The Deuce: It takes more than 6 quarters to know what you have and young teams can get better as the year goes

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It takes more than 6 quarters to know what you have and young teams can get better as the year goes

Posted by illiniranger

on September 11, 2026, 11:54:05, in reply to "While the missed tackles are probably due, in part, to lack of practice"

On. Performance is non linear. We could look good tomorrow and still play like shit in conference play. We could look bad and get better. We’ve got to get at least 4 or 5 games into the season to have a good idea of the teams strengths and weaknesses.

Previous Message

mediocre players are also mediocre at playing football, so some is also due to playing guys who are in over their heads.

By halftime Saturday, I think we will know what we have here. If we can't force Duke to throw it's gonna be a long afternoon.

83

Message Thread | This response ↓

Duke Gameweek. Illini (-7.5). - ATL September 7, 2026, 06:51:49

Matelau out today too* - snipes824 September 12, 2026, 14:05:05
- That’s a disaster. * - assassin September 12, 2026, 14:08:24
I really think we’ll come out and play much better today* - John Coctostan September 12, 2026, 10:18:25
- Old saying about "you improve the most between Games One and Two" comes to mind. - osklister September 12, 2026, 12:53:50
Really big one today. Just like last year. And the Kansas series* - opossum jenkins September 12, 2026, 09:58:45
2027 WR commit Bennett Konkey has a couple of TDs against Wheaton Warrenville South - Gene Parmesan September 11, 2026, 20:58:44
Stars and Slants - jdl September 11, 2026, 16:42:39
I know it was one game vs a poor defense but not sure how much better Houser could’ve looked - CanHartlebHireSnider September 11, 2026, 12:09:01
Bump... - uofi1998 September 11, 2026, 10:34:25
- I'm scared to talk about them, need to see more before I can definitively say anything of value - OrangeSox September 11, 2026, 11:52:50
- While the missed tackles are probably due, in part, to lack of practice - bjl63 September 11, 2026, 11:48:58
  - Maybe it turns out we can’t tackle, but upon reflection I was actually heartened by that D - snipes824 September 11, 2026, 12:17:22
    - IDK... I think we had some guys shooting gaps, but I thought we got blown off the ball a lot. - uofi1998 September 11, 2026, 12:19:17
      - Over the course of the game it was obviously some of both. How it looks this week will tell us a lot - snipes824 September 11, 2026, 12:24:35
  - It takes more than 6 quarters to know what you have and young teams can get better as the year goes - illiniranger September 11, 2026, 11:54:05
- I feel like your last sentence is kind of indicative of the mindset among the online fanbase - OB25 September 11, 2026, 11:39:43
  - The OL scares me too - especially the right side... we've shown an inability... - uofi1998 September 11, 2026, 11:52:32
    - Game is sold out tomorrow and I'm pretty sure most know we're watching a 5-7 win team this year - OrangeSox September 11, 2026, 11:58:11
      - Just get 6* - bjl63 September 11, 2026, 12:11:50
      - Lagging indicator... we drew a shit ton of fans in 2008 also. - uofi1998 September 11, 2026, 11:59:20
    - The vast majority of Illinois fans are going to be happy with 7 wins, esp with a good basketball tm - illiniranger September 11, 2026, 11:55:34
      - Quit drinking 5 months ago... as sober as a monk. - uofi1998 September 11, 2026, 11:56:54
Illini -6 now with o/u 51.5. Not sure why the move other than random betting. - ibdoc September 9, 2026, 11:08:55
- SP+ has it ~ Illinois -3 - illiniranger September 9, 2026, 13:26:17
  - We dropped 13 spots in SP+ - CanHartlebHireSnider September 9, 2026, 13:52:37
    - seems like a lot given how much preseason data remains baked in - illiniranger September 9, 2026, 14:10:11
      - Sounds right to me... just eyeball test through 1 week.* - uofi1998 September 9, 2026, 14:32:52
- Bettors have more access than ever to information. - uofi1998 September 9, 2026, 11:17:43
  - I am not a Manny Diaz fan so I expect some undisciplined moments from Duke* - bjl63 September 9, 2026, 11:22:51
    - The thing I like is Houser is experienced with the quick hit game... and Dixon... - uofi1998 September 9, 2026, 11:52:51
      - We flipped the momentum in the Duke game last year with the 3rd and mega-long screen pass to Clement - OB25 September 9, 2026, 12:11:15
        
        the game last year was very close, except for the turnovers - illiniranger September 9, 2026, 13:42:21
      - I mean, I'm on year 24 of thinking maybe we'd get the TE's more involved in the passing game - ijustkrushalot September 9, 2026, 11:57:21
        
        said this before because bitching about TEs is a theme here. - illiniranger September 9, 2026, 13:32:15
        
        Werner and Wagner talk about TE production constantly - bjl63 September 11, 2026, 11:41:51
        
        Exactly. THIS is the week the TE’s breakout. Lunney spent time with Ben Johnson so it has to happen* - DocWalk20 September 9, 2026, 12:17:28
        
        I’ve long ago given up on it ever being more than we’ve seen the last couple years - OB25 September 9, 2026, 13:32:35
i don't feel great about this game - illiniranger September 8, 2026, 10:03:17
- Bobby’s comments this week bothered me. - opossum jenkins September 9, 2026, 08:07:34
  - Are we taking coaches at their word on game planning?* - ATL September 9, 2026, 08:10:47
    - Particularly in football, never believe anything a coach says* - bjl63 September 9, 2026, 11:23:28
    - We know BB doesn't tell the whole truth on injuries, so game planning shouldn't be any different* - uofi1998 September 9, 2026, 10:26:17
- I'm not sure there's a massive dropoff to Laughery... I'd like to see them combine for 25-30 touches - uofi1998 September 8, 2026, 11:05:55
  - Agreed. Both have good vision, speed and lateral quickness - Blazer September 8, 2026, 13:45:39
- Soft! We win 33-14.* - Warrin'_Illini September 8, 2026, 10:24:38
A tweet about Houck’s defense - gvibes September 8, 2026, 07:46:01
Agree with this, I think we’ll get better at tackling as the season wears on - illiniranger September 7, 2026, 15:21:05
- my general thoughts after a few sleeps on it - ijustkrushalot September 8, 2026, 09:05:29
  - i think we were vanilla by design - illiniranger September 8, 2026, 10:01:33
Platt and Henderson both out and Bret not ruling out it being as much as 4-6 weeks for both - OB25 September 7, 2026, 14:28:49
Now illini -6.5. O/u 53.5 - redgrange77 September 7, 2026, 13:43:14
- Will Duke attempt more than 10 passes?* - LeatherneckIllini September 7, 2026, 14:07:33
  - gotta sell out to stop run - Poldark September 7, 2026, 14:22:00
Sellout - biclops September 7, 2026, 12:34:57

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