Inside Info Illinois Book Report

[Faux Sean Callahan]

I am going to try and do this for every B1G team and OU. I am going to give a dive into the teams strengths, weaknesses and I will let you know what my email to coach Frost says of what I think we should do.

Defensive side..

• The defense of Illinois has 1 good player and he might be their best player overall. It is there ILB Hansen. This guy is looking to be an early to mid round guy and on the Pre Season all conference list. He is switching from his Will spot to ILB.
• The next best spot for Illinois is going to be their OLBs where I will say they will be ok, but nothing earth shattering. They have some experience returning.
• Upfront is going to be a big problem for them. These guys were all recruited for a 4 man front. They are just going to be too small to run their 3 man front. I expect them to be trying active with this group given how they are undersized.
• Their secondary is just not good. They are just not very athletic. They wont be able to man up against our WRs.

Offensive side..

• Peters is their QB. He is a good player for them. I think he is gong to struggle this year given the lack of talent at WR.
• OL is a pretty good unit. Their OTs and C are the strengths, but the OG leave a lot to be desired. Both of their OG are transfers from lower levels and frankly aren't ready for B1G football. They have 2 decent TEs.
• RB is another strength. It is also the 1 spot they actually have decent depth there. Brown is the guy who leads them here. I think given this and their WR room they will try and run the ball a ton vs us.
• WR is the weak link of this unit. This unit will probably be the worst group in the B1G.

Game plan

• Establish a RB run game early.. They don't have a very big DL and we should be able to wear them down quickly. This is a great match up to establish who you want to be long term here. There will be some opportunity if we can take care of the front 7 as their back 4 will struggle in tackling our RBs.
• This should be a game that when we establish a RB run game and it should really compromise their back 4/5 vs our WRs. FI really expect Toure to have a field day working against their at best 3rd best cover guy.
• Defensively this is a game where we should be able to lock down on the edge. I would focus run blitzes on taking away OZ runs from Illinois and forcing the ball inside where they will struggle.
• Don't lose the game on special teams. They have some good specialist so we need to make sure we aren't giving them anything free here.

Keys to the game

• Stop their running attack. You do this I don't see them scoring much at all.
• Establish your identity early of who you want to be on offense. If you want to be a down hill run game with rpo's off it be sure to establish that early this game.
• Don't lose special teams. Carry over what you did in practice and play with good fundamentals.
• Play a clean game. Take care of the ball. Only way Illinois has a shot in this is if we lose it. They are going to be a team that will struggle. Don't make this harder.

Picks to click

• Toure - I simply don't think Illinois has an answer for him.
• Kolaveric - this is a game I expect big things from our ILBs but I am excited to see Chris and what he can do.
  • Reimer - I found out something that is adjusting this pick. I still expect the ILBs to have a big day, but wanted to pick the new guy.

Recap

• This is a game that I felt we should cover relatively easily. I just don't see Illinois having the horses to score enough to keep up with us.
• I have a position on the skers to cover the -7. I would lean on the under, but not as confident.

34-17 good guys

 

[#HBD]

 

[Eaton Beaver]

Very nice.. I wish tpb had a spreadsheet of sort that we could post weekly bets against the spread. It would need to keep track of our percentages so we could all ride the hot horse of each month.

 

[HuskerGarrett]

Very nice.. I wish tpb had a spreadsheet of sort that we could post weekly bets against the spread. It would need to keep track of our percentages so we could all ride the hot horse of each month.

I’m sure I can find an add on that we could use. I’ll see what I can find

 

[Driveway Jordan]

This should be an easy win, but we haven't made anything easy the past 3 years. I can see us hanging on for a 24-20 type of win after leading 17-3-ish. A few bad breaks or boneheaded mistakes and it gets dicey.

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

Added keys and picks to click.

 

[Cash68847]

This should be an easy win, but we haven't made anything easy the past 3 years. I can see us hanging on for a 24-20 type of win after leading 17-3-ish. A few bad breaks or boneheaded mistakes and it gets dicey.

