In 2016, Illini football has returned to relevance. The buzz is back.
The days of Tim Beckman’s “if you take away X plays and Y points, we’re in this game” are ancient history. As tonight’s sellout crowd of 60,670 attests, the days of Illinois Football @EmptySeatPics are gone too. It was the first sellout at Memorial Stadium since November 12th, 2011. The atmosphere was electric. The crowd was jacked.
The game was interesting….for three quarters. Interest and enthusiasm for the team has returned. The team itself has a ways to go.
This year progress can be measured by Q Rating, not Ws and Ls, which will have to come later. You can see the progress with the attendance To really get the picture, look at the before and after below:
2014 vs Texas State:
2014 vs Penn State:
Versus tonight:
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/774756851997085697
The final tally on the scoreboard shows a result which isn’t a whole lot better than last year’s 48-14 drubbing at the hands of North Carolina, but this game really did have a totally different tone. Illinois hung with the Tar Heels for three quarters or so. They had a decent lead early on.
Last year’s game was nothing like that. Illini football looks much closer to being a bonafide B1G team than they did a year ago. Progress is evident. However, there are lots of holes to plug. Quarterback Wes Lunt looked as out of sync with his receivers and just plain off as he’s ever looked since he’s been at Illinois.
https://twitter.com/PaulMBanks/status/774787319232618496
The important thing, for now anyway, is that you’re interested. That’s huge. It all starts there. Illini football can only start to take off if everybody’s interested again, and it does appear that interest is high again. This was the first sell out for a non-conference game since 1987 versus Arizona State.
For perspective, Jeff George was in his redshirt year, sitting out after he transferred from Purdue. He would become the team’s starting quarterback the next season. Today his son is listed as third on the depth chart at quarterback.
“I thought we were ready for prime time, we aren’t quite ready for that, but we will be,” Illini football coach Lovie Smith said postgame.
“And when I say not ready for prime time, we need to finish the job. We were in a great frame of mind going into the game, but it’s about what you do the entire sixty minutes. That’s what I was disappointed in.”
Smith articulated the great effort turned in by the fourth phase, the stadium attendees.
“I thought the fans were outstanding. they did their job. it’s good for our players to see, once we’re playing at the top of our game what this can be.”
All of the Illini football players made available to the media after the game were of course excited about the atmosphere, but very disappointed in the result.
“It’s a missed opportunity yes, but I think our fans kind of see us where we are.”
“I think they saw a program that’s building, I thought we were ready to take the next step but we’re not quite there yet, but we will be. One game.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.