@TheFieldof68
| Formerly
@247Sports
and
@ESPNCU
| Don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone for any reason ever, no matter what, for any reason
I will forever take with me the memory of Illinois running Duke out of their own gym and Coach K campaigning for the season to be cancelled immediately thereafter
I’m not big on being a meatball fan but I just gotta say: Trent Frazier committed to play for a coach who’s not here, watched 5-6 of his teammates transfer, and saw his role change/decrease a lot. And has never once wavered or sulked. He has grown on me immensely.
FINAL:
#Illini
114, Iowa 24
It started with Fran and Connor McCaffery getting ejected, and ended up being the largest win in program history for Illinois.
Illini now move on to face top-seeded Badgers tomorrow afternoon on CBS.
Produced an interview with Tommy DeVito for
@TheFieldOf12
a few weeks ago. Told him how much fun it was to have football bragging rights over a lot of my co-workers.
Today, out of the blue, Tommy came to my house and hand-delivered a game ball. So that's pretty freaking cool.
Kevin Willard catches a bad Illinois pass before it goes out of bounds, Terrence Shannon argues it should be Illinois’ ball, and Willard has some words for TSJ 👀
If Phillip Rivers, Cam Newton, Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, Tom Brady and Nick Foles are all available in one capacity or another and the Bears end up with Andy Dalton I will
A macro thought now that it's over: what an incredibly consistent year for Illinois
- Lost by double digits once
- Never lost 2 in a row all year
- Just one "bad" loss all year
- Finished 10th in AP Poll
- Finished 11th in NET
- Finished 10th on KenPom
- Finished 11th on Torvik
If you're spending time right now complaining about WHERE Illinois is ranked in the CFP rankings instead of just enjoying the fact that they ARE... I cannot help you
Make of the disappointing 2 week stretch what you will, but Illinois was playing for a Big Ten title spot on the final day of the regular season. Their O/U win total opened at 3.5. They have a chance to get to 9. This season was a tremendous, runaway success, full stop.
I get that RedBox is basically the lowest on the Big 10 bowl totem pole, but:
- 70 and sunny
- On national FOX, not ESPN2/U
- A beatable opponent
What more could you ask for?
If I told you Illinois would:
- Shoot 21% from deep and be tied with 3:08 to go
- Have a wide open 3 to take the lead with 2:49 left
- Hold Edey scoreless for the final 7:37 of the game
...🤷♂️ I feel no different than I did 3 hours ago. That was a fun game.
I’m not kidding you, everyone tried to storm and as god is my witness, the security guard blocking my section yelled “their RPI isn’t even that good come on guys” 😂😂
Produced an interview with Tommy DeVito for
@TheFieldOf12
a few weeks ago. Told him how much fun it was to have football bragging rights over a lot of my co-workers.
Today, out of the blue, Tommy came to my house and hand-delivered a game ball. So that's pretty freaking cool.
Caught up with an old friend today 🤳
To contribute to the ongoing relief efforts in Maui, Illinois and Kansas will play a charity exhibition game October 29 at State Farm Center.
#Illini
|
#HTTO
|
#EveryDayGuys
I promise you I don’t mean this as a slight to Purdue, I really don’t. But Purdue won 9 games.
That Purdue team. Won 9 games.
Don’t tell me the Big 10 West isn’t winnable or that I can’t have higher aspirations for Illinois football.
Relentlessly taunting Paul Mulcahy and relentlessly taunting Johnny Davis feel like two very different things and I would not recommend doing the latter
FINAL:
#Illini
103, Wisconsin 41
An amazing start to the BTT continues. Davison getting ejected after 9 flop warnings helped the cause.
On to the title game tomorrow against either MSU or Maryland, teams that Illinois had dead to rights several times this year.
My uncle hadn’t been back home to an Illinois football game in 10 years. Illinois’ record in my time as a student was 11-31. We were both so desperate for a positive. And then today happened. Honestly, I’d forgotten how much I care. Today was perfect. Don’t know what else to say.
BREAKING: Duke is not planning on playing any more non-conference games, source told
@Stadium
. Obviously, that could change down the road. ... but that’s the plan for now with Coach K and the Blue Devils.
Underwood on the BTN pregame interview: “We need Tevian Jones or Alan Griffin or Samba or one of those guys to step in and provide a spark”
... well, that would first require you to put them in the game, coach.
Iowa is 0-7 against Quad 1 teams. They’ve played more Quad 4 games than any other Big Ten team. They’re in 8th place. They have zero quality wins.
I BEG someone to explain to me how they’re currently top 20 in the metrics and a projected 7 seed
File this under mountains being made out of molehills... but it's been this type of stuff the last month or so that's been really disheartening. TSJ just, walks off as they're about to tip the ball? Underwood has to jump up and tell him to get back
Purdue with their current group:
2020- 9th in B1G, no postseason
2021- 4th in B1G, no BTT title, Round of 64
2022- 3rd in B1G, no BTT title, Sweet 16
This isn’t a dig on Purdue as much as it is a reminder to Illinois fans that yes, despite all the maligning, it could be worse.
Here’s a stat for ya...
Unless Jalen Coleman-Lands (DePaul), DJ Williams (George Washington) or Te’Jon Lucas (Milwaukee) make the NCAA tournament next year, ZERO players from the John Groce era will make the tourney in their careers.
19 players. 0 combined tourney appearances.
I kept telling myself I wasn’t gonna get fired up about it, but it’s hard not to after last night... If Michigan goes 1–1 and Illinois beats OSU, the final standings would be:
1. Michigan (14 wins, 82% win pct)
2. Illinois (16 wins, 80% win pct, 23pt win vs Michigan)
I’m sorry, but that was pathetic. A fringe top 90 team catches you sleepwalking at home for 28 minutes. Then you finally wake up and can’t finish the job. That was the worst of both worlds: a blowout AND a close loss. There’s a lot to fix and you’ve got no time to fix it.
Since the writing is all over the wall...
Thanks, Ben Zobrist. Everyone will remember the World Series hit, but he provided consistent, above average play in a utility role when the Cubs severely needed it. A .284 career avg with the Cubs, and a World Series MVP.
Thanks, Ben.
OK so:
1st Team All-Big Ten: Ayo and Kofi
Honorable Mention: Trent Frazier
All-Freshman Team: Andre Curbelo
All-Defensive Team: Trent Frazier
6th Man of the Year: Andre Curbelo