Illini grade vs. Michigan: F
Player of the game: Denard Robinson
Have you seen anything else like him? His 41 career rushing touchdowns are tied for third all time at Michigan. He’s also the eighth Big Ten player with 10,00 yards of total offense.
Offense
Illinois: F
Michigan: B
Twenty-five passing yards. No scoring. Countless dropped passes. Who says we’re too negative? Our grading scale doesn’t drop below an F.
Defense
Illinois: F
Michigan: A
Michigan’s Jake Ryan and Illinois’ Mike Svetina hail from the same high school in Ohio. Here’s hoping Svetina mirrors Ryan as an upperclassman.
Special teams
Illinois: F
Michigan: C
Illinois had a punt “return” of 15 yards. It came when Michigan was penalized for nailing punt returner Tommie Davis prior to the catch. Progress.
Overall
Illinois: F
Michigan: A
Tim Beckman’s old club, Toledo, played down the road at Eastern Michigan. The teams combined for eight TDs — in one quarter. Illinois has three — in 12 Big Ten quarters.
We hired the wrong coach. Just like Colorado did with Dan Hawkins, we did with Beckman. The real coach of Boise State is still the current coach of Boise State. Colorado got scammed with Dan Hawkins. The REAL coach of Toledo was the offensive coordinator last season and he's now the current head coach. We got the current Dan Hawkins, aka Tim Beckman.
We are the Colorado Buffs from 3-4 seasons ago. Admit the mistake. Tim Beckman was NOT the reason the Rockets were successful. The current head coach of Toledo, former o coordinator, is the reason Beckman got the Illinois job.
We are screwed. We got scammed. Beckman hasn't upheld the standard of Illinois football. He should be dismissed immediately before the mistake compounds, ala the Dan Hawkins era in CU.
The offensive coordinator should be fired.we havent scored more than 14 points in any big 10 game. There should be a mercy rule in football. Right now we would have trouble beating a division 3 team.
We are the worst and most unwatchable team in the Country. How fast we have fallen. DOES ANYONE HERE KNOW HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL??
We saw these grades most of last year and hear we go again. I expect to see a report card like this maybe once every 5 years. MT needs to be pulling his plan B together now, which is identifying fantastic assist coaches for O and D for next year and putting Timmy on a very short leash with no extentions beyond 2014 if 2013 looks like 2012.
We need to start circling the wagons.
You all wanted change. Now you got it. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Ron Zook is laughing his butt off right now. Maybe now we all realize how hard he worked just to try and put a team out on the field that was competitive. He won 7 games the last two years with pretty much this same team. Beckman was suppose to be the hero, instead he is a bull in a china shop destroying any resemblance of a program we had.
Lets be clear , the coordiantors Zook was forced to hire saved his butt and bought him some time. I see you love Ron , but I remember early on he defined himself with the forearem shiver he delivered to a player that made a mistake ( was shown on National TV). Zook reminded me of Woody Hays without a good assistants.
Illinois will not win again this year and may not score again either. It is not the players fault; it is our terrible coaches fault! We have way too much talent on this team to look so awful. We lose lots of players after this season, so next year we may only win one game; Southern Illinois; maybe.
I note Louisianna Tech losing to Texas A&M 24-0 in first half. The fact Thomas had to settle for Beckman tells me someone made the wrong choice hiring Thomas!
We can't afford 3 head coaches' salaries so we are stuck with Beckman for at least this year and next and probably 2014 as well no matter how bad things get. And, right now, they are pretty darn bad. This team is virtually unwatchable! I have not seen a less interesting Illini team since Tepper's final season. And, at least that season we took comfort in knowing the coach was going to change and we would start anew.
At this point, I am just looking for something to hang my hat on to say we're getting better and I can't find anywhere on the field (or the sidelines or the A-D's press box office suite) where that is the case. November in Memorial Stadium is going to be a ghost town--and it should be!
C'mon, Coach Beckman, give me something to show up for and have hope for the future or this 21 years' season tix holder will be in the wind along with everyone else!
It looks to me that we have some decent tight ends but we hardly throw to them. Post them in the middle of the field and throw to them. Find someone who can protect the QBs blind side. I don't know how many times he has been blind sided. There is NO offensive blocking for the pass or run. They should be able to do one or the other or find a freshman who tries. Cull the jr colleges--especially CA and TX and find some decent players for next year or else.
