W. Illinois

[E-Wu Tang Clan]

it me or is this game taking forever.

 

[Atomic Eagle]

What’s the deal with all of the late flags? If you have to think about it that long, it’s not a penalty.

 

[Obzerver]

refs:

 

[ewueagfan]

Good D. Go get another one boys.

 

[ewueagfan]

3rd quarter not great, 4th quarter beatdown.

 

[Obzerver]

This win feels good. Seems like forever I've had this good feeling...11/16/24 to be precise.

 

[EWURanger]

Good 4th quarter and good win. W. Illinois doesn’f look like world-beaters, but I’ll take it.

 

[Hambone]

Just shy of 600 yards of total offense. That’s quite a difference.

 

[Eagle Talon]

The O finally had the game they needed to have. Good win, off to the next one.

 

[E-Wu Tang Clan]

Yea I guess the defense has improved quite a bit because Western Illinois reminds me of the defense a few seasons ago. Mofos couldn't even tackle properly. Will it be enough to beat the Montanas and Idaho? Probably not.

 

[KJEagle]

Yea I guess the defense has improved quite a bit because Western Illinois reminds me of the defense a few seasons ago. Mofos couldn't even tackle properly. Will it be enough to beat the Montanas and Idaho? Probably not.

Montana and Idaho both look like the real deal. Based on what I've seen of them so far, I think the verdict is still out on Montana St. I don't think the talent gap between us and them is as wide as some might think.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Just an observation, but to my eyes, it looks like the overall quality of FCS football has dropped a lot in the last 5 or so years. It’ll be interesting to see what the Montana schools are like. I haven’t seen an FCS team in a while -maybe North Dakota State- that our teams of 10 years ago wouldn’t be favored by a bunch against.

 

[E-Wu Tang Clan]

Montana and Idaho both look like the real deal. Based on what I've seen of them so far, I think the verdict is still out on Montana St. I don't think the talent gap between us and them is as wide as some might think.

Players I'm not worried about, its always been coaching and scheming.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Players I'm not worried about, its always been coaching and scheming.

Dude, seriously... how many guys do we have on our entire roster that would make the 2-deep of our 2016 team? We simply don't have the talent we used to. You could easily blame that on coaching, but when your kids aren't as good as the opposing players, all the scheming in the World ain't gonna help. The fortunate thing is that not many other FCS teams have talent that meets their historical standards either, but it's especially pronounced at Eastern.

Outside of Chism, we haven't had a guy that even remotely looks like a potential NFL guy since 2021.

 

[Eagle Talon]

Dude, seriously... how many guys do we have on our entire roster that would make the 2-deep of our 2016 team? We simply don't have the talent we used to. You could easily blame that on coaching, but when your kids aren't as good as the opposing players, all the scheming in the World ain't gonna help. The fortunate thing is that not many other FCS teams have talent that meets their historical standards either, but it's especially pronounced at Eastern.

Outside of Chism, we haven't had a guy that even remotely looks like a potential NFL guy since 2021.

I think it's sort of a chicken and egg sort of situation, though. It's true that you can't coach some things like speed or, to an extent, size. But for most kids coming out of HS, I think player development is almost as important as raw talent. And, of course, there are individual factors like grit, football IQ, worth ethic, etc.

How many 3 and 4-star rated athletes do we see coming out of HS that never amount to anything in college?