Scouting U of I for 9/12 game

Fri Sep 04, 2015 1:24 pm

Just wanted to mention to anyone who might be interested...
Illinois, who just fired their head coach last week is taking on Kent State in their season (and home) opener tonight at 8 PM. It'll be on the Big Ten Network (BTN) for those of you who get that channel.
Besides the fact that we play them next weekend, other "Western connections" are:

U of I's starting QB, Wes Lunt, is the younger brother of former Leatherneck QB, Wil Lunt
U of I's interim Head Coach, Bill Cubit was a finalist for our HC position when we ended up hiring Coach Nielson.

WIU0812 · Fri Sep 04, 2015 1:31 pm

Supposedly they just suspended two of there starting defensive players or at least that is the rumor I heard.

Fri Sep 04, 2015 1:55 pm

WIU0812 wrote:Supposedly they just suspended two of there starting defensive players or at least that is the rumor I heard.

Not just a rumor. And they have a lot of defensive players that have injuries that will cause them to miss at least the first few games of the season (and in one or two cases, the full season). Their defense is going to be pretty thin...although "pretty thin" when applied to the depth of a Big 10 defense is still going to be tough.

WIU0812 · Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:09 pm

I am going to go to my local sports bar and make them put it on their big screens so everyone can watch WIU shock Illinois! I have a wedding later in day or I would be down there.

sealhall74 · Fri Sep 04, 2015 3:09 pm

Hope Illinois kicks the crap out of Kent State. We can beat wounded tiger but a WOUNDED tiger, that is a whole 'nother ball game.

Sat Sep 05, 2015 7:56 am

Thunderstorms around Champaign repeatedly delayed the start of the game, eventually causing them to postpone it until today.
Game will be played at (I believe) 1 PM this afternoon (Saturday) and will be available on BTN2GO (http://www.btn2go.com/), the online streaming "arm" of the Big Ten Network.

I also would like to see Illinois win against Kent State. They come off feeling good and maybe a bit overconfident, I think we've got a shot at beating them. They lose and next week could be their "wild animal backed into a corner" game. I don't think we want that. Plus, I do like Illinois and generally root for them outside of when we're playing them.

wiu712 · Sat Sep 05, 2015 9:24 am

Saturday's televised Missouri Valley Conference Football Games:

11 AM on the Big Ten Network: Illinois State at Iowa.

11 AM on Fox Sports-Midwest: South Dakota State at Kansas.

3 PM on ESPN News: SIU-Carbondale at Indiana.

Sat Sep 05, 2015 2:43 pm

Illinois up 38-0 at halftime against Kent State.

Sagarin has Kent State listed at #138 and Illinois at #74
Western is #148

Sat Sep 05, 2015 4:30 pm

Looks like it's a 52-3 win for Illinois. I'll break down stats and analyze later, but it looks like we'll have our work cut out for us next weekend.

Western_101 · Sun Sep 06, 2015 1:25 pm

I'm stoked that the Illinois game week has finally arrived. This Illinois team seems to have really responded well to the change in leadership.

Kent State is awful, not sure how to gauge this Illinois team just yet, but I suspect WESTERN will have their hands full.

Since the UofI folks have decided to make this a "white out" game maybe I can talk my wife into wearing Purple. My reasoning is it would be rude to wear orange when told to wear white. My nephew is a Jr. at U of I so I guess one of us should show support for his school (ain't gonna be me

)

I have decided that Reuben Breakfast sandwiches will be on the tailgate menu.