Nebraska should be an easy cover for multiple reasons but like you said….

 

[Huskerzz9457]

I will let you know what my email to coach Frost says of what I think we should do.

I know you're kidding (hopefully), but this got me thinking, I'd almost guarantee some old small town dipshits email Frosts public university email and try to give him some pointers 🤣 🤣

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

I know you're kidding (hopefully), but this got me thinking, I'd almost guarantee some old small town dipshits email Frosts public university email and try to give him some pointers 🤣 🤣

I mean Frosty takes my expert advice on croots.... Why not on game planning?

 

[Turn Down for What]

OP put more effort into this than anything any writer over at RSS has done in months.

 

[...TrueColors...]

I am going to try and do this for every B1G team and OU. I am going to give a dive into the teams strengths, weaknesses and I will let you know what my email to coach Frost says of what I think we should do.

Defensive side..

• The defense of Illinois has 1 good player and he might be their best player overall. It is there ILB Hansen. This guy is looking to be an early to mid round guy and on the Pre Season all conference list. He is switching from his Will spot to ILB.
• The next best spot for Illinois is going to be their OLBs where I will say they will be ok, but nothing earth shattering. They have some experience returning.
• Upfront is going to be a big problem for them. These guys were all recruited for a 4 man front. They are just going to be too small to run their 3 man front. I expect them to be trying active with this group given how they are undersized.
• Their secondary is just not good. They are just not very athletic. They wont be able to man up against our WRs.

Offensive side..

• Peters is their QB. He is a good player for them. I think he is gong to struggle this year given the lack of talent at WR.
• OL is a pretty good unit. Their OTs and C are the strengths, but the OG leave a lot to be desired. Both of their OG are transfers from lower levels and frankly aren't ready for B1G football. They have 2 decent TEs.
• RB is another strength. It is also the 1 spot they actually have decent depth there. Brown is the guy who leads them here. I think given this and their WR room they will try and run the ball a ton vs us.
• WR is the weak link of this unit. This unit will probably be the worst group in the B1G.

Game plan

• Establish a RB run game early.. They don't have a very big DL and we should be able to wear them down quickly. This is a great match up to establish who you want to be long term here. There will be some opportunity if we can take care of the front 7 as their back 4 will struggle in tackling our RBs.
• This should be a game that when we establish a RB run game and it should really compromise their back 4/5 vs our WRs. FI really expect Toure to have a field day working against their at best 3rd best cover guy.
• Defensively this is a game where we should be able to lock down on the edge. I would focus run blitzes on taking away OZ runs from Illinois and forcing the ball inside where they will struggle.
• Don't lose the game on special teams. They have some good specialist so we need to make sure we aren't giving them anything free here.

Keys to the game

• Stop their running attack. You do this I don't see them scoring much at all.
• Establish your identity early of who you want to be on offense. If you want to be a down hill run game with rpo's off it be sure to establish that early this game.
• Don't lose special teams. Carry over what you did in practice and play with good fundamentals.
• Play a clean game. Take care of the ball. Only way Illinois has a shot in this is if we lose it. They are going to be a team that will struggle. Don't make this harder.

Picks to click

• Toure - I simply don't think Illinois has an answer for him.
• Kolaveric - this is a game I expect big things from our ILBs but I am excited to see Chris and what he can do.

Recap

• This is a game that I felt we should cover relatively easily. I just don't see Illinois having the horses to score enough to keep up with us.
• I have a position on the skers to cover the -7. I would lean on the under, but not as confident.

34-17 good guys

Im interested in their defensive front and their secondary.

Their DC was at Mizzou last year and he’s a 4-2-5 guy. Bielema is a 3-4 guy. They’ve been quoted as saying they’ll be “blending” their scheme to make it their own.

Their DC likes to play with 3 safeties and did a lot at Mizzou. Illinois doesn’t have 3 safeties with any experience.

