[Oskee] FW: Juice benched

Mon Oct 12 14:25:19 EDT 2009

# 15 is Walt Aikens. According to one of the admins on Inside Illini he is the fastest of the safeties. Tavon Wilson, didn't look good against the pass in the first half but really seemed to pickup his play and made several tackles in the 2nd half in the run game, several right around the line of scrimmage.

There was some encouraging plays but overall it was such a frustrating game again. The team seemed to show a little more energy once Juice was back in.

Next season I think depends on the ability of either Charest who will be a redshirt Soph and Steelhaase who will be a redshirt Freshmen at QB. I think those 2 will compete for the job based on how McGee looked.  We should have plenty of skill players back with big play ability the problem has been getting them the ball this year. 

Offense Line has been a problem again this year. Starting we currently have 2 SO, 1 JR and 2 SRs (center and right guard). There are a couple of young Guards that were highly ranked coming out of high school in Pocic and Cornell currently second on the depth chart. Along with QB play, this has to be biggest need of improvement next year. 

I don't know if it is a good thing or not but we should have all the LB back including Martez wilson and the only DB we lose is Hardeman. On the D-Line, the 2 primary DT are both only sophmores and Nurse is a JR so we will have most of the starters back.

________________________________
From: "Arbuckle, Jeanne" <jarbuck at ilstu.edu>
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee at heins.net>
Sent: Mon, October 12, 2009 11:17:14 AM
Subject: Re: [Oskee] FW:  Juice benched

It seems like the talent is much better than the Tepper era, but
I really question whether the coaching is. While the game is on the line, we can’t
do anything right. But once the pressure is off, we looked pretty good. That
has to be coaching.

And I really liked #15 on defense. He seemed to be pretty active
on defense. I don’t think he’s played before. I think his name is something
like Walter Aikens. I can’t find the roster on the web page, so I’m unable to
verify that.

From:oskee-bounces at heins.net [mailto:oskee-bounces at heins.net] On Behalf Of Robert
Mingee
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 9:46 AM
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List
Subject: Re: [Oskee] FW: Juice benched

Well,
so much for that.  I went against what I said I'd always do this weekend
as far as avoiding the score and watching anyway.  We were at Six Flags
all day Saturday, and I wouldn't have had time to watch the game yesterday
because of other commitments, so I actually followed the score on my phone
while we were there, and decided it really wasn't worth staying up late
Saturday just to watch us lose again.  Sounds like Eddie was pretty awful
-- no idea how much of that was the MSU defense and how much was him.

I'm sure I'll continue to watch when I can, but it's clear there's no more hope
to be had for this season.  And honestly, what reason is there to have any
optimism at all going into next season?  I said the same thing after last
season, when clearly we should have been much better than we were, and as much
as I had hoped I was wrong, sadly I was not.  This is not a rhetorical question,
I'm really hoping someone has an answer -- short of a major coaching staff
overhaul, which seems very unlikely in light of Zook getting extended in the
offseason, is there any hope at all we're not in for another humiliating season
next year?  Can this train wreck really be fixed without a housecleaning
from top to bottom?

Someone in this thread said we're not nearly as bad as we were in the Tepper
years, and I agree, but from a purely pragmatic point of view, is it really any
better to lose all of your games against even marginally competitive teams by
an average margin of say 7-10 points instead of 21-28 points?  They all
still count the same in the final record.

-- robert

________________________________

From:"Arbuckle, Jeanne"
<jarbuck at ilstu.edu>
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee at heins.net>
Sent: Thursday, October 8, 2009 3:32:45 PM
Subject: [Oskee] FW: Juice benched

As opposed to really poor planning for Michigan State – I’m
going to the game. I hope Eddie can give the offense an excitement we haven’t
seen yet against a decent team.

From:oskee-bounces at heins.net
[mailto:oskee-bounces at heins.net] On Behalf Of Robert Mingee
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2009 8:55 AM
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List
Subject: Re: [Oskee] Juice benched

Well,
that was good planning -- you saw the part where they didn't look hopelessly
overmatched...

-- robert

________________________________

From:"Arbuckle, Jeanne"
<jarbuck at ilstu.edu>
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee at heins.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 7, 2009 12:14:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Oskee] Juice benched
For the first time in more than 23 years, I actually planned
(and it was my choice) to be somewhere else during the 2nd half. 

From:oskee-bounces at heins.net [mailto:oskee-bounces at heins.net] On Behalf Of Chad
Kahl
Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 9:37 AM
To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List
Subject: Re: [Oskee] Juice benched

I have chosen to detach myself
emotionally from the football team.  I record the game on the DVR and
check on the results before hitting play.  No more allowing a poor
performance to ruin the rest of my day/weekend/week...

I hate being a fair weather fan, but I can't take it anymore.  I reserve
my blind allegiance for the Illini mens basketball team and the St. Louis
Cardinals.

Chad
On Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 7:32 AM, Arbuckle, Jeanne <jarbuck at ilstu.edu>
wrote:
I appreciate the conversation here,
as well. If you put it in my mailbox, I will take time to read it, but I don’t
have time to go looking for it! 

I, too, am starting to question
Zook’s ability as a head coach. I wanted it to work out because on paper, he
recruits great players. Better than we’ve ever had before. But now I’m starting
to question whether they really are better than we’ve ever had. Maybe we are
getting them because they have flaws we don’t realize at the time.

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