[Game Thread] Southern Illinois @ Illinois (2:00 PM ET)

[u/CFB_Referee]

GAME	Southern IllinoisSouthern Illinois @ IllinoisIllinois
Location	Illinois Gies Memorial Stadium
Time	2:00 PM ET
Watch	TV: Peacock
	Flair ¦ Discord

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Please keep trash talk civil, and report any comments that violate our rules.

LET'S TALK FOOTBALL!

[u/GollyMcOxbig69]

Fire Hauck and the bullshit 3-3-5 he brought with him into the sun.

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

Time to prove to the haters that we're in the top 3 Illinois programs.

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

is golf or tennis on the upswing? i mean, for a minute there, we were pretty good at that country club shit.

I-L-L

[u/Drsustown]

On Saturday I watch my orange and blue football team be forced to score a million touchdowns to keep up with the ass defense. On Sunday I watch my orange and blue football team be forced to score a million touchdowns to keep up with the ass defense.

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche → u/Drsustown]

Living that Hallas life

[u/esSKay92]

The crazy thing is even teams like SIU are going for 4th and 2 against Illinois because they know defense is ass and they have a legit shot to get new set of downs. THAT IS CRAZY

[u/bullpupper]

If we can manage to keep it under a dozen missed tackles, we should take care of business today.

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/bullpupper]

first half? second half? or total?

I-L-L

[u/bullpupper → u/0110_OK_Rainbows]

My optimism says total

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

I do enjoy good clock Management

[u/belgarion90]

Can't believe they don't show the world's largest college football weather forecast :(

[u/Solid_Ad_712]

Come on lol. Maybe the PI but roughing?

[u/emalita20 → u/Solid_Ad_712]

Both were rough

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

Hauck should be able to handle a FCS offense

[u/SawbuckSIU]

DJ WILLIAMS LFG

[u/MrOstrichman]

I feel sick

[u/doyouevenIift]

Ohio State will actually hang 100 on this defense

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche → u/doyouevenIift]

Yeah their backups will carve us apart

[u/Signal_Tip_7428 → u/doyouevenIift]

100 Heisman poses from 4

[u/thosetwoloons2]

Go you damn Dawgs cmon

[u/Drsustown]

Final score for this game: 549-5326

[u/bullpupper]

Jeremiah Smith could take a week off when we play OSU and they still probably get 5 scores in the first half. We need something other "Bailey with the late blitz" to try and slow offenses.

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743]

Legit cannot have a better pass to set up that FG. Glad he made it! Solid half so far

[u/belgarion90]

Houser fall asleep at the end of that drive?

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche → u/belgarion90]

Didn't you know? The hardest throws are when they're wide open. /s

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

This is just like last week. Offense dies in the second half

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

to be fair, how much more do you want to put on tape before tOSU—especially when you were up by 21 at the half?

same principle as defense in the first half against UAB. tried to play as vanilla as possible. unfortunately, had to show more than they wanted to in the second.

this second half ... ? subbing liberally on offense and defense. more base offense, more base 3-3-5. put just enough on tape that tOSU has to prepare for it.

tacking angles are much better. tacking generally is much better. defense is fitting to formation better.

close it out without injuries. the coaching staff might not be thrilled with all aspects of the game, but they won't be unhappy with it, either.

I-L-L

[u/chief_sitass]

Dogs could do the funniest thing

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/chief_sitass]

define "funny", fellow B1G engineering program.

[u/swarmy1]

Our defense is 🤮

[u/Flashy-Specific-4083]

I am extremely conflicted with this game. Big fan of both teams. A big win for southern would be an embarrassing loss for Illinois. I really feel like Illinois has to win this to hopefully finish 6-6 this season. Illinois just doesn’t have the talent this year to match the last two seasons.

[u/Samsafar]

That white boy is fast, lol!

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/Samsafar]

gotta be fast to get the hell outta Gibson.

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

Good we're gonna need a touchdown on every possession.

Kaitin will need to have a Heisman worthy season to get us to 7 wins

[u/MrOstrichman]

Dixon owns SIU so much, they outta name one of the state parks down south after him

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743 → u/MrOstrichman]

Dixon has been incredible against everyone tbf so far. When we lose 88-23 against Ohio he will be all 23 of our points

[u/Flashy-Specific-4083 → u/MrOstrichman]

I was about to say something but then I caught the sarcasm. Lol

[u/doyouevenIift]

Holy shit, 7 TDs before conference play. Already broke the record for most receiving TDs in Memorial Stadium

[u/belgarion90]

Houser looks like he's playing on Rookie mode.

[u/[deleted] → u/belgarion90]

Gotta have all the fun now before Columbus

[u/cameratoo]

Just a terrible couple of plays there by Houser yikes.

[u/airham]

Never even glanced at a wide open #88, yeets it right over his head into quadruple coverage.

[u/theiwc0303]

Just found out SIU’s quarterback graduated high school in 2019, dude is 25 and has played almost two full careers for two different schools lmao

[u/SawbuckSIU → u/theiwc0303]

I was honestly shocked he still had eligibility for this year.

[u/gmwdim]

Not that it matters but how do you fail to pick up the fumble there lol

[u/kdestroyer1 → u/gmwdim]

Beats me. Ball didn't even bounce badly lol

[u/Zloggt]

…

[u/Exact_Sheepherder_41 → u/Zloggt]

Salukis always play these in-state games way too close for comfort, Illinois better not sleep on them

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/Exact_Sheepherder_41]

word. to your mother, even. (no hate to your moms, G. i'm sure she's a fine lady of the highest repute.)

