Illinois vs. Eastern Illinois Game Recap - College Football Week 1

Illinois 45 Eastern Illinois Zero I'm the idiot who told you Eastern Illinois would make this game I I advised betting plus 28 and a half I advised sprinkling the money line I have to eat crow I have to look the camera in the eyes this morning and say that that was the most wrong I have been with a football prediction I think ever I don't recall ever just being like just knowing within 10 minutes it's so dead uh we'll talk about it we'll talk about a lot everything that we saw in this game I thought Illinois looked fantastic on both sides of the ball I thought they looked motivated raban did a good job with the boys and uh honestly Kudos Illinois Twitter because y'all did what you should do you came from my throat I'm here to take it for the rest of the weekend honestly I'm G be honest I'm I'm just here to eat crow and say I was wrong good Morning Carter what did you see from Eastern Illinois dog walking Devastation last night good morning Greg uh now I'm trying to find myself on where did the phrase eating crow come from I don't know I did uh last night genuinely I tried a couple different Avenues to get a Luke Alm Jersey before this recap and then I also looked into buying a literal Crow okay that well you you really went both Avenues on this one but yeah it was it's funny though because there was like a 15 second window where that's what we're doing that's no no okay no but you you got to admit though for 15 seconds when Eastern Illinois got that stop and went down and then they fumbled you were like okay maybe they'll keep it within 28 but from that moment on it absolutely snowballed uh Illinois football looked great in this game um they had two guys rushed for 80 over 80 yards Fagan obviously had 100 yards 16 carries one touchdown Alm was surgical like just he made look easy in this game 19 for 24 four TDS and then even like outside of what the offense did which was really nice especially receiving corewise I feel like a lot of guys got involved like let's see how many guys different guys had catches seemed like more than this but I mean that obviously in a blowout game there's a lot of guys different guys with catches but I feel like altm kind of spread it around a little bit Pat Bryant had two TDS Malik El had one TD but then the defensive side of the ball that was utter domination as well well Pierce Holly was an absolute hell all night like visibly pissing down his leg in hell all night MJ flowers couldn't get anything going they had 22 rushes as a team for 49 yards with 11 being the longest run it it was just utter domination um it could have been bigger than 45 nothing to be honest yeah no it was genuinely really impressive and I'll hit on a lot of different bullet points for me from watching it cuz uh truly I watched every second of this game in the first half I watched obviously like hate watching going for my bet and then in the second half I watched it just to be like damn this is a really complete effort Illinois might be pretty good this season um the the big thing like the the story of the game for me was two things it was turnovers and it was just like domination in the trenches like altmire was great I'm going to talk about him completely separately in a minute and there was definitely more Talent at every position for Illinois in the secondary on the outside offensively in the back field but like there was just no push whatsoever for Eastern Illinois and I mean they seemed like a team I'm not going to act like an Eastern Illinois expert clearly what I thought about Eastern Illinois returning 18 starters didn't matter at all in this game but uh they they strike me as a team where like they need MJ flowers to be a star and get going on the ground to open things up for the pass game MJ flowers had nothing I mean he ran for three yards a carry but nine attempts 28 yards and most of them were just he was hit immediately honestly I thought he fell forward and battled for three yards to carry like I thought he was getting hit in the back field oh he grinded for that 28 total yards yeah so I uh I just thought like Illinois Illinois dominated The Trenches as they should clearly but it's impressive because I think I I saw this even from some Illinois fans who were like yeah I mean let's wait and see what they do against Kansas and and you should I hear you but also there have been a lot of FBS teams that on paper are Illinois level or better that have struggled with FCS opponents this is the only one I've seen that was like f you were just gonna dog walk you and that means something to me like that means this team was incredibly well prepared that means the new faces like meshed really really well right away and honestly I thought altm did a fantastic job of of running things and I mean what he had I think four touchdown pass in the first half um so I don't know I was really impressed and I don't think this is one you should really shrug off I think the fashion in which this happened it would be really easy to get up 28 31 and just kind of take your foot off the gas and or at least like give up a couple drives right like nobody looks at you twice if it's 454 but no this was a complete total dominant effort on both ends from start to finish for 60 minutes and I think uh Brett belman deserves credit for getting his team in that spot and the players deserve a ton of credit for executing on it let's talk Luke altm uh I referred to him I'm an idiot I referred to him in the newsletter in the piece that I clipped and tweeted out individually as the same shitty quarterback the same shitty quarterback Luke Alm as far as I am concerned this is the best I have ever seen Luke almeer 19 for 24 2133 yards four touchdowns zero interceptions and