Illinois State Game Day Thread

[Nidaros]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

A couple of neat plays by Illinois State.

1. The running in the first half by No.5 Leggen. He seemed to follow his blocks and we got yardage play after play. I could not figure out why this guy was not listed as a starter in the game program. No 6 was the starting RB, and finally Terry mentioned somewhere that Leggen was a transfer from Michigan State. For the most part we stuffed him in the second half, I suspect due to adjustments at half time. It makes you wonder if he was on the game video from Central Missouri and Northwestern. He may not have been and might have been a big surprise to SDSU Defense.

2. That one pass play completed by Matt Brown after being popped good by Steffan. A long pass too, and he just got it off before being hit.

[WestSideRabbit]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

Well I agree strongly with most of the previous comments. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the lack of composure.
First, the BS jawing that took place before the game in the end zone in front of the students. Shut up and do your job, not mouth off to an opponent. That $h!t isn't what Jackrabbit athletics is all about.
Second, the roughing the passer penalty followed by the unsportsmanlike penalty. They looked like a bunch of thugs out there instead of being the Jacks, "a team that is going to knock you in the mouth and then help you up" as we have been described before.

Also, I agree about the pre-game stuff. It just felt awkward. What happened to the old band director Petersen? If there has ever been a band homer it is Dr. Kool. Should be interesting to see what happens to the Pride and seating if he is left in charge as the director.

I still love the Jacks and can't wait for the rest of the season. I hope we grow and continue to improve. Had a great time tailgating! Go Jacks!

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

I waited until 2:00 p.m. today (Sunday) to dare to read this thread. Overall, a fairly reserved response to what was mostly an awful day on the field.

Well, I'm going to have to disagree my friend, because the majority of the posts I see are "how could our program be this bad", or "the sky is falling" and/or "the season is over, we could go 0-7" etc. I've got a slightly different take, that I'll share with those of you who care to read it.

First: how could this be happening? Partially because we lost Danny Batten, Jimmy Rogers, Conrad Kjerstad (this year of course), Isaiah Jackson, Chris Johnson, Casey Knips, Casey Bender, Steven Bazata, Nate Koskovich and Jordan Miranda and ipso facto General Parnell, who is barely back and certainly not 100%, and our three top WRs in Glen Fox, Mike Steffen, Woody Orne (maybe one of our best, who transferred out) and Saunders Montague. There's a huge bunch of talent in last year's senior class.

Second: Everybody, and I mean everybody, agreed going into the season we had a very tough, challenging season, playing Delaware, Nebraska, University of Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, and North Dakota State on the road. Secondly, if you believe at all in pre-season polls, Illinois State, our first home game, was picked to be third in the conference, right up there with the Jacks. I don't know how anybody couldn't have seen this was not going to be a cake walk this year, but earlier, all I saw were posts on how great we were going to be.

Third: I fault the horrible fact that we did not get a game scheduled for September 4 at home to open the season as a major reason for our demise at Delaware. I'm not sure we would have won at Delaware, but the fiasco of the first quarter, due IMO to the fact it was our first exposure to competition except our own players, as a major blow to this year's team. In fact, I believe this team has a very fragile sense of confidence. I think we began a slow recovery in the last three quarters of that game, but I think we were sleepwalking.

Finally, a few random thoughts: Although many posters last year were calling for TOB to be the starter (before he became one by default), he is still very inexperienced. Operating in a run-oriented environment, but with an inexperienced O line, and with inexperienced receivers (Hylland, Hubert...a redshirt freshman, and sophomore Kool), all of a sudden, he's just a terrible QB. Inexperienced yes, horrible, no IMO.

The statement by one poster that some of TOB's passes were dropped, doesn't do justice to the damage several of those did to a team trying to get its feet back under it. In fact, I go back to that fragile confidence I referred to earlier, as we seemed to go back into a shell after Hylland's drop which could have put us in scoring position early in the game (and later were not helped with a drop that turned into an interception, when we were moving down the field). We didn't seem to recover very well until a half-game later.

Am I disappointed...heck yes! Devastated in many ways. But does this all mean we are going to be the doormat of the conference after dominating it last year? Possible, I suppose, but I don't think so, and for sure, I don't know so. We will obviously get handed a big defeat this week, something we have known for some time, and my hope is that the team will put it in perspective for themselves as to who they were playing and head for UNI to see what we can do on the road there. End of rant.

