#18 WIU at #13 ILLINOIS STATE Noon Kickoff

[Redbirdwarrior]

Yuck. This was BY FAR the easiest of our last 3 games. Kolbe looks... well, I wont sugarcoat, he looks bad. They can put 8 in the box because he is making awful decisions when he has the ball.

Put MB in now to finish this. At least gets him some snaps.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

I know a comeback is a miracle, but it’s a lot harder when you play without any sense of urgency whatsoever.
We’re burning 30 seconds off the game clock on every play?
Who in the hell is running this shit-show?

 

[CaliRdBrd]

NAU is pissed because of how badly we’re tarnishing their SOS.

 

[ChiRedbirdfan]

I know a comeback is a miracle, but it’s a lot harder when you play without any sense of urgency whatsoever.
We’re burning 30 seconds off the game clock on every play?
Who in the hell is running this shit-show?

:text-+1: generally speaking the ISU offense the entire season has not had a sense of urgency. The defense has been propping up this team big time.

 

[fourthandshort]

And why when we are down 17 .. 3 scores.. Are we saving all 3 timeouts for when game is over.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

I haven’t seen all of our games...does Kolbe always try to force passes into triple coverage?

 

[saxman210]

Is Broadnax there? I tweeted at Randy and he said he is but i didn’t see him at all with a headset on.

Also, can someone remind me whether Jordan Birch is hurt? They keep saying Drashane is back there to return kicks.

This team is immensely frustrating. We better wake the hell up vs SDSU or NDSU.

 

[DannyCooksey]

Worst loss of the year. We played 30 minutes and Western played all 60. They kicked our ass.

A totally blown opportunity

 

[Manchester Matt]

Worst loss of the year. We played 30 minutes and Western played all 60. They kicked our ass.

A totally blown opportunity

Worse loss in YEARS. When does this program make the playoffs again? I'm going to throw up.

 

[ThisIsTheLineup]

Also, can someone remind me whether Jordan Birch is hurt? They keep saying Drashane is back there to return kicks.

Birch is not hurt. He was the runner on the botched fake punt play I believe.

Playcalling was so bad today. I also knew beforehand which Jake Kolbe shows up for a game...like, it should be in the pre-game notes. I saw a little optimism with him scanning the field a couple times and then he went back to eyeing down receivers. I don't care if you have a 5 second or 50 second window of pass protection; you won;t go far if you constantly eye down receivers.

 

[ISUBU]

I know that the reputation is our strength and conditioning program is great, but we were manhandled all over the field in the 2nd half. We looked tired. WIU controlled the line of scrimmage both on offense and defense. Our receivers don't seem to fight for the ball or even get in decent position to catch it when it's thrown. The WIU backs just outbodied our guys so they weren't even close to the ball. Our dbs tug and hold but the WIU receivers still strong enough to catch it. Our kicker can't get it into the endzone, theirs does with ease.

 

[Chi-bird]

Not a good day for the guys, but I guess I'm really not all that surprised. Watching the SDSU - NDSU game, I think we are really behind these two teams.

That said, I think we get wooped next week, but come back on senior day and it comes down to the wire.

 

[CaliRdBrd]

Redbirds sports....forever almost there.

 

[cpacmel]

Absolutely brutal 2nd half. Western really brought it.

We ran 10 plays in the 3rd quarter, 6 of them were runs.

 

[saxman210]

Some quick thoughts on the game from my perspective:

Offensive line: Blown up at the point of attack repeatedly. Couldn’t handle the stunts that WIU was throwing at them in pass protection. Guess we saw just how banged up YSU was since we blew them up last week and got crushed this week.

Defensive line: The strength of our defense wasn’t getting to the quarterback and got crushed repeatedly for 5-8 yards on jet sweeps. Plain and simple, this needs to be our best unit on both sides of the ball if we want to win and they weren’t today.

Offensive play calling: We are a running football team and we didn’t run the ball and when we did try to run, we were getting blown up. Sure we got down, but the passing game sucked today. Our stable of running backs is our biggest asset and we need to make that the focus in every game and on every possession.