Huskers SHOULD roll. SHOULD be able to line up and beat them because we are better football players than they are. Would be nice to win this one 34-10.

 

[KidsSeeGhosts]

Im interested in their defensive front and their secondary.

Their DC was at Mizzou last year and he’s a 4-2-5 guy. Bielema is a 3-4 guy. They’ve been quoted as saying they’ll be “blending” their scheme to make it their own.

Their DC likes to play with 3 safeties and did a lot at Mizzou. Illinois doesn’t have 3 safeties with any experience.

Huskers SHOULD roll. SHOULD be able to line up and beat them because we are better football players than they are. Would be nice to win this one 34-10.

I don't really think this will be a Diaco force the 3-4, play FR Deontre Thomas at NG kind of thing. From what I remember, Walters was pretty varied in his fronts at Mizzou. Ran 4-2-5 stuff. Tite front. And did some 3-4ish things (though typically they'd walk down an ILB on the edge). Sounds like Bert wants to do some 2-4-5 stuff too. It sounds like a bit of a kitchen sink thing, which can sound good in theory, but I could really see that front being a mess with both just asking guys to do a helluva lot and limited time in the system.

Either way, dude's playbook is single high, press coverage on the outside, and keep a lot of dudes in the box. I don't expect them to stray from that as that hasn't exactly been something we matched up well against lately. Do think it could be a big game for our WRs though.

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

I don't really think this will be a Diaco force the 3-4, play FR Deontre Thomas at NG kind of thing. From what I remember, Walters was pretty varied in his fronts at Mizzou. Ran 4-2-5 stuff. Tite front. And did some 3-4ish things (though typically they'd walk down an ILB on the edge). Sounds like Bert wants to do some 2-4-5 stuff too. It sounds like a bit of a kitchen sink thing, which can sound good in theory, but I could really see that front being a mess with both just asking guys to do a helluva lot and limited time in the system.

Either way, dude's playbook is single high, press coverage on the outside, and keep a lot of dudes in the box. I don't expect them to stray from that as that hasn't exactly been something we matched up well against lately. Do think it could be a big game for our WRs though.

Ya I expect them to be active upfront.

I agree with what you said... If they play 1 high too much we have the dudes outside to make them pay. That is why Toure was a pick to click for me.

 

[...TrueColors...]

I don't really think this will be a Diaco force the 3-4, play FR Deontre Thomas at NG kind of thing. From what I remember, Walters was pretty varied in his fronts at Mizzou. Ran 4-2-5 stuff. Tite front. And did some 3-4ish things (though typically they'd walk down an ILB on the edge). Sounds like Bert wants to do some 2-4-5 stuff too. It sounds like a bit of a kitchen sink thing, which can sound good in theory, but I could really see that front being a mess with both just asking guys to do a helluva lot and limited time in the system.

Either way, dude's playbook is single high, press coverage on the outside, and keep a lot of dudes in the box. I don't expect them to stray from that as that hasn't exactly been something we matched up well against lately. Do think it could be a big game for our WRs though.

Agreed with what you’re saying. To add to it though from the post you quoted, Walters likes to play with an extra safety on the field and Illinois doesn’t have 3 safeties who have played much football.

I get nervous when we hear things about “blended schemes.” Nothing good ever seems to come from coaches getting out of their comfort zone and taking what they do and breeding it with another. The calf usually is fucked up. Add that to the idea there is limited talent at ILL and the Huskers really have no excuse to not roll in this one.

 

[Daddy]

Good stuff Dean. Thanks for posting.

 

[Black Dean]

I’m hoping you’re right my brotha from another motha.

I have Nebraska winning 24-21.

 

[Kaladin]

Illinois may have lost their best WR to injury.

 

[...TrueColors...]

Illinois may have lost their best WR to injury.

Thats the word…

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

Illinois may have lost their best WR to injury.

Where did you see that?

 

[...TrueColors...]

Where did you see that?

From the reports… sounds like Hightower might not be available.