ILLINOIS -7.0 vs Missouri

[Carpet]

September 5 2009
3pm cst
ESPN
St Louis Missouri

The line opened at 5.5 and quickly moved to 7

The O/U is 60.5 (Last year they scored 94pts)

Illinois

The Illini return 93% of the offensive scoring
from last year.

Led by QB Juice Williams a 4th year starter
and complimented with what I consider one of
the best receiving corps in the nation.

The Offensive Line of Illinois averages 6'-5" and 300 pounds and this line of mountain men will really help
Illinois run game this year.

Illinois has a new Offensive Coach Mike Schultz
from TCU and both TCU and Illinois play almost
the exact Offensive schemes. If you look up TCU's
offensive numbers last year you will be impressed.

This was a match made in heaven for Illinois and
Coach Schultz. This also opens up recruiting for the
Illini in the state of Texas down the road.

Carpet thinks the man from TCU knows as much
about Missouri than anyone out there.

I expect Missouri to play a very generic defense
not knowing what to expect next.

The Defense of Illinois is still under construction

The entire focus this pre season has been to
one stop the RUN and two not give up big plays

Martiz Wilson a 5 star stud moves to Middle Line Backer
position will make a immediate impact in the middle
Write that name down cause your gonna hear and read
alot about this future NFL linebacker to come.

NEXT UP A QUICK LOOK AT MIZZOU

Carpet

[Carpet]

Missouri Tigers

This is a rebuilding year for the Tigers and it
will present some real challenges to match last years
offensive power.

Sophmore QB Blain Gabbert will take the helm
from Chase Daniels. Gabbert has 4.5 speed and will
take off out of the pocket if his recievers are covered.
While not having the arm that daniels did he is
a much better runner. Illinois will have to work hard
in staying on assignments and containing this threat.

If anything happens to Gabbert the Tigers are in
real trouble, the back up QB's have never taken
a College game snap. Gabbert better be careful
when he takes off running up field because Linebacker
Martiz of Illinois sure can hit like a ton of bricks.

The running game for Mizzou looks in disaray early
so far, this has alot to do with the Offensive line
So far the RB's have just 63 yards rushing on 22 carries

Special teams also have a different look, last year
was easy just let Maclin handle the kick offs and
let him fly, Maclin is gone and this is another area
of concern for the tigers.

On Defense the tigers lost 7 out of 12 players, a defense
that was ranked 100th last year. The Missouri
Defense could not stop Illinois last year and with the
losses of starters will have a very hard time in stopping
the Illini Offense.

MY PREDICTION

HISTORY has shown that Mizzou has owned Illinois
in games played at the Rams dome over the last few years.

This year is different, The leadership of Illinois
Senior QB Juice Williams has already said this is the
year.

Mizzou will not be able to contain Illinois offense
and the defensive side of Illinois has made some
big strides in improving . The addition of Sirod Williams
at Defensive Tackle is a huge boost to this line.

Both teams are very fast, and look for Illinois to
play a no huddle offense using a silent count to
keep Missouri on its heels.

My Numbers show Illinois 45 Mizzouri 28

Carpet

[Carpet]

Carpet is at ground level looking at this game
and will report to you anything that comes into
play this week as the warriors of both teams
prepare for battle.

This Illinois team will be a much improved team
over last years 5-7 record. While there are soft spots
on defense it will be over shadowed by this explosive
offense.

This weeks practice is closed to all who want to
see in champaign.

More to follow

Carpet

[Carpet]

Missouri Tigers have dismissed back up QB
Dalton from the team.

This could leave Missouri in a real bind
should anything happen to starter Gabbert

Back up QB Glasser for Missouri is simply
not ready to start taking snaps.

Gabbert of Missouri loves to run out of the
pocket with his 4.5 speed when his receivers
are covered. He better be awful careful when
doing this against Illinois. Illinois has a 5 star
Line Backer named Wilson who loves to hit hard
and will be waiting for Mr Gabbert in the middle.

Martiz Wilson LB brings the pain in Champaign

Carpet

[Carpet]

The Over/Under for this game is 60.5
last year 94 points were scored.

Illinois is 13-6 in the last 19 games
played in September with the OVER.

I also like the over 60.5 side for this game

Carpet

[Carpet]

Good news for the Illini Defense

Josh Brent has been cleared to play vs Missouri

This 6-3 315lb Defensive Tackle will give Illinois
a huge boost to have this pass rusher on the inside

With Brent and Liguet Illinois has one of the
best DT's tandems in college football.

