<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div>I'm somewhere in the middle. I still watch without checking the results, because I like not knowing the outcome with 100% certainty (though as noted before it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 90% with no actual knowledge of the results), but it really doesn't leave me upset at all anymore. Completely unlike how pissed I was when the Bears dropped the opener in Lambeau...<br><br>-- robert<br></div><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Ryan Fehrenbacher <rlf1975@yahoo.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List
<oskee@heins.net><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, October 7, 2009 12:42:06 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Oskee] Juice benched<br></font><br>
<div style="font-family: tahoma,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div>I haven't been able to do that myself completely. It doesn't ruin my weekend or the week, but it definitely f&*#s up my saturday afternoon and evening. <br></div><div style="font-family: tahoma,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Chad Kahl <cmkahl@gmail.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee@heins.net><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wed, October 7, 2009 9:37:17 AM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Oskee] Juice benched<br></font><br>
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...<br>
<br>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.<br><br>Chad<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Oct 7, 2009 at 7:32 AM, Arbuckle, Jeanne <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:jarbuck@ilstu.edu" target="_blank" href="mailto:jarbuck@ilstu.edu">jarbuck@ilstu.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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! </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span></p>
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<p><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:oskee-bounces@heins.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oskee-bounces@heins.net">oskee-bounces@heins.net</a>
[mailto:<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:oskee-bounces@heins.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oskee-bounces@heins.net">oskee-bounces@heins.net</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Robert Mingee<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, October 06, 2009 1:08 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Oskee] Juice benched</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Man,
as much as I hate to admit it, I'm really beginning to wonder if in fact that's
not the real problem (that Zook has no idea what he's doing). As all Illini
fans are painfully aware after the Turner era, some coaches - no matter how
nice they are or how good they are at strategy or how hard they work - are
simply not head coaching material. Because of their ability in a
particular area, they end up getting promoted beyond their level of competence
(the Peter Principle?). I just don't get a sense of confidence when I
hear Ron speak. I feel like he's just trying things scattershot to see
what might work rather than having a plan. If the players see that as
well, I can't imagine it does much to inspire confidence in them either.
He's clearly a tireless worker, and seems to know a lot about defense.
But that doesn't make him a great leader.<br>
<br>
All that said, Todd has made some excellent points about Juice. Every
game I've watched has been on Tivo, scanning through huddles and commercials,
just trying to watch in whatever time I have, which usually leads to me being
less than observant, so I've missed a lot of that. Also as much as I hate
it, I'm no longer emotionally invested in this team. I watch all the
games I can get on TV, which is most all of them thanks to the Big Ten Network,
and probably always will, but I don't find myself cheering the good plays and
bemoaning the bad plays like I do when I watch the Bears. I just don't
even care enough to analyze what they're doing anymore. I've become
resigned to the fact that if we're playing a better team, we will lose, and if
we're playing a worse team, we've got a decent but not certain chance to win,
and it just takes all the fun out of it for me.<br>
<br>
But yeah, it's great to have some discussion going on here again -- keep it
coming! I just don't have time to follow high-volume online forums, so
this is my place for talking over the Illini, aside from the very occasional
trip out to join the local Illini club watching a game.<br>
<br>
-- robert</span></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> John Livengood <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:jdlive@yahoo.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:jdlive@yahoo.com">jdlive@yahoo.com</a>><br>
<b>To:</b> Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:oskee@heins.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oskee@heins.net">oskee@heins.net</a>><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, October 5, 2009 10:00:40 PM<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Oskee] Juice benched</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Like
I said, why not make the change earlier in that case? Maybe Coach Zook doesn't
have any idea what he's doing and is simply grasping at straws. Certainly he's
got to realize he needs to get things turned around soon or he's going to be
feeling the heat with only 1 winning season at Illinois in 5 years.<br>
<br>
Also, I don't think Juice is the reason we rank dead last in the Big Ten in
rush defense, 10th in pass defense, last in total defense and last in scoring
defense.</span></p>
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<p style="margin-bottom: 12pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Michael Korst <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:illinir1@comcast.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:illinir1@comcast.net">illinir1@comcast.net</a>><br>
<b>To:</b> Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:oskee@heins.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oskee@heins.net">oskee@heins.net</a>><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, October 5, 2009 10:48:21 PM<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Oskee] Juice benched</span></p>
<div>
<p><span style="color: black;">Perhaps Coach
Zook watched the game film and saw the terrible performance that we
all saw live. In fact, maybe he watched Juice's game film from his
last 5 games.....all losses.</span></p>
<p><span style="color: black;"><br>
----- Original Message -----<br>
From: "John Livengood" <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:jdlive@yahoo.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:jdlive@yahoo.com">jdlive@yahoo.com</a>><br>
To: "Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List" <<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:oskee@heins.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oskee@heins.net">oskee@heins.net</a>><br>
Sent: Monday, October 5, 2009 9:30:02 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central<br>
Subject: Re: [Oskee] Juice benched<br>
<br>
Right, but supposedly Zook left Juice in against PSU so he could "play
through it", i.e. find his game on the field. So he does that, even though
some of it's in garbage time, and NOW you bench him? Doesn't make any sense to
me. If you're going to make that change, should have been done long ago.
________________________________ From: Todd Sweet Sent: Monday, October 5, 2009
9:52:26 PM Subject: Re: [Oskee] Juice benched Well, that’s true, he did have a
few good passes downfield (which I agree is one of his strengths). But without
putting points on the board, those yards are almost as meaningless as the 2 TDs
were at the end of the game. Which brings me to another issue this team clearly
has…and this has nothing to do with Juice. But the stupid penalties are driving
me nuts. And to me, that gets back to the coaching issues. TS ON a
sidenote…it’s nice to see some chatter on the list again!!!!
________________________________ <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:From%3Aoskee-bounces@heins.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:From%3Aoskee-bounces@heins.net">From:oskee-bounces@heins.net</a> [mailto:<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:oskee-bounces@heins.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oskee-bounces@heins.net">oskee-bounces@heins.net</a>]
On Behalf Of John Livengood Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 8:39 PM To: Fighting
Illini Sports Enthusiasts List Subject: Re: [Oskee] Juice benched 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 To: Fighting Illini Sports
Enthusiasts List 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 ________________________________ <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:From%3Aoskee-bounces@heins.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:From%3Aoskee-bounces@heins.net">From:oskee-bounces@heins.net</a>
[mailto:<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:oskee-bounces@heins.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oskee-bounces@heins.net">oskee-bounces@heins.net</a>] 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
To: <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:oskee@heins.net" target="_blank" href="mailto:oskee@heins.net">oskee@heins.net</a> 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 <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://fightingillini.com">fightingillini.com</a>).
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 <br>
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