I'm not ready to hit the panic button yet. Here are my thoughts:

[*] It was my first time to Memorial Stadium and I really enjoyed the day. I would estimate about 400-500 people from Western made the trip

[*] Offense did not play well. Struggled up front and couldn't get the run or pass game going ...

A few thoughts on the game:
-I think Illinois is a better team with Cubit then Beckman as Coach (if Beckman were coaching, my prediction would be more competitive)
-Illinois was dominant and appears to have a good player or unit on both sides of the ball (my concern is they are big on both lines)
-I ...

I given a lot of thought about this and this is my perspective (long time fan and followed basketball through the Kerwin, Thomas and Coach Mo eras):

1. To parody a quote from Hoosiers, "I'd think it would be a big mistake to let Coach Wright go...give him a chance." No one will dispute the fact it ...

Yeah, a basketball discussion!! (No disrespect to football but I like basketball better; I've been involved with basketball for almost 30 years in some capacity)/

Keys to this year's success:

-Stay Healthy (hopefully no major injuries like in the past)
-Depth (I expect some freshmen to contribute ...

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the schedule. There are several teams that won between 14-24 games last year. I liked Billy's quote about scheduling good teams to challenge his team. 14 home games is better than last year.

A few more thoughts:

-Why do we have to play Greenville College ...

Minus the opening kickoff and the 2nd half, I thought we put up a good fight. We will be fine next week against Drake and I'm liking our chances against NW (the Big 10 is down this year, we might have had a chance to beat Purdue.) I' not aware of any injuries but is Nikko still on suspension?

Here are some possible scoring scenarios:

17: Rushing TD, Passing TD, FG

20: Rushing TD, Passing TD, 2 FG

21: Rushing TD, Passing TD, Defense (or an extra Passing/Rushing TD)


We have 4 RB's that we play (either Nikko pounds it in or JC scores on a semi-long play)

Our defense is capable of ...

We need to get the ball first and score (I was at the game in '06; we kicked off and fooled them with an onside kick, which we recovered. We ran a few plays and kicked a field goal to go up 3-0. Although we ended up losing 34-10, that field goal was a big morale booster). We don't have the firepower ...

Had a chance to scout Wisconsin last night (it makes it easier when they play on National TV):

OFF-They have a BIG O-LINE (typical Badger style); they average about 6'5 and 310lb across the line (rough avg)
Melvin Gordon is a VERY good RB;powerful but has really good speed
They have a 6'6 QB who ...

Any word on the non-con schedule? I know there will be more home games (return games from last year).