Players that stepped up
Who did you notice as a player who stepped up on Saturday? i think we saw a lot of players really take a huge leap. The player i noticed most was Courtney Avery. That kid played his ass off. Granted he got beat for a touchdown but he was in pretty good position. I also loved his open field tackle where he flipped the guy. Big props for all those freshman DB's who are way over matched but give it their all every play. Go Blue!!!!
November 7th, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^
I thought vinoGRIT, Avery, and Cam Gordon all played pretty well. This team is gonna be a force to be reckoned with in the very near future.
EDIT: And Demens was fantastic.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:33 PM ^
HUGE tackle on 3rd and 1.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:44 PM ^
Big Play Ray...the three star superstar.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:35 PM ^
Vincent Smith. For all the hate he's got so far this season, he looked much more like his last year self, did a great job getting yards after contact, and showed a lot of quickness.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:42 PM ^
had their best game yet, I think part of that was Defensive scheme, but I saw a bunch of great runs/broken tackles/spin moves from Smith, Hopkins and Shaw.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:14 PM ^
Can't wait to see what hopkins will be like during his senior year. He is a player
November 7th, 2010 at 8:51 PM ^
Yeah, our whole RB corps played really great. Hopkins was on a level I'd never seen him at before this year. Smith just really stood out for me, especially given how he's been playing of late.
November 8th, 2010 at 10:47 AM ^
I like smith because he is shifty but who impressed me was hopkins. He is more of a power runner but also has that speed, i almost see him as a cross between smith and shaw, plus with hart coming in next year, we'll be perfectly fine at RB.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:36 PM ^
how about tate?
November 7th, 2010 at 12:48 PM ^
Not to say that he didn't get it done, but he was completely locked into Hemingway for the fourth quarter, often ignoring the better checkdown pass to the slot receiver for safer first down yards.
Griese was losing his mind over it during the play by play, and he was right.
One thing I will say is that he played with a lot of Grit. It was obvious that Illinois wanted to punish him physically and he made some very good runs and took some hard hits.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:29 PM ^
i defintely thought tate had his moments with the blinders on, but denard seemed to be locking into certain guys and entirely ignoring check downs/scramble as well. oddly, the rope to hemingway where he beats 3 guys on the sideline for a TD was probably the best example. denard could have tucked that and crawled for a first down.
i'm certainly not criticizing either of our QBs, just suggesting that the checkdown issue applied to both qbs at certain points.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:47 PM ^
Take It!
November 7th, 2010 at 4:42 PM ^
"denard could have tucked that and crawled for a first down."
I disagree. NCAA rules state that if a players knee touches the ground, whether or not he was touched, he is down. He could not have crawled for a first down.
November 7th, 2010 at 6:18 PM ^
I wish Denard WOULD tuck and run more often on 3rd down when everyone's covered. That's where a lot of running QB's make hay because half the D is deep in coverage. I think Denard could break a few that way.
November 8th, 2010 at 12:22 AM ^
I agree that he needs to tuck it and run when no options are there, but staying in the pocket has been a good indicator of his progression as a quarterback. I think that finding that balance will just come with more games played.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:45 PM ^
C'mon man! Griese was king of the check down( Of course I love him too). To say Tate did not have a good game is flat out crazy in my opinion. Plays. He is a serious playmaker.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:49 PM ^
The 4th quarter, including the fumble, wasn't so hot.
November 7th, 2010 at 9:49 PM ^
by that I mean:
He had moments of brilliance and great play, followed by his unwillingness to take what the defense gives him and an awkward propensity to turn the ball over. I'm not sure exactly how many times I must have pleaded with the TV; Tate just be patient and don't turn the ball over!
Regardless, he was clutch.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:37 PM ^
Cam Gordon looked much better up close to the line of scrimmage. Also Craig Roh as was expected had a much better game lining up at DE. Kenny Demens also looks to be the real deal.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:23 PM ^
i was at the game and had no benefit of replay, but it appeared to me that cam took the wrong read several times on the option play. he also got swallowed up a number of times when he blitzed on the edge.
he did get pressure on the QB though a few times and made a few nice open tackles.
overall, the young guys all seemed to make some very good plays. however, they also made some horrible reads. hopefully, in the weeks ahead we'll see more of the former and less of the latter.
November 7th, 2010 at 6:15 PM ^
coming off the corner, and never drew a flag. It was driving me nuts. Arm extended around the neck is holding, for f#ck's sake.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^
Stopped a sure first down and a drive with that brillant tackle. Vinopal had a key tackle as well on third and short. Brian better plus 4 or 5 both of those in his weekly UFR.
The defense as a whole stepped up its game this week and kept our offense in the game, especially after those early turnovers.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^
the scoreboard operator!
November 7th, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^
Roundtree, Hemingway, and Stonum all had touchdowns with Roy and Junior making amazing plays.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:26 PM ^
a few too many mind blowing drops which killed a few drives. roundtree and the screen to shaw come to mind.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:39 PM ^
I don't know if he "stepped up" in the usual sense of the word, but Mike Martin playing injured was hugely important in the win.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:41 PM ^
Avery had good position on t.d. pass. The q.b made an excellent throw. Martin went out with injury and thought he was done for day in second quarter,but he gritted it out and came back in for some plays after that .The young D played hard all day and didn't quit
November 7th, 2010 at 12:49 PM ^
cover corner. He can hang with anyone. His issues are mentally, with zones-go figure, he's a true freshman. He will be a good one and will battle Floyd for a spot next year (depending on what we do with TWolf).
November 7th, 2010 at 12:51 PM ^
Best throw I've ever seen Scheelhaase make. Avery is just an inch taller or the ball is just a little shorter and it's batted away. He was right there.