Defensive backs: Harris is a good player but he got burned a couple of times that led to scores. Kocour and Brees also didn’t make it over the top on a couple big plays.

It all goes without saying. We need to win one more game, and I fear we just missed our best chance.

 

[saxman210]

Redbirds sports....forever almost there.

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Basketball, football, it doesn’t matter.

 

[RedbirdSF67]

Some notes:
-We abandoned the run too soon
-Fake punt backfired bad
-Western has a nice front seven which our o-line could not handle
-Keene was neutralized, our only D-lineman that can get any pressure
-No pressure on their QB means our DB's need to cover longer

Not all is lost, in fact with SDSU beating NDSU, everyone still has a chance to win the conference.

 

[fourthandshort]

as expected, panic and hysteria ... gloom and doom !!

Yes, we needed just 1 win in last 3, and today was our best chance. We've got 2 more chances. To those who think world ended today .. I think you said same thing after NAU ... and then same thing again after SIU.

Yes, the 2nd half sucked and we got out-coached and out-played ... more the former. They made adjustments to what we were doing to control most of 1st half and lead 14-0 against a very good team .. and we had no answer or counter adjustments in 2nd half.

The dominated us Q3 .. total yards were 214 to 30, putting them up 17-14 .. for perspective, that means we out-gained them by 100 yards the other 3 qtrs.

But game's outcome was decided on 2 early Q4 turnovers inside of 20 seconds of each other trailing just 17-14 early in Q4 .. in their red zone:

- The fake punt decision at 13:17 from our own 25 yard line, down just 3 with 13 mins to go .. field position means everything at this point .. we put them on our 27, and they scored 1 play later

- Ensuing KR at 13:00, we fumble .. huge hit knocked out our Markel Smith (hope is is ok !!), but fumble put them on our 20 .. they scored 5 plays later

Total yardage for Q4 was in our favor 77 to 53 ... problem is, they only needed 47 yards to get 14 points. Maybe they score regardless of field position advantage .. but the fake punt laid it in their lap.

I am curious why we never saw Broadnax at all today ... banged up ? Disciplinary action ? Coaches forgot he was on sideline ? Whatever it was .. it would have been a nice change of pace to get him in backfield, with or without Kolbe. If coaches lost track, then that is not a good sign. That said, it would be a mistake to presume now is time to bench Kolbe and go with Broadnax ... none of you have any idea whether he is remotely close to ready.

Our offense is what it is .. on bad days like today's 2nd half, I see blame to be spread a lot of places .. OC, OL, WR, and QB .. we're lacking in a few too many areas to put blame on any one area. Even not all on OC ... his play book is limited, due to personnel limitations, especially against good run defenses. And benching Kolbe doesn't make any sense at this point .. why do some here blindly presume Broadnax is ready ? Anyone wonder why we don't let him throw yet ? Anyone recall he has fumbled twice in limited action ? So while he looks very promising, he doesn't look ready to me. And we still have a shot at playoffs .. so now is not the time to throw out baby with bath water.

Need just 1 win to make playoffs .. got 2 tough games to do that.

 

[saxman210]

Fourth- just to clarify, I didn’t want Broadnax to replace Jake, only to throw him in a couple plays per series either split out wide or as a QB to give WIU a different threat to think about. And every time they planned to the sideline, I looked for Broadnax and didn’t see him standing with the other QB so it made me wonder if he wasn’t there at all.

This team reminds me of the team that lost to Richmond in 2015. Stout against the run but susceptible to the big play through the air. And that scares me for next weeks game as the jacks are known for their aerial attack more than their ground game.

 

[fourthandshort]

Fourth- just to clarify, I didn’t want Broadnax to replace Jake, only to throw him in a couple plays per series either split out wide or as a QB to give WIU a different threat to think about. And every time they planned to the sideline, I looked for Broadnax and didn’t see him standing with the other QB so it made me wonder if he wasn’t there at all.

This team reminds me of the team that lost to Richmond in 2015. Stout against the run but susceptible to the big play through the air. And that scares me for next weeks game as the jacks are known for their aerial attack more than their ground game.

got it .. and I completely agree. maybe he was banged up or in doghouse. if they lost track, not good .. we needed something different to mix it up.