*Reasons why Illinois beat Northwestern 41-3 Saturday in Evanston....Northwestern stinks (Illini combine this year/last out scored Wildcats 88-17)....everyone has injuries this time of year part of the game not an excuse for such a bad season/game Wildcat fans.....Northwestern football losing weight/muscle as rest of the Big Ten bulks up....Cats playing with two likely first round picks (tackle Peter Skoronski defensive tackle Adetomiwa Adebawore) three other future NFL players against the Illini....still looked like the Varsity vs. J.V. most of the game.....not much to re-hash in regard to the win....Great to see the Illini again blowout Fitz-eee's team after all the years of the Northwestern head coaches arrogance, moral authority/lectures on 'how WE do things the right way'.
Turns out Pat Fitzgerald became an empty suit once Mike Hankwitz retired as Northwestern defensive coordinator/staff’s poor QB recruiting/development.....hey get it cause of past success/strong ties to Cats' uber booster Pat Ryan.....Fitz-eee gets to stay change coordinators/off season program again as he attempts to fix his program....reality head coach in charge during the downfall of program gets to stay around to figure out what's wrong now/correct it?....good luck with that...let him stay forever doesn't break my heart.
*Big Ten West season in review…
*Illinois (8-4)-Over/Under 4.5 wins...went strong on the over winner...old standby.....as the late Illini play-by-play man Dick Martin once said about Mike White's team when asked pre-season how they would do on the field...'Illinois will win some games they shouldn't win, lose some games they shouldn't lose but always be interesting'....sums up 2022 for Bielema’s team.
*Iowa Hawkeyes (7-5) – Over/Under 7.5....passed on this one...thought they would get 7 wins cause of that defense but not enough confidence to bet it....knew their o-line/QB would have issues...both were worse than one could imagine majority of fall.....aside reportedly Hawkeyes offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz could have had the Patriots o-line job/coached Alabama tight ends after 2021 but has a young family, wife from the burbs' who didn't want to move hindsight 20/20 probably should have left Iowa City last winter...still had a chance to win the West till they pissed it down their leg in a home loss vs. Nebraska Black Friday.
*Minnesota Golden Gophers (8-4) – Over/Under 7....took the under loser...done in by Row the Boat....Easy non-conference wins/competed their way to four conference W's.....beat Badgers two years in a row for the Axe....Fleck's team just finds a way.
*Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-8) – Over/Under 7.5,,,,took the under winner....fired head coach Scott Frost first month of season...my opinion Matt Rhule great hire to replace him....Rhule program builder not a scheme guy like Frost was/is....scheme guy Frost=when his QB is good his team is good...when QB isn't good....scheme guy head coaches like Frost useless fixing other problems with team (see Ron Turner/Lovie Smith era’s in Champaign).
*Northwestern Wildcats (1-11) – Over/Under 3.5,,,,took the under winner....knew Cats' would not be good but 1-11?...worst football season in 30 years.... Again with all the resources Big Ten schools now have/willing to use can Northwestern 'keep up' or will be go back to being the 'Mildcats' of the past?...wait they are already are.
*Purdue Boilermakers (8-4) – Over/Under 7 wins....took the under loser...friggin' win over Illinois bit me on this one.....like Minnesota, many times this fall Purdue 'won' cause the other team 'lost' the game on their way to West conference title.
*Wisconsin Badgers (6-6) – Over/Under 9 wins....took the under winner.....lack of development of QB Graham Mertz/Badger o-line lost head coach Paul Chryst his job, interim Jim Leonhard chance to be head coach....hiring Luke Fickell as head coach in Madison like Rhule in Lincoln excellent pick...shows the Big Ten with all their financial resources not fucking around....programs either keep up or will be getting left behind very quickly.
Jeff,
Thanks for your comments on the Illini. Very insightful. I'm a new reader of your work, so I'm sure you've already dealt with this question at some point, but I'll ask anyway. What's your assessment of Bob Blackman and his time at Illinois?
I'm asking because yesterday after the Northwestern win, I was looking at Illinois season records year by year going back to 1950 to compare this year's defense with other great Illini defenses. When I made it to Blackman's tenure, I began looking at his record game by game. Six seasons, four of them 5-6, three of them tied for third in the Big Ten, only one losing conference record, which was also the only season any of his teams finished in the bottom half of the conference, and an overall winning conference record (24-23-1). His non-conference schedules were brutal — all Power 5 schools, many of them at the top of their game (1972 vs. No. 1 USC, one of the best teams of all time, jeez). And his conference schedules! His teams played Ohio State and Michigan back to back every year when those schools were at their Woody & Bo pinnacle.
Anyway, I got to thinking that if Blackman coached in an era of 12-game regular seasons, cupcake non-conference schedules and bowls for any team with six wins, all four of his 5-6 seasons would have been at least 7-5, his 6-4-1 season would have been 8-4 or better, and he would have taken five of his six teams to bowl games. In other words, he was a damned good coach. How did he ever get fired?