It was questionable if he was going to be allowed
to play after a off the field incident in the spring
landed this kid in the gray bar hotel. Coach Zook
said he has paid for what he has done and no additional
sanctions will be placed on him.

This kid is a beast and Mizzou will be forced
to put some bodies on him to slow him down
on the inside. This also will place additional
pressure on Missouri's running game

Carpet

[garister]

Thanks for all the input, I look forward to your posts again this season.

Good Luck to your Illini.

[Carpet]

COACH ZOOK TALKS MIZZOURI

The Coach of the Illini gave his thoughts on
the up coming game.

Coach Zook " Mizzou is a very well coached team
that we haven't beaten yet. We have used this game
as a motivation in camp. This game will be all out
from the very beginning"

Last week Mizzouri Tiger Line Backer Sean Weatherspoon
sent a message out on twitter and it said:

"I am going to squeeze the pulp out of Juice"

Coach Zook was asked about this and here is what he
said, "If anyone can it would be this player- He is a
game changer type player. I hope he is not able to
do that to Juice"

ILLINOIS schedule this year is ranked the toughest
in the Big 10 and number 10 from the sporting news.

Illinois has never beaten Missouri in the Ram Dome
in St Louis, this cloaked neutral site.

Let me remind my friends here at BettorsWorld

Last year vs Mizzou Illini QB Juice Williams
passed for 457 yards and 5 touchdowns. This is
the same Missouri team that lost some major talent
on both sides of the ball.


Carpet

[Carpet]

FINAL THOUGHTS

Carpet turf view Final Thoughts

When I look at Missouri on Offense I see
a QB that has taken 46 snaps. Gabbert of Mizzou
has great talent but the knock of him his the
lack of consistency in passing. I believe his compl
rate is in the low 40 per cent range.

Mizzou on defense loves to stack the line to stop
the run game with a 4-3 defense, they are a
good team but I just dont see them matching up
well with Illinois in Key positions. (Outside of
Weatherpsson Mizzo LB who is a monster)

I look for Illinois to play small ball for a while
as the new Offensive Coordinator wants to limit
turn overs. llinois will try to establish the run game
and will have some success.

Short slant passes, juice on some keepers and
5 long bomb efforts will make Illinois a better ball
control team.

The kick off return man is Jason Faryed and this kid
is lightning fast, a transfer from FL a 5 star player
wait till you see him run.

This is going to be a great game and the Illini
cover the 7.

Good Luck all

Carpet

[woodee12]

Man, every time I get a glimpse of going after Mizzou, I come back and ready your stuff, and you convince me the other way!

Great stuff!!

I may just have to watch this one from the sidelines without a wager because I am torn.

Or find a way to use ILL on the ML....

[Carpet]

the absolute worst display of a team effort I have every seen

Losing Arrelious benn on the 1at play of the game sent this team in a a real tail spin

This team is out of condition, and looked dismall

I am in a state of shock

Carpet

[samter]

I was high on this game, so much players confused returning.what happened?

[Carpet]

Coach Zook did not have this team prepared
the defense looked gassesd early.

The Illini have a new Offensive Coordintaor and
he scripted 15 neutral plays to begin the game
they all failed. When Been went out of the game
the first serious you could hear this horrible sound
of the winds being taking out of iLLINOIS offense

This new coach designed his whole game on Benn

The only thing that worked for Illinois was when they
went to the option play and why the new coach only
played that sparingly is beyond me.

I say let juice williams call his own plays and turn
this loose. Down by 20 with 4th and 4 and juice throws
it out of bounds on purpose (makes no sense at all)

It looks like a 1-4 start coming for Illinois cause
Ohio State and Penn State as well as Michigan State
is gonna mud hole this team right now.

Having the talent Illinois has and spending a summer
to get ready for a big game and to perform like that
clearly falls onto the shoulder of Coach Zook.

Yes he can recruit but he sure cant coach worth a damn

The entire Illini Nation is in a state of shock and
i could bet there are a few broken coffee tables in living
rooms across illinois tonight

The Melt down in the Land of Lincoln has begun

Carpet

[Boone Moone]

Shit happens............Just take a look at what happened to Oklahoma at home.

[ALLSPORT]

Carpet,

This is why us Florida fans were so glad to see Zook go. Great guy, excellent recruiter, but he can't coach! He never could live up to the hype of the big game, but watch he will come out and surprise some team after he has lost 2 or 3. I think maybe he stops coaching the X's and O's after a few losses and then the talent he has prevails. On paper, you definitely should have had a win!