uh I mean if he wants to like show up to my front door and spit in my face and punch me he has that right uh he was awesome he was incredible car he was he was incredible yeah spitting and punching is a little Overkill one of the two yeah like pick and chw you can't like punch and then spit on someone or spit then punch someone that's a little that's a little C but I guess he was 19 for 24 for 4 td so go ahead uh but no like it was at least coming into this season um and I know it feels weird you say coming into the season after one game but like their guys to mostly everybody I think I think everyone admit their guys like their season kind of hinged on like what is altm gonna do and what is Fagan gonna do being the running back being the the Workhorse right um and in this game that's kind of what you saw like Luke GM was dominant from the start Fagan was dominant from the start as well they also got um I'm sorry if I butcher the last name Aiden is it lri laugh it spelled like laughery but I don't want to mispronounce it my apologies uh but it seems that they still have you know multiple running backs that can contribute and we might be seeing a situation here where like Luke Alm coming into his third year you know obviously you look at the you look at the last maybe couple season seasons and like there's up and down results right like it's it's like solid 13 touchdowns 10 interceptions last season but it's nothing like the right home about the completion percentage was okay it was solid uh but you might be seeing I know it's early on it's Eastern Illinois but you there might be a chance for him to take a step this year and if he takes a step I think that raises the ceiling of what Illinois football can do because we got we get on here all the time we talk about it quarterbacks can make up for a lot of weaknesses that you have if they can get it done right Luke almeer might be able to fall into that category where he can get you into games put you in places because of his play and I think they got I mean I I think they got Playmakers on the outside to make it happen and for anyone who wants to say like oh it's it's Eastern Illinois it's Eastern Illinois I mean this is what they should do to a team like Eastern Illinois if they are if they want to get to the places they want to go like this is a a handle business moment in across college football there's teams not handling business playing lower level opponents so you got to tip your cat to him in that regard yeah also like Illinois made it look incredibly easy to do this it is not easy thought they didn't break sweat it's not easy to beat any football team 45 nothing it's just not and um let alone one that again returned 18 starters from an eight and3 team last season like I I was really really impressed yeah all me I I thought he was spectacular um the thing I thought was spectacular about him was the wow throws though like to me altm when I have watched him in the past has always been the game manager type and I think when the wheels come off they can come really off with him obviously the wheels didn't come off in this game but I have rarely if ever seen him you know hit like a 40 yard deep ball in one-on-one like perfectly over the shoulder to the outside give his a chance like I those are just throws I haven't seen him make and he was dotting them today like two two of his touchdowns were were absolutely Flawless throws that were really high level tough throws to make so uh my cap is tipped to You Luke almeer you are not a shitty quarterback you were a spectacular quarterback in this game and uh I'm here to admit that I was so so so so wrong uh I liked Fagan he was really good I don't think they're going to miss the running back transfer to Purdue with Fagan like I just think that this is good that was a question we had in the preview I I only have two things that are a little just like to me from this um and they're not you shouldn't even do them but we're going to do them uh I do think there's a world where this is a very different game and you alluded to it but to me the the main story here of how it got out of hand was four turnovers to zero and you're sitting there six and a half minutes into the game Illinois went three and out in punts Eastern Illinois marches down the field 60 yards into the field goal range fumbles like I I I would be lying if I told you I wasn't sitting on my couch twiddling my thumbs like this is going just how I thought it was going to through one drive for each team and then the fumble and then it was just like wheels wheels off this is a team they had three turnovers in the first half I mean that's that's how you get down 30 to Illinois right is you flip the ball and uh not to Pat I shouldn't be patting myself on the back for anything but this is the only thing I got right in the preview I remember very pointedly saying it if you're looking for a reason to be skeptical of Eastern Illinois they led the FCS in turnover margin last year and what did I say turnover margin is fluky there's a lot of luck involved with being the team that always wins the turnover battle and that played true very clearly tonight now Illinois forced them so I'm not taking any credit away from Illinois like the interception they had on the screen pass was Stellar I thought they forced some big time fumbles like they they earned these turnovers but I think if they score on that first drive it it's probably a very different ball game even if Illinois still blows them out like I think it becomes close to like are they going to cover or not if there's a little momentum early in that game do you agree with me on that yeah a little bit but after that it was all downhill all downhill for sure for sure um zakari Franklin was supposed to be the guy at receiver