[Nidaros]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

Well, I'm going to have to disagree my friend, because the majority of the posts I see are "how could our program be this bad", or "the sky is falling" and/or "the season is over, we could go 0-7" etc. I've got a slightly different take, that I'll share with those of you who care to read it.

First: how could this be happening? Partially because we lost Danny Batten, Jimmy Rogers, Conrad Kjerstad (this year of course), Isaiah Jackson, Chris Johnson, Casey Knips, Casey Bender, Steven Bazata, Nate Koskovich and Jordan Miranda and ipso facto General Parnell, who is barely back and certainly not 100%, and our three top WRs in Glen Fox, Mike Steffen, Woody Orne (maybe one of our best, who transferred out) and Saunders Montague. There's a huge bunch of talent in last year's senior class.

Second: Everybody, and I mean everybody, agreed going into the season we had a very tough, challenging season, playing Delaware, Nebraska, University of Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, and North Dakota State on the road. Secondly, if you believe at all in pre-season polls, Illinois State, our first home game, was picked to be third in the conference, right up there with the Jacks. I don't know how anybody couldn't have seen this was not going to be a cake walk this year, but earlier, all I saw were posts on how great we were going to be.

Third: I fault the horrible fact that we did not get a game scheduled for September 4 at home to open the season as a major reason for our demise at Delaware. I'm not sure we would have won at Delaware, but the fiasco of the first quarter, due IMO to the fact it was our first exposure to competition except our own players, as a major blow to this year's team. In fact, I believe this team has a very fragile sense of confidence. I think we began a slow recovery in the last three quarters of that game, but I think we were sleepwalking.

Finally, a few random thoughts: Although many posters last year were calling for TOB to be the starter (before he became one by default), he is still very inexperienced. Operating in a run-oriented environment, but with an inexperienced O line, and with inexperienced receivers (Hylland, Hubert...a redshirt freshman, and sophomore Kool), all of a sudden, he's just a terrible QB. Inexperienced yes, horrible, no IMO.

The statement by one poster that some of TOB's passes were dropped, doesn't do justice to the damage several of those did to a team trying to get its feet back under it. In fact, I go back to that fragile confidence I referred to earlier, as we seemed to go back into a shell after Hylland's drop which could have put us in scoring position early in the game (and later were not helped with a drop that turned into an interception, when we were moving down the field). We didn't seem to recover very well until a half-game later.

Am I disappointed...heck yes! Devastated in many ways. But does this all mean we are going to be the doormat of the conference after dominating it last year? Possible, I suppose, but I don't think so, and for sure, I don't know so. We will obviously get handed a big defeat this week, something we have known for some time, and my hope is that the team will put it in perspective for themselves as to who they were playing and head for UNI to see what we can do on the road there. End of rant.

A very good post. Now I know why I felt kind of uneasy about this season. All the reasons are included in your post. I am hoping John and staff will be able to get things going and we will once again will possibly finish strong. I had been hoping for some magic from TOB and Eric Eidness, but so far we have not seen that, but Rome was not built in a day either.

[shot_5533]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

If you look carefully, Woody is not as good as advertised. He is second string to a sophomere at Iowa. Seniors graduate every year. Life happens. Conrad is the loss, not last years class. Last years class was over when they choked away the big lead at Montana. It is in the past.

Jacks need to game plan and scheme with what they have, which talent wise, is propably better than last years. Senior leaders, with the exception of McKnight and Minett need to step up.

[shot_5533]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

Just imagine what would have happened last year if we had Ryan Berry at QB!! No, but he graduated.

Good programs keep filling spots.

[RowdyRabbit]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

Well I agree strongly with most of the previous comments. One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is the lack of composure.
First, the BS jawing that took place before the game in the end zone in front of the students. Shut up and do your job, not mouth off to an opponent. That $h!t isn't what Jackrabbit athletics is all about.
Second, the roughing the passer penalty followed by the unsportsmanlike penalty. They looked like a bunch of thugs out there instead of being the Jacks, "a team that is going to knock you in the mouth and then help you up" as we have been described before.

Also, I agree about the pre-game stuff. It just felt awkward. What happened to the old band director Petersen? If there has ever been a band homer it is Dr. Kool. Should be interesting to see what happens to the Pride and seating if he is left in charge as the director.

I still love the Jacks and can't wait for the rest of the season. I hope we grow and continue to improve. Had a great time tailgating! Go Jacks!

