* First, I think James Franklin is too married to his quirky (and supposedly creative) offense. Penn State play-calling kept Illinois in the game at times. They could bulldoze Illinois with the running game, but often got too cute. Why are they playing two quarterbacks? Seems like it's just to be different. With the way they have recruited, Penn State should be better. They are good, but not as good as they are on paper.

* We saw what happens when Illinois 1. can't run the ball consistently and 2. are in obvious passing situations. The interior of the offensive line isn't athletic enough (recruiting issue) to handle high level defensive linemen like Penn State recruits or pick up blitzes. They didn't just get beat physically either. They botched several pass pro schemes and left guys unblocked. Snaps for Hunter Whitenack and Kevin Wigenton at guard. Will there be a change in the staring lineup? Altmyer was a sitting duck on passing downs. Bret Bielema commented in the post game that Luke has to get rid of the ball quicker, but I'm not buying it.

* I'm starting to not like the running back by committee approach To me, it should be Mr. Inside Kaden Feagin and Mr. Outside Cal'il Valentine. That's it. McCray has his moments and is a good pass blocker, but he just doesn't have enough acceleration. He's pretty good on screens, though. Just has a knack for them. Laughery should be a slot receiver, IMO. He's not a natural runner. He's going nowhere on inside handoffs. Just not physical enough, and not very good vision. If he had the instincts to jump cut and bounce runs outside, it might be different.

* Dylan Rosiek and Ryan Meed both played middle linebacker, and were not in the same league as Nicholas Singleton. Mismatch. They are try-hard types and team players. I appreciate that. But not enough speed and quickness. That stats are misleading. The pair combined for 13 tackles, but they were often 6-8 yards downfield. For some reason, Illinois hasn't targeted linebackers with more length and range on the recruiting trail. Short guys who can't run. I would probably play James Kreutz more. In this 3-4 and often 3-3-5 scheme, linebackers have to be able to run and make plays in space.

* The Illini secondary keeps them in games. They're very aggressive in coverage without being handsy, which is hard to do. And all of them are solid, wrap-up tacklers. DB coach Corey Parker marches to the beat of his own drummer but he has had a very positive impact. Matthew Bailey 9 tackles. Miles Scott 7 tackles including 6 solo tackles.

* I didn't think Illinois had a chance in this game if they weren't at last +2 in turnover margin. They were instead -2 (Essentially -1. The last fumble by Almyer didn't have any impact on the outcome of the game).

* There are four games left on the schedule in which Illinois should be favored (Purdue, Minnesota, Michigan State, and Northwestern), two in which they will be underdogs (Oregon, Michigan) and one toss up (Rutgers). I think Rutgers will fall off. I see them losing to Nebraska, Wisconsin, and USC.

* Good time for the bye week. Lick your wounds, re-group, then go curb stomp Purdue and Ryan Walters. (Will he last the season?).

No interest in spending too much time discussing the Illinois game. Illinois played fine and other than the bizarre throw on the last offensive play of the first half (you run there and kick a FG to keep PSU from getting the ball back with time to move it, instead we ran a weird low percentage play and got penalized twice before missing a FG). Of course Franklin bailed BB out with his own bizarre 4th down decision when he can go up two scores late in the 3rd quarter and instead gives the ball back to IL still up 14-7.

Bottom line, PSU was better on the OL and DL, and we probably won't see a better unit this season on either side of the trenches. Their excellent running covered up Illinois' great pass defense a bit, PSU threw for only about 6 YPA on the game, despite having a solid QB who mostly had time on his dropbacks. In the key moments, Altmyer learned how hard it is to throw from his back. Franklin killed them on the slant until they schemed to take it away, but we didn't have time to get it downfield. Beat Purdue in two weeks, and it sets up the biggest home game in a long long time.

Oh yeah, Aaron Henry schemed another good game. Kotelnicki's team won the game, but that battle was at worst a draw (and a DC is at a disadvantage in football these days).

Moving on, Michigan is just not that good. Definite break against MN, sucks to you Fleck. Averaging under 60 yards passing with their current QB, and Moore seems completely out of his depth. What I saw in the last 5-6 minutes of that game (the early snaps, unnecessary throw when you should be running clock, and dude in motion on what was a victory formation type play was just bizarre). Purdue is putrid, that's just a must win, and I hope our coaches are as hungry as you'd expect after last season.

Wisconsin being up 21-10 at half and then getting roasted was awesome. There's good and bad things to say about the USC coaching staff, but Riley goes to halftime most weeks and comes to the realization that throwing it downfield is good. He might want to consider it more in the first half. Go Badgers next week, take even more confidence from Purdue.

Remember when Bama played 6-3 and 9-6 games against top SEC opponents? Now it's 41-34 and it's hardly surprising. The spread changed everything, glad Illinois got the memo in like Week 7 or so of 2023. Sticking with the SEC, Texas is not going to win the title IMHO.

Kansas is a perfect example of how close losses can quickly derail a 12 game season. They may have one of those seasons we've seen too much of ... 7-8 win talent wins 4-5 games (with a coordinator appearing to be the goat). CMU looks to be an alright MAC team, probably better than suspected when rolling into Champaign.

Coach Prime showing how well you can coach when you have two Top 5 picks in the draft. Will he stick around to show us what he can do without them?