WIU at University of Illinois (9/12/2015)

[WIU0812]

Norvell sucked, Moore sucked

[sealhall74]

Norvell sucked, Moore sucked

What do they have in common? An offensive line in front of them. LOL

[wiu712]

Western had 5 first downs. UIUC had 27 first downs.

Western had 141 total yards: Rushing= 98. Passing = 43.

UIUC had 500 total yards. Rushing = 147. Passing = 353.

Trenton Norvell was 8 of 18 for 22 yards.

Sean McGuire was 3 of 6 for 21 yards.

Nathan Knuffman punted 7 times for an average of 35.6 yards. Longest punt was 45 yards.

Luke Otto punted 3 times for an average of 32.3 yards. Longest punt was 34 yards.

Attendance at UIUC = 37,733

[Superneck]

How bad was that drubbing? After buying into the whole "rebuilding" thing, and respectable showings at Wisconsin and against last year's FCS final two...I am at a complete loss. Either U of I has decided to play inspired football, or Western is regressing. It may sound bandwagon, but I was set to invest in a weekend road trip to Myrtle Beach to see next week's game. That has now been shelved. That's how bad it was.

[Mizzou Rah]

Very disgusted at the offensive game plan. Middle of the field is wide open and no routes of any kind to middle of the field. Seems like every pass was to the perimeter. Many times Illinois defenders were waiting for the ball to be thrown to the guy they were guarding and sure enough it was!! Tight Ends are not even a consideration in the passing game. This staff is trying so hard to promote Lance Lenoir that they have forgotten that other players actually play. Pretty sure most teams are going to try and take him away. Illinois sure did.

How about some play action? How about some ingenuity? Watching Illinois run motion, play action and their use of TE and fullbacks in the passing game is actually refreshing to watch. It is shocking how bad Norvell looks. He looks straight at a receiver, never looks off. I am told that there are no secondary options on any plays. That is hard to believe but watching him it must be true. Watching Illinois dump balls off to backs for a few yards and watching Western lock on either #1 or #7 every play, wow! If this is the best the coaching staff has to offer we won't win again this season. Good coaches have to adapt to players skills and to defenses, as of the first two games that is not happening. Will be interesting to see how players and staff react to this regression.

I thought the defense played well. Created turnovers and despite being on the field for an eternity they held it together. The kicking game continues to be a joke. The blocked punt, Illinois was in the punter's face so quickly it is surprising they didn't just grab the snap and score. Wow,

[ST_Lawson]

Well...back from the game...not really sure what to say.

I figured we'd end up 1-1 at this point in the season, but I didn't really expect the offense to be as bad as they appear to be at this point. Just couldn't get anything going.

I think that the defense did pretty well on some of the series. They were getting burned by some of the short-ish passes, but were fairly solid on the running game for a while. The problem is, when the offense can't get anything together moving the ball and can't seem to stay on the field for very long, the defense is going to get tired. Illinois had possession for nearly 2/3 of the game. When they were starting after extended rests, they did ok (10 points total in the 1st and 3rd quarters), but when they've been beat down all game and are wearing out, they were have trouble keeping up with the receivers (34 points in the 2nd and 4th quarters). I don't think it was a conditioning thing with them, just a "spending waaaaay to much time on the field" thing. They did end up getting 4 turnovers, which is pretty decent and bodes well for the future. That's 9 turnovers in 2 games so far.

Offensively...can't really say much. O-line seemed bad, Norvell was throwing all over the place (in a bad way), RBs couldn't get anything going. Our top RB again was the freshman McShane. I guess that maybe bodes well for the future of our RB situation, but I don't like where our passing game is heading. Lenoir caught 2 passes and got nowhere (literally 0 net yards). A lot of that was just where the passes where going...over his head mostly, but when they did go his way, the passes were more "east-west" than "north-south" and by the time he got going in the right direction, he had a couple of IL guys on him. Most of the kickoffs went into and through the endzone, so he didn't really get a chance to do much in the kick return game either.

Overall, very disappointing to get completely shut out. I guess the only good thing, I think I only saw one injury on our side and it didn't seem at all serious (ended up getting up and running off to the sideline under his own power).

Gotta move on and get ready for CCU...gonna be a very different environment than U of I, but still very difficult. CCU will likely be 2-0 going into next weekend's game...their first home game on the teal turf.

[ST_Lawson]

Another thought on the defense...I think it was telling that so many defensive players had so many career high tackle performances (Taylor, Griffith, Diggs, Brott, Swenson, Rowe). They were just on the field so damn much that they all had a ton of chances to get in there for tackles. I mean...it's great that they're tackling, but they shouldn't have had to be on the field that much that they all had career numbers.

If we ever figure out our offense, I think we'll do ok, but if we don't, it's going to be a long season with very few wins.

[sealhall74]

Things could be worse. We could all be members of Hogville.net
CCU is winning big. They look (or sound) like legit contenders this year and worthy of #1 ranking.
I am still making trip to Myrtle Beach this coming weekend. The way I see it, whether we win,lose, or draw, a couple of days running on the beach still beats sticking around the homestead.

[Tere North]

Things could be worse. We could all be members of Hogville.net
CCU is winning big. They look (or sound) like legit contenders this year and worthy of #1 ranking.
I am still making trip to Myrtle Beach this coming weekend. The way I see it, whether we win,lose, or draw, a couple of days running on the beach still beats sticking around the homestead.

You may want to be sure to take your beach clothes with you to the game. Unless we magically find some offense, you may be wanting to leave at halftime.

[Western_101]

Thank God we didn't hire Bill Cubiit.

Obviously everything is going according to plans.

Not intending to be a jerk, is it possible, that Coach Nielson is in over his head?