"We can't afford 3 head coaches' salaries so we are stuck with Beckman for at least this year and next and probably 2014 as well no matter how bad things get."
Whether or not we can afford to pay millions of dollars for "paid not worked", as a former employer used to call it, should be determined by doing a financial analysis. Assuming we continue to lose for the foreseeable future with this motley crew, we need to know how much revenue is being lost when attendance drops by 10,000 20,000 or 30,000 per game. How much revenue does each customer generate for ticket price, parking, concessions, team gear, etc.? Crunch those numbers under various assumptions and see if it might be more advantageous to dump these guys prior to their contracts expiring.
RonZookIsMyCoach...
Zook/Guenther are the biggest reason we are in this position. This is not substantially the same team. We lost several good players to the NFL and we lost our miracle working DC. The offense and special teams weren't any better last year and how soon we forget how the last 6 games of the regular season went. How many years has it been since we have competed in the Big 10? We are the new Indiana and that is a big hole to climb out of.
We pay Coach Zook $145,833 per game NOT to coach us, so we could have this??? Right now the NC defense is ranked 20th in the country overall, while the Illini are 115th overall!!!
Ouch.
If the Illini are looking for a head coach next season, make Coach Vic the first interview.
C'mon, who are we kidding if we think this team is full of talent. There isn't a solid Big10 WR or QB on the offense. Defenses know our WRs can't get open past 5 yards and the QBs can't throw with accuracy downfield. Only offense is Scheelhaase scrambling for 5 yards or throwing a horizontal pass 1-5 yds. How hard is that to defend? The coaches may or may not be worth a crap, but it's hard to tell with the lack of serious Big 10 talent on offense. A spread offense may not be the way to go in the Big 10.
The defense has some talent, or so we might have been misled to believe. Green and Hawthorne are over-rated. Hawthorne is injury prone on defense, he should have been a WR from day 1. After last year, we definitely expected more from the defense. OKState OC Todd Monken was my preference for coach, but MT wanted experience. Experience may not matter. We'll find out in three years; that's what TB will be given since he's owed five years. We need offensive play makers to turn the team around...Mike White knew that.
blmillini- come on, at least we were decently competitive under Zook. We are nowJOKE MATERIAL. This cupboard was not bare for this year and those who say it was, are only fooling yourselves. Under Zook 2011 beat ASU by 3, Only beat WMU by 3 but we had a bad game and they had a good one, lost to PSU by 3 due to some bad ref calls-oh and our fullback went towards the line when we were scoring the winning touchdown, lost to Michigan by 17 and only by that much because of a pick 6 the Scheel threw. Gee this year PSU lost WAY more than we have- lost by 28 a 25 pt difference. Lost to ASU by 31, LA freakin tech by 28 and michigan by 45 and our best chance at scoring was a 50 yard field goal attempt!!! If Zook had done that, you'd have been threatening his children! Common people, those of you who wanted Zook gon-YOU GOT IT! Yep, he lost 6 games in a row, by the way he also had won 6 in a row- we went to a bowl game. You think that's going to happen this year? NO! 7 Returning starters on "O", 8 on "D" and we got a return specialist for punts. Look everything and Ray Charles could see this is a BAD SITUATION. oh and those who wished Zook gone after 2009 season (that I spent in Afghanistan!) The facts- Lost by 1 to Fresno st, by 13 at Cincy( who was ranked 5th at that time), NW by 5, by 10 MSU & Purdue- I think we would all take those results now! Beckman is not the answer but our AD won't have the balls to make a change after this year. He'd have to admit he was wrong and this jerk, will not admit to anything. Sorry for any mispellings or bad grammar but I hope everyone gets the point. As bad as I feel, still GO ILLINI!
Coach "Beans and Weenies" is in way over his head. Toledo OC Campbell would have been a better hire as everyone knows he was the brains behind the operation at Toledo. MT needs to admit he made a mistake and cut his losses now before attendance hits below 20,000. I got a chuckle today when I was in Game Day Sports and they had Tim Beckman "Dawn of a New Era" t-shirts for $5. They probably couldn't get any takers even if they were free!
