As many of you know, I grew up in central Illinois before attending the greatest University in the world. I do, in fact, still follow Illinois football but not to the level I do as an Ag (basketball is another story, I'll admit). Three years after a "poll" ranked the Illinois roster as the worst in college football, they sit on top of the Big Ten West (no powerhouse division, mind you) with a 7-1 record. This is a program without a winning record in 10 years! The SEC has its own renaissance team in the Vols and both success stories have a few things in common I'd like us to consider.
1. Great use of the transfer portal and JUCO ranks. Hooker is a Heisman candidate. Tommy DeVito (late of Syracuse and sacked over 80 times there) is a solid efficient QB who makes plays and wins. Both Illinois' starting guards are JUCOs not on the team last year. Their starting center is a former walk on TE. Tennessee has a lot of other key transfer contributors as well, including Bru McCoy.
2. Outstanding player evaluation and development. Illinois' starting 22 is full of players no one here has probably heard of, but will still be playing on Sundays. Tennessee has and has had more dudes, (albeit some "questionably" obtained) but you can't argue with Heupel's identification and development.
3. The "Right" coaches, coaching and schemes. Heupel, as much as we dislike him for being a land thief, is a really good offensive mind. His DC has done his best to cover up pretty big holes with creative blitzing and other stuff.
It's not so long ago that we don't all remember Brett Bielema being unceremoniously booted from Arkansas. He was trying to bring Wisconsin's ground and pound to the SEC about the time everyone else was changing to more spread. Well, where did he go? To the NFL for a few years, to remember, rethink and reconsider. Illinois, last year, got beat at home by UTSA at the start of a 4 game losing streak. Bielema then hired the guy (who he had coached with before) who beat him after having his previous OC with him for 1 year. Lunney, at Illinois, has one star player in Chase Brown, who leads the country in rushing. Even with those limitations, he has been able to build a really cohesive and efficient offense utilizing spread passing concepts, a power run game, and a really good offensive line.
For DC, Bielema chose the coordinator at Missouri. At the time, I thought he was out of his mind as bad as Mizzou's defenses had been. Illinois's current defensive rankings this year:
Total Defense - # 1
Passing Efficiency Defense - # 1
Rushing Defense - # 2
Scoring Defense - # 1
Yes, it's not the SEC West, but think of the relative improvement of a program that has not had a winning record in 10 years, not won a division title in 21 years and has no where near the resources of us or Tennessee even.
Truthfully, I have been extremely disappointed in Durkin's schemes thus far, but his track record seems to indicate that this year has been an aberration. We can only hope. I am much more interested in who the potential OC (and other offensive hires?) will be and how much autonomy Jimbo will give them.
Bielema has reinvented himself at Illinois of all places. C'mon Jimbo, we're rooting for you!
Gig'em!!!
1. Great use of the transfer portal and JUCO ranks. Hooker is a Heisman candidate. Tommy DeVito (late of Syracuse and sacked over 80 times there) is a solid efficient QB who makes plays and wins. Both Illinois' starting guards are JUCOs not on the team last year. Their starting center is a former walk on TE. Tennessee has a lot of other key transfer contributors as well, including Bru McCoy.
2. Outstanding player evaluation and development. Illinois' starting 22 is full of players no one here has probably heard of, but will still be playing on Sundays. Tennessee has and has had more dudes, (albeit some "questionably" obtained) but you can't argue with Heupel's identification and development.
3. The "Right" coaches, coaching and schemes. Heupel, as much as we dislike him for being a land thief, is a really good offensive mind. His DC has done his best to cover up pretty big holes with creative blitzing and other stuff.
It's not so long ago that we don't all remember Brett Bielema being unceremoniously booted from Arkansas. He was trying to bring Wisconsin's ground and pound to the SEC about the time everyone else was changing to more spread. Well, where did he go? To the NFL for a few years, to remember, rethink and reconsider. Illinois, last year, got beat at home by UTSA at the start of a 4 game losing streak. Bielema then hired the guy (who he had coached with before) who beat him after having his previous OC with him for 1 year. Lunney, at Illinois, has one star player in Chase Brown, who leads the country in rushing. Even with those limitations, he has been able to build a really cohesive and efficient offense utilizing spread passing concepts, a power run game, and a really good offensive line.
For DC, Bielema chose the coordinator at Missouri. At the time, I thought he was out of his mind as bad as Mizzou's defenses had been. Illinois's current defensive rankings this year:
Total Defense - # 1
Passing Efficiency Defense - # 1
Rushing Defense - # 2
Scoring Defense - # 1
Yes, it's not the SEC West, but think of the relative improvement of a program that has not had a winning record in 10 years, not won a division title in 21 years and has no where near the resources of us or Tennessee even.
Truthfully, I have been extremely disappointed in Durkin's schemes thus far, but his track record seems to indicate that this year has been an aberration. We can only hope. I am much more interested in who the potential OC (and other offensive hires?) will be and how much autonomy Jimbo will give them.
Bielema has reinvented himself at Illinois of all places. C'mon Jimbo, we're rooting for you!
Gig'em!!!
