Illinois 28, Ohio State 21 (final)

[sandgk]

So much for that Northwestern education.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by sandgk

So much for that Northwestern education.

An educated dip[censored] is still a dip[censored]...

[NightmaresDad]

Originally Posted by Oh8ch

Other than the slip against Iowa, In their other three road games they beat Syracuse by 21, handed Minnie their worse loss of the season and held Indiana to their second lowest point total of the year.

Illinois' three losses include a four point loss to Iowa where they were intercepted in the end zone on their last drive, a six point loss to the #7 team in the country where they were intercepted at the one on their last drive of the game, and a game where they went into the fourth quarter tied with Michigan.

If we roll we will be the first team to do so.

15.5 is a lot of points.

I'm going to have to agree with buckinfla that they, like most big ten teams, play appreciably worse on the road.

That Iowa game.........anyone who paid to watch it, sponsor it or the broadcast of it, or who had to sit through it as part of their job, should be duly compensated in a class-action lawsuit.
That game was so ugly, it made my eyes bleed - and I only watched part of it.
The Mizzou game was a comedy of errors on both sides. If they give us that many turnovers, we'll win by 40+.

They played MUCH better at home against PSU, Wisky, and for the most part against scUM, but they made too many dumb mistakes to take down the scUMmers.

If they don't turn it over to our D, they wil move the chains enough to keep the number of possessions down, and keep it relatively respectable. I think we cover the spread, though, and Beanie has another big second half.

[Jaxbuck]

Originally Posted by DaddyBigBucks

I searched for this and didn't find it...

I wouldn't be surprised if I missed it, because I expected someone would have commented on it by now...

anyhoo...

Chris Martin of the BTN is at it again. He stated that Illinois will be the first team that matches up with Ohio State athletically.

Seriously.

Gerry DiNardo gave him half a dozen chances to back off. His most charitable offering was giving Martin the opportunity to admit that Illinois didn't have "as many" athletes as Ohio State.

I actually laughed out loud as Martin just dug his hole deeper. He stated categorically that Illinois has as many athletes as Ohio State; that they can go "toe-to-toe" with us. He finished by saying that Ohio State might win but that there was "no way" that they would "out-athlete" Ohio State.

Having given the poor boy plenty of opportunity to back-pedal, Dinardo just punked him up one side and down the other. He said OSU will absolutely out-athlete Illinois, and he asked Martin where he was going to be on Saturday and said he would give him his cell number (the clear implication being that he was going to smack his punk-ass down again when he was proven wrong). Even Dave Revsine got into the act by reminding Chris of how much credibility he'd lost with his comments during the Ball State broadcast.

I'm still laughing.

I haven't caught all of his act this year...what were his comments during the Ball State game?

[Nordberg]

Found this on ESPN. Talking about possible matchups to look for.

ESPN - NCAA College Football

Illinois Offense vs. Ohio State Defense
The ability of Ohio State's defense to overcome the loss of six starters from last year's defense had been in question heading into the season. After ten games, that is no longer the case and it starts in the middle of the field. First-year starting DTs Doug Worthington and Todd Denlinger, who is expected to return from a thigh injury this week, have been stout and that shouldn't change against Illinois. Though Worthington and Denlinger aren't massive interior run stuffers, they are quick, strong for their size and relentless. Meanwhile, OGs Martin O'Donnell and Jon Asamoah as well as OC Ryan McDonald aren't big enough to engulf either defensive tackle or quick enough to consistently beat them to the point of attack. In addition, Ohio State rotates Nader Abdallah and Dexter Larimore into the game so the defensive tackles don't tire as the game wears on. Of course it's impossible to talk about the Buckeyes' interior run defense without talking about arguably the nation's best inside linebacker. James Laurinaitis reads his keys quickly, takes the shortest path to the ball and is powerful tackler who can deliver big hits. As a result, even though RB Rashard Mendenhall is admittedly a strong runner with great size, he shouldn't have much success running between the tackles. Don't expect Illinois to have much success running its option package either and the reason is the linebacker corps. Ohio State actually returned two of its three starters at linebacker and new addition SLB Larry Grant is a senior who appeared in 12 games last year. Not surprisingly, this unit rarely makes mistakes and tackles well. They'll stay disciplined and get into sound position when they see QB Juice Williams and/or backup Eddie McGee, who might spell Williams at times, attack the corner and Mendenhall getting into pitch position.

[Oneshot]

Denlinger should really help shore up the interior run game.

Looking forward to my first game at the Shoe.

Like, seriously.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Oneshot

Like, seriously.

Whooaaaa, duuuude. Fer sher...