he had two catches for 28 yards he's the one that came in from Old Miss previously UTSA where he was a superstar I did not see Star I did not see like good receiver from zakari Franklin last night now it didn't matter because Pat Bryant had two touchdowns and Ashton Holland there were other guys that were threats in this game but outside of Pat Bryant nobody on this team had more than two receptions I do like if there's one spot I'm looking at a little like skeptical positionally I would think it's pass catchers right now and I think they need zakari Franklin to be better than he was against Eastern Illinois yeah I mean they were able to spread it around in this game given where they're at but I I do think that having a pecking order and you know a guy being guy receiver would make you know go a long way for them to reach in whatever ceiling it might be for them yeah um Luke Alm also did throw a ball straight to the numbers of a back in the end zone are we going to acknowledge that one no we're not okay we're just gonna move on yep okay they got Kansas next uh do you feel like Illinois has a legitimate chance in that game I mean they're at home home dogs are not wolves um home dog wolves I'm sorry home dogs are wolves my apology um home dogs are wolves you know there's there's Revenge Factor here given that Kansas was able to beat them last year uh but it'll be very interesting because it's a it's a massive Step Up in competition obviously going from uh Eastern Illinois to Kansas jalon Daniels is dynamic Devin Neil is great they got Playmakers on the defensive side of the ball you got to be you know Luke Alm is going to have to play a really good game because those cornerbacks for Kansas they're they're ball Hawks I believe they still got Kobe Bryant on that team um so yeah it's going to be a really good game um I think the hype around is going to be crazy too as well so they definitely have a chance um I'm not sure if I'm be like they're going to win the game because I'm a I'm a big Kansas football guy this year so yeah we'll see Kansas also beat an FCS opponent by 45 points so coming into this one pretty similar uh week one performances from Kansas and Illinois what do you think the line will be Illinois at home against a Kansas team a lot of people like let's play a game against line God I'm a bad you know I'm a bad line guesser I'm an habitual line stepper bad line guesser um Kansas minus 6 and a half that's exactly where my head was at I think be Illinois plus six yeah that sounds about right yeah and I think if that's the number they give us I think Eileen Illinois first clance but yeah if if that somehow comes out of like seven and a half yeah you rush to go actually I don't know if you rush but you you determine what you want to do there yeah well we got a week to figure it out we'll uh do some research congrats to Illinois Illinois fans uh by the way there there were a lot of En like I don't want to say enjoyable because I don't like it but there were moments that made me laugh in the the Illinois Community dunking on me last night one of which was the bar stool Illinois account literally just tweeting [ __ ] you G2 uh never seen that before and I sent it to our Discord and uh somebody in the Discord was like I know the guy who runs that account he's like a lovely person awesome seems great I I deserve it I I tweeted back was like well played like I I'm taking it I'll take it all all weekend long I deserve it but uh yeah account with 50,000 followers [ __ ] you okay you know those ones you can yeah just take it on the chin it's like you got to be it's like a roller coaster you gotta be yay tall to ride this ride you also got to be at a certain spot to say words to us okay first Illinois is at a spot okay uh lesson learned for me don't be an [ __ ] don't call anybody a shitty player Luke hm's great uh uh second lesson Illinois might be good third lesson is not one that I need to learn it's one that everybody else needs to learn I'll still be here okay there's there's a lot of people out there that were looking like yeah maybe you just want to go into hiding for a couple weeks Greg maybe you no that's not what we do this wasn't my first Rong prediction this won't be my last wrong prediction when I have a wrong prediction you know what I do I put on the boots I put on the Belt I tighten the belt I lean forward in my chair hair and I admit I was wrong like we all could do cuz everybody gets [ __ ] wrong I was wrong sucks I was wrong congrats to Illinois fans you can make fun of me for a whole another week hopefully I'll be on your side next week we'll see what the number comes out as and uh yeah that's it we'll see you next week football season is here money is out there to be had in the form of winning bets and our friends at my bookie want to make it easy for you to do just that yeah and coming into football season you're going to have games all weekend happening everywhere and Gregory where is the only place that sleepers media places all bets I can tell you right now since last February February 1 to be exact my bookie is the only place that I have placed a sports bet I love my bookie they make it easy they get you quick payouts they have awesome promo offers in fact C they've got one right now that football fans everywhere and listeners of this show are gonna want to take advantage of yeah using promo code sleepers that's promo code sleepers you can take advantage of a 50% instant deposit bonus right now that's 50% instant deposit bonus up to $1,000 over at my bookie use promo Co sleepers and happy bedding home dogs aren't dogs they're wolves I'm trying to flip that into like sport like home Sports books aren't books they're novels we'll work on it that didn't work go my book he promo code sleepers