thedoctor

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Oct 30, 2007 -> 08:58 PM) How does the IU faithful think this is gonna turn out? Do you think that Sampson might get off easy because of the assistant resigning(ie. taking the bullet)? personally, the only fallout i see happening is perhaps some damaged recruiting relationships with some of the east coast kids senderoff was after. from what i've read, he was the lead recruiter on ebanks, lance stephenson, and a few others. so, possibly there are issues there. otherwise, i don't really expect much. the ncaa isn't quite as punitive as it used to be, so i don't expect a severe punishment. a worst-case would probably be a postseason ban next year.

crandall head decision not coming soon probably a good move for the young man. you need to take your time and scope out all your options before making this kind of choice. still, i'm pretty confident where he'll end up.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 11:33 PM) Do they really need to promo that game? This has been an important, end of season game for how long? It seems a bit odd. i agree with you but i can't really speak to the reasoning behind it. i thought the same last year when ohio state-northwestern was picked as the 330 national game the week before osu-mich. that game was just a four-hour buckeye-wolverine commercial.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 07:24 PM) Well, it's only 27 starts because he constantly got hurt before last season. He's been in the league 5 years though in the same system and still shows basically no ability to read a defense or find secondary options. I mean come on, his BEST start at the beginning of this year was 20-34 for 160 yards with a TD and 2 INT's. I really don't think he's suddenly going to go out and show anything different, not when the line still sucks and the receivers often drop balls on the rare occasions that he actually does put it in the right place. There's really no point in playing him, nothing good will come of it, and if by some miracle he did perform well they might be tempted to re-sign him and start this s*** all over again. for the record, this is grossman's third year in this particular system. first year he had shoop, the second shea, and then turner. i don't harbor any illusions that grossman is the short-term or long-term or any kind of answer. he isn't. that said, despite the performance against the eagles (which was great, no doubt) griese has been as bad or worse than grossman was. when we made the move i said i felt we were trading a young, immobile, mistake-prone quarterback for an old, immobile, mistake-prone quarterback. i haven't seen much that would change that opinion. besides, as many people said a few weeks ago, the offensive problems go way past the quarterback position. i'd imagine that either griese or grossman would perform better if they had a line that could block, a running back that could run, or receivers that could catch. we have none of that.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 06:49 PM) Boekman has to have a bad game for OSU to lose, which is quite possible. The wrinkle is that every week Tres puts something new in the game plan that the other team doesnt prepare for as well. This next game I expect to see more of Saine out of the backfield and also as a receiver. They will also focus on Ray Small's speed advantage over the Wisco DB's. yeah, there would have to be a turnover factor i think to help wisconsin. which could happen. i don't expect it, though. osu looked really, really good against penn state. i think they had some of the best play-calling i've seen in the tressel era in that game. the touchdown to hartline was a thing of beauty. great in concept and called at the perfect time.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 06:45 PM) Im lucky and have RCN so I get BTN. But its pretty lame, I guess there is a clause that each Big 10 team has to be on BTN 1 time, and OSU had to be on this week or next (obviously UM v OSU will not be on BTN). Some think since OSU was on ABC the last few weeks they put this game on BTN so that they can have OSU the next few. Not really sure Wisconsin has any chance (they looked good the last 2 weeks but so what), but still surprising its not on national tv. i think wisconsin has a chance, but they have to play their best game. in terms of this game being on, i think abc wanted the illinois-osu game the following week so they could promo the hell out of osu-michigan. they did this last year with the osu-northwestern game.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 06:35 PM) Looks like UW v OSU will be on Big 10 network. boo.

iu assistant senderoff resigns over phone violations

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 02:56 PM) How interested is he in illinois? i'm not sure. i'm just fairly certain he will be a target given his skills and illinois's needs for a pg in that class.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 02:40 PM) time for the bulls. lol. here, here.

so, looks like all of our quarterbacks suck. time for kyle?

