Seen all three discussed here as why we are struggling. "PSU and Nebby were more talented". "We lack energy/effort". "Our coach lacks fire".
As I enjoyed this afternoon''s Illinois loss, it occurred to me that the Illinois has plenty of talent (albeit on the young side), they play with a great deal of energy and effort, and they have a very fiery coach.
So why did the they lose to us, and why do they continue to lose? This afternoon I watched them play a Michigan team who did not have significantly better talent (Wagner can barely jump due to his injury, and one of Michigan''s other key cogs appears to be a fouling machine and hardly played at all), lulled their fans to sleep during large portions of the game, and has a coach who is the opposite of fiery. Yet the Illini lost by ten, and are off to their worst BIG start in 10 years.
Why are they losing? Well, their coach, though fiery, has a defense scheme (press, overplay, then press some more) that is not suited at all to the players he plays. That's fine once you get your players into your system, but it makes little sense to sacrifice your current season for it, which I believe their coach is doing. CC realized this in his first season when he lost games in bunches, before he switched to a pac line type d where he had some success. Hopefully for the Illini's sake, Underwood will realize this as well, or else he will continue to have plenty of games like Michigan, where he had 5 guys on the bench with two fouls in the first half.
This is just one of many reasons why I have seen the Illini lose games; some of which are consistent like the one above, some of which vary from game to game.
Point is, the reasons teams lose can be a LOT more complicated than "the coach lacks fire", or "we lack energy/effort" and can vary from game to game. Some of those reasons can be identified by message board noodnicks such as myself, while others cannot unless you are insider.
As I enjoyed this afternoon''s Illinois loss, it occurred to me that the Illinois has plenty of talent (albeit on the young side), they play with a great deal of energy and effort, and they have a very fiery coach.
So why did the they lose to us, and why do they continue to lose? This afternoon I watched them play a Michigan team who did not have significantly better talent (Wagner can barely jump due to his injury, and one of Michigan''s other key cogs appears to be a fouling machine and hardly played at all), lulled their fans to sleep during large portions of the game, and has a coach who is the opposite of fiery. Yet the Illini lost by ten, and are off to their worst BIG start in 10 years.
Why are they losing? Well, their coach, though fiery, has a defense scheme (press, overplay, then press some more) that is not suited at all to the players he plays. That's fine once you get your players into your system, but it makes little sense to sacrifice your current season for it, which I believe their coach is doing. CC realized this in his first season when he lost games in bunches, before he switched to a pac line type d where he had some success. Hopefully for the Illini's sake, Underwood will realize this as well, or else he will continue to have plenty of games like Michigan, where he had 5 guys on the bench with two fouls in the first half.
This is just one of many reasons why I have seen the Illini lose games; some of which are consistent like the one above, some of which vary from game to game.
Point is, the reasons teams lose can be a LOT more complicated than "the coach lacks fire", or "we lack energy/effort" and can vary from game to game. Some of those reasons can be identified by message board noodnicks such as myself, while others cannot unless you are insider.
