I appreciate that this was not great football today. However, this season is about building for the future. We need to show some momentum in terms of wins this season. 0-12 and the Lovie era is dead. Lose to Ball State and the fans write off the whole season. With this win, you can't get better than 1-0 after the first week. Every win matters this season because they will probably be hard to come by.
This is a young team and they found a way to win. That gives them pride and confidence. One of the worst parts of Illini football has been finding a way to lose games you should win. Flipping that script has value, even against a MAC team.
I don't expect consistency from this team. I do expect growth. If we lost today I probably would have lost faith in this coaching regime. Winning this game keeps me on board. I suspect I'm not the only fan in that boat.
I'd like a faster rebuild but this is a total overhaul. Any win speeds up the process. Let's roll the dice again next week and see what happens. I'll be watching.
This is a young team and they found a way to win. That gives them pride and confidence. One of the worst parts of Illini football has been finding a way to lose games you should win. Flipping that script has value, even against a MAC team.
I don't expect consistency from this team. I do expect growth. If we lost today I probably would have lost faith in this coaching regime. Winning this game keeps me on board. I suspect I'm not the only fan in that boat.
I'd like a faster rebuild but this is a total overhaul. Any win speeds up the process. Let's roll the dice again next week and see what happens. I'll be watching.