I understand the passion fans feel right now. It is so easy to be frustated and embarassed. I'm an Illini fan, who has bled orange and blue, since graduating in the 70s. 30 years of season tickets allowed me to see many highs and lows. I sat through Moeller's tenure (every game) and experienced the ups and downs of every coach Illinois has hired (and each coach has had them, including White). In my opinion, what makes this season so frustrating is the belief (with no proof otherwise), that Beckman was hired above his capabilities. In other words, he's a good coach at some level, but (perhaps) not this one. Add to that Illinois' history of mediocrity, fans expectations (realistic or not), and the fact that turning a football team around requires a mega effort (including stars alligning) and you have a toxic environment for a program wanting desperately to succeed. In some ways, I feel like I do with the country facing a $16 trillion debt (a whole other topic). My observations don't count for much but they are: 1) Beckman and his coach's have a BIG learning curve (not his fault, but a fact and one Illinois could have avoided), 2) the whole of Illinois' players aren't as good as the whole of 11 other Big Ten teams (yes, we have exceptions, but, you need players who set the standard, not those who aspire, kind of like coaches), 3) the conditioning of the current, lesser players isn't getting the job done (call me anal, but I don't see energy, muscle definition, lasting game power, or other things good conditioning results in), 4) chronic injuries make me refer back to #3, 5) players seem "broken" in spirit and so do the coaches, and ....so much more including execution, play decisions, etc. My head understands "give him three years" and "he needs to have his own players" and "gosh it was so broken" (referring back to the political parallel "we inherited such a mess from Bush.") Right now, the Illini football atmosphere is so toxic it's "scary." I don't have answers....I hope Thomas and Beckman do (they're getting paid the big bucks). I continue to hope for the best and pray I have enough life left to see Illinois in another bowl game soon (and the Cubs win the World Series.)
Let's start with a search for a new Athletic Director, it seems as though he is in love with everything Mid-Conference. Then let's move on to replacing Beckmen, his offensive coordinator, the defensive coordinator and move on down the line.
Why in the world would you consistantly throw the little dump passes that nets you a minus 1 yard so many time in a game? Or on third down there isn't a passing play where the reciever goes a yard or two beyond the first down marker...always a yard or two short. Believe it or not I believe we have a good defense that gets extremely tired from being on the field 70 to 80 percent of the time.
When Becken was hired and before the Illini played a single game I stated on here that Illinois would be lucky to win 4 games this year, looks like 2. All the hype that came with Beckmen's hiring was a smoke screen for the ineptness of the person doing the hiring.
The key to the whole offensive thing is the offensive line. Why Illinois cannot consistently recruit at that position is a mystery. Give this or any other team solid linemen and they \will become competitive. They will open holes for the runners, give the quarterback time to search out his receivers, and help keep the qb healthy. Solve this mystery and you solve the problem. Pretty simple isn't it?
First we can affored to pay 3 coaches at the same time but the new coach would have to be paid more than the other 3 combined. And if we do not change things you will be lucky to see 20,000 show up at the remaining home games. I will not be there, and I have season tickects. I suspect that most people that have tickets will think long and hard before they committ to buying next year also. I am not going to buy season tickets but if I feel the need to be at the game will find plenty at 25% of value.
I am calling the ticket office Monday and ask if I can buy 6 tix at 50% off in the remaining home games. If they say no I am going to call MT's office and ask for the same.
Given how poor tix sales and attendance are going If more of us did this I believe they would realize this is what fans demand for the flawed product they are still getting. Full price - why?
Season ticket holders, call the ticket office tomorrow and ask for a refund to the remaining games! At this rate they should be paying the fans to attend these nightmares. Why buy season tickets when you can buy tickets outside the stadium for $5? Can't afford to buy TB out? Actually we can't afford to NOT buy him out. Just as another poster said.....do the math, when the attendance is 15,000.
At the time the Illinois AD, football and MBB head coaches were hired, the hires were widely perceived in the African-American community as examples of institutional racism... just as Andrew Luck's winning the Heisman last year would have been in that same community. Now that the football program has tanked, both the AD and the football head coach are being called ignorant small town fools... reverse racist talk for Caucasians... all over the Chicago papers and the comments here are taking the same sort of line.
It is ugly stuff, and it needs to be challenged. Neither the AD nor the head coach have done anything justifying the sort of lynching being called for... it can only be for what they are... or should I say, aren't.
Coach Beans and Weenies shouldn't even get the Weenies this week. This was as bad an outing as Illinois has played in the last 10 years. The Offensive playcalling was unimaginative, the defense was blitz-less and the Special Teams were well horrible is being kind. Mike Thomas needs to re-think what is going on. We as fans can't take much more of this, much less 3 more years of TB.
Banks has to go. - He is defenseless.
La Illini.
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