Not sure there will ever be a season where we face a gauntlet of QB’s like we did in the first 8 gms
Edited by OB25 on April 30, 2026, 13:21:43
Our first 6 power conference opponents had Ryan Browne and then… Fernando Mendoza Julian Sayian Darian Mensah Jayden Maiava Demond Williams Decent chance that’s four 1st round picks + another guy in Williams that was/is considered a star at the college level. So I do give a bit of a pass to Henry when you take that into account, and that it generally did look better when we played the meh teams in the conference. But Bielema also seemed to genuinely believe that we could make the playoff last year, so with that in mind I can’t really just say “well you can’t blame them for getting torched by all the good teams.” I’m still very happy with where the program is at, it would be impossible not to when comparing to the 20 years prior. But my gut says this last 4 year run is probably going to be the peak, just hope we can avoid too big of a drop off.
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Message Thread | This response ↓
 Football recruiting is looking pretty bleak right now - illini21 April 30, 2026, 8:35:29
- new JUCO commit: 3* DL - ATL May 15, 2026, 15:07:34
- new commit: 3 star LB from St. Laurence - assassin May 15, 2026, 13:23:17
- Indiana keeps rolling. - EffinIllini May 15, 2026, 13:10:06
- The new JUCO TE we brought in was just rated the #1 JUCO TE in the country - JacobRDaugherty May 14, 2026, 21:57:53
- Apparently we offered Dez Bryant’s kid.* - bjl63 May 14, 2026, 18:44:59
- Got another pretty solid OL - OB25 May 14, 2026, 9:03:59
- Signed a Juco TE - jdl May 13, 2026, 18:03:22
- I’m officially starting to get nervous - snipes824 May 12, 2026, 10:51:28
- SJO lineman Cameron Wagner to Oregon* - illini21 May 11, 2026, 12:14:25
- We actually got a commitment and it looks like a pretty good one. - OB25 May 9, 2026, 11:49:44
- Bert’s long time chief of staff heading to Oklahoma. - uofi1998 May 4, 2026, 21:52:17
- Bert on recruiting - illini21 May 1, 2026, 15:41:07
- On the flip side, I was just thinking this week about how we've gone 19-7 with two bowl wins - Blazer April 30, 2026, 16:44:32
- real quick roster glace... I have 92 players who could be back next year (with a 5 in 5 rule) - ijustkrushalot April 30, 2026, 14:25:54
- Let's see how it goes this year. I was a much bigger Aaron Henry defender - JacobRDaugherty April 30, 2026, 8:44:12
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on April 30, 2026, 13:21:17, in reply to "In fairness, I think the defense generally got better as the season went along..."
- osklister April 30, 2026, 16:33:51