I think it comes down to what you’ve seen the kicker do in warm up. If it’s out of his range, it’s out of his range. Honestly, I’m more annoyed that they couldn’t get more yards running the ball on first and second downs.
That's not a surprise. Illinois stacked the line knowing we wanted to keep the clock running. The ball was at the 30 which would have made the FG a 47 yarder. That's the exact distance of the FG Olsen had made a few minutes earlier. Even if you think it's only a 50/50 proposition, you kick the FG to end the game rather than punting. The punt only netted us 10 yards off of field position.
He played Fitzball and managed to walk away with a 2-point win on the road. Not pretty but got the job done.
I agree. Said the same thing earlier in this thread. Olsen's kicks were low all night. If that kick gets blocked and scooped with your field goal unit on the field, you've got nobody that can run down the illinois player. The Bears lost a game to the Lions that way about 45 years ago.
I also agree. As I mentioned earlier this week, the Illini were leading the nation in blocked kicks. I think that factored into the decision.
I have to agree, that is why I won't be sad when he is gone. Our offense has flashes of greatness, then it is rather lackluster. Can't advance the program with an offense like that. You can't keep relying on the D to bail you out every series. The D is good, but not Hankwitz great. McCall was better in that he ran a rather efficient offense it seemed.
I didn't see that interaction, good catch.
Yeah, this team just found ways to win; no idea why but I felt like we'd hold on the whole way even as Illinois got their chances.
If not for multiple INTs and the 2 special teams turnovers we would’ve been blown out by their offense who we almost never stopped otherwise, and our inconsistent offense was a part of the problem.
It was a win, which is the bottom line. Not sure if you can put ugly and fun in the same sentence to really describe something. You should substitute lucky for fun and that would be a more realistic way to describe the game. Our vaunted defense was shredded, the very defense that is usually heart of the team. Bajakian needs to go regardless of what happens in the bowl. I know we put up 45 points, but this offense has been Jeckyl and Hyde for most of the season. We did manage to win in the end, but we can't afford the Cardiac Cat stuff anymore. Next season, no more divisions and 4 new opponents have joined the Conference. Opponents which are usually varying degrees better than most of our Western Division competition.
Sports are fun.
Ok, whatever you say, but I am just glad they got the W. We do need to quit winning ugly though and just outright win.
NU was noticeably better against Maryland, Wisconsin, and Purdue. This one was ugly and fun. Minnesota was flukish.
Yes, still it's 7-5, and with Bryant healthy, it likely would have been 9-3.
And Hollis just quoted that he thought that him and Johnson were the best cornerback duo in the league
We will need an uptick in offensive production from here on out. The defense will not be able to bail us out every game. Our D isn't anything like it was in 2020
Cardiac Cats is a great moniker for a team when you pull off an amazing come from behind win a' la this year's Minnesota game. The last thing you want to do is earn the nickname because you struggle putting games away when you are 2 scores ahead late in the fourth quarter as per Howard, Maryland, Purdue, and Illinois.
