes (Cal 4*)
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If we are using 247 composite for ratings then only Bobek and St. Juste were 4* players. The others in the last 20 years that I found were Brendan Beal(Florida) and Matt Carufel(Notre Dame) and Joey Hiben(Notre Dame)
 
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noamfromm said:
If we are using 247 composite for ratings then only Bobek and St. Juste were 4* players. The others in the last 20 years that I found were Brendan Beal(Florida) and Matt Carufel(Notre Dame) and Joey Hiben(Notre Dame)
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I use to work with Beal. Good dude. Had so many torn ligaments in his knees. Derailed a promising career. Big gopher fan still.
 

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