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Oct 29, 2007 -> 02:19 AM) The unreal recruiting turnaround for Weber continues. Crandall Head is from Rich South by the way. Oh, and the HS basketball shootout at Assembly Hall has become an absolute must see for Illini fans. Richmond, Bertrand, Paul, Richardson, and Head will all be there. Plus, Whitney Young is playing and they have our current top target Anthony Johnson (2010) as well as having a bunch of other talented guards (Chris Colvin, Marcus Jordan, Ahmad Starks, etc.). For the first time Weber can actually kind of wait for a recruit without feeling the pressure of the world collapsing if he misses. I really think we put the full court press on AJ and kind of wait him out now as the last guard in those two classes. getting crandall this week would be huge on many levels. it essentially leaves two scholarships available for the next three years which you'd have to think would create more of a sense of urgency for the guys vying for those spots. for the 2010 class you have the luxury to have one scholarship out there for a.j. or dority, both of whom are likely going to end up as top-50 point guards in that class.

looks like 2010 swingman crandall head (rich central) will make his college choice this week. it's expected head (luther head's brother) will choose illinois. also, zook a committment from homewood-flossmoor's suppo sanni (lb/s).

four-star defensive tackle reggie ellis selects illinois he had offers from alabama, maryland, michigan, boston college, and penn state among others.

anyone see rick nash's goal tonight?

five-star quarterback blaine gabbert decommits from nebraska he visited missouri last weekend.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Oct 24, 2007 -> 04:40 PM) Juice didn't kick into high gear in High school until his Junior year. He's been serviceable the last two years in the passing game, this year is worse than last, but I think it's just a matter of confidence in his receiving core. They are all going to grow together, McGee included, and with that growth should come better results. I would LOVE 8-4. In fact, I would LOVE 7-5. Just the fact that this team won a couple of Big Ten games gets my teeth a-chatterin'. i agree and disagree on juice's performance. on one hand, he's hit many fewer big plays than last year. on the other, his completion percentage is up about 15 points and he's been more efficient. i do think your point about the receiving corps is well-taken. frankly, our receivers are not very good. we have some talent, but outside of benn who is a real big ten caliber receiver at this point? we have some guys with talent (gamble, morgan, cumberland, etc.) but they've all been inconsistent and struggled catching the ball, whether eddie or juice has been throwing the ball. i think it is going to take another year for our passing game to develop to a serviceable level, which to me makes perfect sense when you consider the key players in the passing game are all freshmen and sophmores.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Oct 24, 2007 -> 02:48 PM) But thats been because they cant throw and have stressed the run. If you have this "great" runner that everyone talks about he should be able to run off of any formation and scheme. IMO Ill is too talented to run the option. I leave that to teams like the service academies and alot of high school teams that need to run those plays because they are inferior talent-wise. i think the idea that illinois is too talented for anything is false. yes, we have some skill players who were highly recruited, but at this point talent and production are not matching. as i mentioned, the great majority of our most talented players are young and it's going to take time for them to develop. outside of benn, who would be a consistent receiver on this team? as to the option reference, i disagree. florida runs a version of the spread option that's pretty much the same as illinois. so does west virginia. i think if you look across the country you'll find plenty more than the service academies employing this kind of scheme. hell, in the big ten alone you have four or five teams going to this approach. and besides, the illini run almost as much straight i-formation as they do option, so i'm not sure your point about mendenhall running out of different sets is valid.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 24, 2007 -> 02:46 PM) Really? How did that work for them in the Iowa game? Or the Michigan game? Lots of rushing yards? I'm not saying that can't be a component to the offense, but it's really not hard to understand why a bottom-feeder team can lead a conference in rushing - thats all they did to move the ball. The passing game is one of the worst (if not THE worst) in the big ten, and damn near the bottom in all of d-1a. well, i won't argue that i wish our passing game was improved. but considering our quarterbacks our sophomores, our tight ends our sophomores, and our best receivers are a freshman and a sophomore, i think it's to be expected that we'd struggle in that area. and sure you can cite that the running game bogged down in two games (against michigan only because it was abandoned for some odd reason), but it is also the primary reason we're in bowl contention. this offense is not going to hang its hat on its passing game. it just isn't, whether eddie mcgee is the quarterback or not.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 24, 2007 -> 01:55 PM) They stress the option because they have no passing game. McGee gives them a passing game. I think the decision is pretty simple. i'm pretty sure they stress the option game because they've been the best running team in the league for the past two years. you play to your strengths.

they're still playing baseball?

florida wr fred sykes selects illinois over kentucky, south florida, central florida, and arizona state.

four-star florida de corey liuget commits to illinois

you can make a lot of excuses but illinois just made too many mistakes to win a game against a good team. man for man, the wolverines are more talented, so you have to play a pretty sound game to win. the illini didn't.

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Oct 19, 2007 -> 10:45 PM) stop talking about us.....just let us have fun beating teams in th state of kansas. looks like warriner's working out for you guys.