Illini Football 2008: Pentagram Postmortem

5 wins, 7 losses. If you’d told the Orange & Blue faithful back in August we’d be looking at a 5-7 season, most would scoff or malign you as a negativo.  We were all thinking 7-5, 8-4, even 9-3…  5-7?  Surely not!  The Zooker surely has the beginnings of a bald spot from the continuous head-scratching he’s subjected himself to this year.  Like most of us, he was left wondering why the 2008 Illini Football team just wasn’t good enough.

On the heels of a great year in 2007, a Rose Bowl year, the disappointment seems even more bitter.  The team was painful to watch at times; not because they were bad, but because you saw the potential.  So now the Beemsville Pentagram brings you five points to ponder at the close of the season…

Fall Classics

No, not talking about the World Series.  We could care less around here.  But a busy Sports weekend kicked off in Beemsville last night with the Chicago Fire’s 5-2 dismantling of the Red Bulls.  Chris Rolfe with the hattrick and two assists in a great performance that would seem to indicate the Fires are ready for their playoff run next week.  I’ve liked Rolfe’s game since he came into the league a few years ago and would like to see him get more super-sub  minutes with the U.S. team.  If he were 6-1 instead of 5-8 with his skills and quickness, he’d probably be playing in Milan right now instead of Chicago.

Tonight we head to Beardstown for the High School football regular season finale.  Nephew Jake’s Central-Southeastern team can clinch their first playoff berth in awhile with a win tonight on the river.  We’ve really enjoyed Jake’s games this year and will be there with our ponchos on and ready to yell and cheer.  CSE has had come-from-behind wins the past two weeks to keep their playoff hope alive.  Hopefully Jake and the boys can get rolling sooner tonight.

The Illini begin a key stretch tomorrow morning against Wisconsin.  The Badgers, with four straight losses, are tough to figure.  So are the inconsistent Orange & Blue.  The conventional wisdom around here is that the Zooker is good for one head-scratching loss a year, and we had that against Minnesota two weeks ago.  Crisis averted.  On to a decent bowl…  Right?  Right?  Which Illini team shows up?  How will the weather affect Juice and the passing game?  Are the Badgers really that mediocre?  I hope so.  A convincing road win would be nice, but we’ll settle for some consistency.

Courage Needed

Our beloved Fighting Illini travel east to Penn State with a 2-1 record and less-than-satisfying results from these first three games.  Penn State, meanwhile, has looked impressive in their first four games, racking up yards and generally overwhelming their opponents.  As everyone who follows the Orange & Blue knows, this is a pivotal weekend for the Illini.  Win and we’re in the coversation for the Big10 race.  Lose (especially if we lose badly) and we’re perched on the edge of a deep ravine…

Keep it real, I-fan OG

One of the highlights (sadly) of the Arch-rivalry game this past weekend was the OG Illini Fan sitting a few rows in front of us.  I’m not exactly sure who he was representing, but he was doing it old-school and he was angry.  The fact that he was decked out in his official Juice football jersey and replica baseball cap in no way detracted from the general menace.

We’ve all had superfan experiences at sporting events.  Hell, I’ve been that guy once or twice.  But this was the first time I’d seen the superfan mentality combined with constant gangsta signs and gyrations.  If I were the refs or the Missouri coaching staff I might be a little worried.  This guy was throwing out the signs and doing his little dance about every third play.  It was quite something.

Illini Summer Report – Football

It’s August and Camp Rantoul is underway for the Illini Gridders.  Hard to believe we’re less than a month from the epic opener against the Mizzou Tiggers in St. Louis…

A couple of interesting developments on the football front this summer, but let’s start with the coverage angle:  Yes, IlliniHQ.com went live last week.  This website provides online content from C-U’s News-Gazette and the flagship radio station for the O&B, WDWS.  That means more blogs, more articles, podcasts, gameday shows, etc.  Over in Champaign they always say no one covers the Illini like the News-Gazette, and they’re right.  For years the paper locked away it’s sports content behind a subscription service.  It wasn’t cheap.  They did it because they could, because enough people paid for it, and it became a good revenue stream.  Likewise, WDWS had always balked at providing streaming content; their official explanation was ‘legal concerns’ (even after 3/4 of radio stations began to stream).  It’s nice that these venerable C-U media outlets have finally joined the 21st century.  The market has changed.  Media coverage has changed.

Time to bemoan…

…that Rose Bowl performance by Illinois. The better team won, as the national press and I-told-you-so set will proclaim. Illinois was outclassed, they’ll say. Maybe so. But if two key aspects of the game go another way, the O&B faithful are singing a different tune this morning. It’s either the we were so close or the we shocked your ass! tune. Instead we’re left rationalizing.

USC is a great team and deserved to win. They probably beat Illinois 4 out of 5 times–especially on their home turf (play this game in Illinois and call it the Corn Bowl and I guarantee the Trojans don’t rack up so many wins). But those two key points…

Time to Bowl!

Happy New Year from Beemsville!

We are completely focused on the Rose Bowl here at our temporary tropical HQ. The sports bars have been scouted, the pregame reading digested, the kids’ Illini clothes laid out. We’ve just watched the Marching Illini on parade in Pasadena and sung the fight song. Now it’s only six hours until kickoff. We will head to the beach to relax one last time before the cold front rolls in and it’s game time.

The pundits have been saying the Illini don’t have a chance. Vegas has set their line to suit. The media have dissected the game from every angle and noted the hows, whys, and whatfors. But one thing people outside the Midwest keep forgetting is that our Illini are a good team with good players. And they play these games for a reason.

As Dick Butkus said in practice a few days ago, let’s just get out there and hit ‘em.

GO ILLINI!!!