HUGE improvement from the play vs. MSU where Cousins feasted on his hapless freshman a**.
November 7th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
greenphoenix...the play (I think) you're talking about vs. MSU was against Cullen Christian, not Avery.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:42 PM ^
Illinois' average start was practically midfield and we gave up 4 turnovers. We won this game because of the defense, not just on that last play for the 2-point conversion, but throughout the game. They were given a tall order that better defenses would have struggled to overcome and came out on top.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:32 PM ^
the D definitely played better, but we didn't win the game because of the D. the O scored 45 in regulation and was perfect in OT.
this reminds me of the jordan days with the bulls, when analysts would say that the key to the game is whether or not john paxson can knock down a few shots. REALLY. ya, paxson is the key; not the fact that jordan needs to score his 35 for the team to have a shot.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:46 PM ^
In point of fact, while the D is not ever going to be thought of as great this year, they got some key stops and DID make the play that won the game by getting so much pressure on Illinois' QB that he really had no option with the ball but to throw it up and hope for a miracle while off balance and falling to the ground. Teams are not supposed to win when they turn the ball over 5 times. The D kept us close enough to win.
November 7th, 2010 at 5:34 PM ^
Maybe you missed the 5 turnovers and starting position at midfield part of his analysis. It is pretty easy to score at least 3 points when you only have to gain 20 yards per drive (as their kicker easily hit 45 yarders). When they score 45 and they get 18 of those off turnovers, I would say our defense didn't play horribly.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:46 PM ^
Cam, the receivers in quarters 2-4 (drops in Q1 killed drives), VSmith, OLine vs a seriously good DL, Denard stepping up in the pass game, Tate for getting it done when we needed it, Tree pwning souls, Stonum on KO return, Hemingway with a sure grab, Martin playing through injury etc etc
This is a team where just about everyone stepped up at various times. Lot of contributors to this win.
November 7th, 2010 at 12:50 PM ^
Avery's drive stopping tackle was big. I felt that the inspired play was contagious, several guys really stepped it up. Tate didn't fold after his first play turnover, came back and led the team to victory.
November 7th, 2010 at 1:06 PM ^
Anyone notice that we weren't sending V. Smith straight into the pile this game?
I don't know what kind of run it is called exactly, but I saw that we had a lot of designed handoffs where the running backs had a running start and hit the holes with a lot of speed.
It looked a lot like Oregon in the way they execute some of their running plays.
November 7th, 2010 at 1:17 PM ^
November 7th, 2010 at 1:36 PM ^
I know that people prefer talent to heart, but there wasn't a time yesterday where if someone got near Vinopal I thought he would let them get away. He was hitting, he was going for the ball, he was all in, so to speak. I know we overuse gritty, but dang it, way to be Ray.
November 7th, 2010 at 1:36 PM ^
I know everyone has been praising Courney, and i have to join the party. I've seen multiple people mention his excellent man coverage on the TD pass (just happened to be the best throw Scheelhaase made all season), and his big tackle at the sticks to prevent scheelhaase from the first down, but how about (leetle) courtney avery coming off a block to tackle (big) mikel leshoure for a minimal gain on a speed option play. To me that was his most impressive play.
Also: Vinopal filled running lanes with authority at times, Cam didn't look completely lost all the time (actually made a few plays), Kenny Demens shucking blockers all day, Mouton with a few big PBUs (though I'm sure he was responsible for a big negative or two... he is what he is), and Craig Roh played out of his mind with his hand on the ground.
Overall, I am not saying this is a good defense. However, yesterday, I saw a number of talented players MAKE PLAYS. That is what young, talented defenses should be able to do (because young defenses will give up tons of yards and points) MAKE PLAYS. This bodes well for the future.
November 7th, 2010 at 1:43 PM ^
While I agree with most people that Avery had a good game yesterday, and I think he will be a great corner here, he had two awful plays yesterday. I'm not a coach, but I believe that both of the wide-open half back wheel routes ended in his zone, and Avery wasn't there to stop them. He got sucked to the middle of the field on deep posts when he had help there (Vinopal) and left his zone open for two touchdowns.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^
I'm not expert, but the first Leshoure wheel route TD looked like it was on the flat defender (T Gordon, i believe). He had the flat coverage, and looked to me like he should have turned to run with Leshoure, since there was really no chance of anyone else releasing into the flat that late into a play. When Scheelhaase rolled to his right, he should have known his deep help would move that way.
November 7th, 2010 at 3:07 PM ^
Good luck to Brian on the UFR. He has to go through alot of plays and OT 's as well.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:02 PM ^
November 7th, 2010 at 6:05 PM ^
I was waiting for an o-line shout-out...in particular, the touchdown that Griese pointed out Moulk's ability to get outside of the DT (or NT?) was amazing...and I thought the pass protection was solid all game as well...
November 7th, 2010 at 2:37 PM ^
If Avery continues to progress, as well as Vinopal and Demens, then next year we could be pretty good. Think about it. Woolfolk will be coming back, we'll have our entire d-line back, and our freshman and sophomores will improve. I'm not saying this will be the 2006 defense, but next year sure won't be the 2010 defense.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:57 PM ^
Not sure who the holder is on extra points (looked like #30, Doug Rogan?), but on one of the last extra points in regulation (I think the last extra point in regulation) he scooped up a not great snap and got it in place for the kicker.
November 7th, 2010 at 6:00 PM ^
That play happened right in front of me, and I remember telling the guy next to me that the holder may have saved the game.
November 7th, 2010 at 3:01 PM ^
While a few big 3rd downs slipped past us, in general everyone who played on 3rd down played great.