Man, the one time I don't make it into the stadium for all the pre-game stuff. I wish I could have seen all this. Tell me more about the jawing going on in front of the student before the game...

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

Just imagine what would have happened last year if we had Ryan Berry at QB!! No, but he graduated.

Good programs keep filling spots.

Yeh, and good programs go up and down all the time. I'm not happy that we are currently "down" from last year, but I also understand why this may be an "interim" season. I'm not sure you care to understand that though. I might agree with your statement that we may have just as much talent...I'm not sure, although I don't feel we have as strong a senior class, and I don't leave the coaches off the hook either. But I do feel maybe a lot of people may have been too high on how this season was going to go right out of the chute. I personally felt we would be lucky to be 1-3 after the first four games, although I certainly hoped for more.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

Man, the one time I don't make it into the stadium for all the pre-game stuff. I wish I could have seen all this. Tell me more about the jawing going on in front of the student before the game...

I was there 30 mins early and the only jawing I saw was between Ill. State and the students, which in my opinion, isn't THAT big of a deal, though it probably just fires the other team up more.

[Nidaros]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

I was there 30 mins early and the only jawing I saw was between Ill. State and the students, which in my opinion, isn't THAT big of a deal, though it probably just fires the other team up more.

Hey we agree on something here. Sitting in Section F, it was hard to tell exactly what was said and who was saying what, but ISU kind of used it to get off to a good start. I respect the ISU coaching staff for getting in front of the mouth pieces and pushing them back so the whole affair did not get out of hand.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

Hey we agree on something here. Sitting in Section F, it was hard to tell exactly what was said and who was saying what, but ISU kind of used it to get off to a good start. I respect the ISU coaching staff for getting in front of the mouth pieces and pushing them back so the whole affair did not get out of hand.

I think as a student athlete (especially a football player on the road) you have to be used to that kind of thing. I was standing behind the Ill. State bench and they received a verbal barrage of insults for the entire first half. Some real nasty stuff from intoxicated students. Me and my friend were talking about how if we were out there, there's no way we'd be able to stay quiet the whole time. I was impressed with their ability to just take it without reacting.

[WestSideRabbit]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

Man, the one time I don't make it into the stadium for all the pre-game stuff. I wish I could have seen all this. Tell me more about the jawing going on in front of the student before the game...

It was right after SDSU ran in and in front of the crowd. Ill St was walking in at the same time and then our players thought they had to go stand at the goal line and yell at the Ill St players coming on the field. The coaches for Ill St kept there players back, but it was just rediculous. Just stupid and something that SDSU football doesn't do. Especially when you can't back it up on the field.

[KI DRIVER]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

I think as a student athlete (especially a football player on the road) you have to be used to that kind of thing. I was standing behind the Ill. State bench and they received a verbal barrage of insults for the entire first half. Some real nasty stuff from intoxicated students. Me and my friend were talking about how if we were out there, there's no way we'd be able to stay quiet the whole time. I was impressed with their ability to just take it without reacting.

they had scoreboard. that makes it easy to take what ever was being said. talk is cheep, scoreboard is the only thing that counts.

[shot_5533]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

I have to apologize. The Woody comment set me off. I apologize to the forum.

In fact, a lot of Srs. have stepped up. Cole Brody played his guts out last night. Too bad he could not have red shirted. Dean Priddy is an All American and an NFL prospect. Ludeman is leading, even thought his body is brittle.

I was referring to TV's article where the big knockers have to step up.

Jon Fick has replaced Woody. Check the media guide. Fick has passed most of Woody's records. Yes this is America where everyone is free to change their minds and play/work where they want. Just don't make Woody an All American. He was easily replaced and should have stayed where his skills fit. I just feel he could have shown more loyalty to the Jacks but that is his right. Just do not make him out to be a Superstar which he is not.

Danny Batten, Johnson, Knips, and Bender were superstars. Brodie, Cochart, and Dominoe have potential to be superstars. Priddy, Minett, and McKnight are superstars. The talent is there.

Football, unfortunately depends upon the QB. We need TOB to play the rest of the year like he did the fourth quarter last night.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Illinois State Game Day Thread

they had scoreboard. that makes it easy to take what ever was being said. talk is cheep, scoreboard is the only thing that counts.

I know, but this was pre-game and when the score was 0-0. I was impressed, but it should be expected from student athletes.