[Oskee] Juice benched

[John Livengood]

Actually, more than half of Juice's yardage came in the first half, and much of that in the 2nd quarter when they actually had him throwing the ball down field! I agree his TDs were meaningless, but disagree that he didn't play well. When he was given opportunities to utilize his abilities, he did well.




________________________________
From: Todd Sweet <trsweet at ilstu.edu>
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee at heins.net>
Sent: Monday, October 5, 2009 9:13:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Oskee] Juice benched

 
I agree with you, JL, that Eddie (like
Juice) shows flashes of greatness, and then makes stupid turnovers.  I’m
not sure he’s the answer either.  What I disagree with is you
comment that Juice had a somewhat good game.  Many of his throws were
behind the receivers.  And most of his production came in the 4th quarter.  If McGee had come and scored 2 tds late in that game, everyone
would have discounted them saying he got them during trash time.  That’s
when Juice got his as well.  PSU playing soft to run out the clock and
probably with 2nd and 3rd stringers.
 
I do agree that Juice has had to deal with
the toughest part of the schedule.  Maybe it isn’t fair to pull him
now.  But he doesn’t look like someone ready to confidently lead
this offense at this time, so maybe this will shake things up.  All I know
is I’ve watched way too many football debacles since Macovic left
town.  It’s embarrassing that a school with some very rich football
history can’t at least muster up a mid level bowl game every couple of
years.
 
And let’s not forget who is
responsible for putting this brutal schedule together this season.  Cincy
may turn out to be the best team we play all year. 
 
TS
 

________________________________
 
From:oskee-bounces at heins.net [mailto:oskee-bounces at heins.net] On Behalf Of John Livengood
Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009
7:59 PM
To: Fighting Illini Sports
Enthusiasts List
Subject: Re: [Oskee] Juice benched
 
Also meant to add, I think the real problem has been not
using Juice's strengths, which are running the option and throwing more down
field. I realize teams are taking away the long passes by sitting back in deep
zones, but the option's been working yet we don't run it much. Run that until
they stop it, then see if the safeties might be vulnerable to some passes. But
to keep trying to make Juice into a ball control, short passing QB wasn't going
to work out.
 

________________________________
 
From:Robert
Mingee <mingee at swbell.net>
To: oskee at heins.net
Sent: Monday, October 5, 2009
5:31:10 PM
Subject: [Oskee] Juice benched
I'm sure you've all seen the story by now that Juice has
been benched (though curiously it is not reported on fightingillini.com). 
Opinions?  Personally, I don't see how you can possibly pin the losses on
him entirely, but as the team leader, he's ultimately responsible, and I can't
really blame Zook for wanting to shake things up.  As with last year,
consistency continues to be his biggest problem -- he's either really on or
really off.  I was really shocked to read how bad his stats are, though --
it didn't seem that bad from watching.

>From a purely pragmatic perspective, this season is over before it even really
started -- I don't see any way for this team to make a bowl.  Yes, they
have faced tough competition, but it's not really going to get much easier, and
I just don't see any spark on this team.  It's like they're going through
the motions.  There just doesn't seem to be any hope of them beating a
team that's better than they are, because they are so lacking in
intangibles.  The defense can be exciting at times, but it's so
inexperienced.  And the offense continues to be so much less than the sum
of its parts, for whatever reason.  So I guess there's really nothing much
to lose, except further demoralizing Juice, which really is regrettable. 
He seems like a decent kid, and he's done some amazing work in his career, but
he's just not getting it done.  If there's any hope for next year, it's
getting Eddie some solid experience in this offense.

Sigh.  When does basketball season start again?

-- robert


      
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