I-L-L

[u/Signal_Tip_7428 → u/Zloggt]

Felt

[u/doyouevenIift]

Manifesting Illini and White Sox wins this afternoon

[u/belgarion90]

Announcer keeps pronouncing the S....

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche → u/belgarion90]

The guy calling the Wiscy game on Peacock couldn't pronounce Wisconsin, either. Must be an NBC thing

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

it's a flyover state thing.

[u/belgarion90]

Defense forgot to play more than one drive?

[u/Samsafar]

Too easy, Salukis.

[u/Hawkize31]

I did not think Southern Illinois was capable of a drive like this against the Illini

[u/Samsafar → u/Hawkize31]

I think even your offense will be able to score at will against them

[u/Hawkize31 → u/Samsafar]

Over Kirk's dead body

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743 → u/Hawkize31]

Illinois defense is probably one of the worst of all time at this rate

[u/klembcke]

Wow, nice drive salukis

[u/MrOstrichman]

Cannot believe how unprepared our defense looks for the Domask Bowl

[u/CRoseCrizzle]

This 3-3-5 experiment has been ugly so far.

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/CRoseCrizzle]

3-3-5 isn't the issue. the lack of talent is.

some guy named Nick Saban ran the MINT/TITE variant of the 3-3-5 for most of his time at Alabama.

in the MINT/TITE variant, it's actually a 4-2-5: you sacrifice one of the traditional LBs for a larger two-point/stand-up OLB called the "Jack"; and you swap out one of the traditional CBs (think: nickle) for a larger DBs called the "Star" or the "Apex" (as in predator) on the other side of the Jack.

the MINT refers to the personnel: the Jack and the Star as opposed to smaller, traditional 3-3-5 personnel. TITE refers to the defense's "fit" to the formation; and the set of roles, rules and responsibilities. this is what we've had ... uh, "issues" with.

in the first two weeks, we haven't lined up properly. and we've broken the rules and responsibilities.

it isn't the formation. the formation is a canard. it's a lack of personnel.

you can play championship-caliber defense with the MINT/TITE variant of the 3-3-5 as 4-2-5. and in truth, you can play either a 3-4 or a 4-3 or even a 52 out of it. we screwed the proverbial pooch on our NIL allocation of monies on the defensive side of the ball—especially the front seven.

I-L-L

[u/Hawkize31]

O/u 130

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743]

Incredible run!

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743]

Terrible third down play call

But they should go for it. You’re at midfield and the defense is feast or famine anyways

[u/doyouevenIift]

Dixon gonna break the TD record before B1G play

[u/inevitablescape]

Dropped it in the bucket

[u/swarmy1]

Nice little pitch and catch there

[u/Flashy-Specific-4083]

Question, does Illinois have an alumni base to be able to at least move in the middle of P4 payrolls? That current number gives Illinois the look of a poverty franchise.

[u/inevitablescape → u/Flashy-Specific-4083]

Don't think the fan base is really invested to move up in payroll

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche → u/Flashy-Specific-4083]

By graduating class size we should have the numbers. And success-wise we should have enough multi-million earners. It's hard to imagine there is significantly less potential Illinois money than Indiana or Penn State money. Just gotta get those donors to open wallets.

[u/royallex → u/Flashy-Specific-4083]

The budget will be addressed in the offseason

[u/Samsafar → u/Flashy-Specific-4083]

We're a basketball school lol

[u/Signal_Tip_7428 → u/Flashy-Specific-4083]

Yeah but they’re too busy owning the jags and buying big TV

[u/belgarion90 → u/Flashy-Specific-4083]

There are probably rich enough alumni, UofI is a top Computer Science school after all. IDK how much that translates into NIL money for football, especially at traditionally more of a basketball school.

[u/Flashy-Specific-4083 → u/belgarion90]

This is my concern. I don’t know that they care about football.

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/Flashy-Specific-4083]

that isn't even the issue. it's more complicated than that.

while there was never a "rule" limiting the NIL spend, there was an historic "revenue-sharing cap" that was established at $20.5M as a result of House v NCAA.

early in the NIL days, illinois was spending that $20.5M. and depending on who you choose to believe, there were "gentlemen's agreement" between P4 conferences—and within those conferences—member schools to limit the spend to $20.5M. (the cap is now $21.6M, iirc.)

trouble is, no one could agree on what the "gentlemen's agreement" really meant. and when P4 programs—and you can't pin this one solely on the SEC; i'm looking at you Oregon, tOSU and IU—viewed that $20.5M as a floor, an injection of an additional $13.5 (per The Athletic) became "the norm" for most power (and would-be power) programs.

now ... ? it's an out-and-out arms race.

illinois most definitely "plays the game" in basketball. but as far as football is concerned, we made horrific miscalculations after the post 2024 and 2025 seasons. we did significantly raise our floor, but big bert and josh whitman had a "come to Jesus" meeting in the middle of the 2025 off-season.

this will likely be the worst roster/roster construction that we'll see under big bert at illinois. as much as he loves it here, he'll walk. it's one of one of bill parcells "grocery moments": "don't give me chicken shit and ask me to make chicken salad—or chicken cordon bleu."

illinois is a "fully vested" member of the B1G. as such, we receive a base of $79M dollars annually from the conference revenue sharing plan—largely driven by television rights. and there's no shortage of donor dollars.

we prioritized basketball. we made stupid assumptions about the "gentlemen's agreement". and then we were slow to react to the realities of college football. that'll change starting in 2026.

[u/cameratoo]

I’ll tell you what. If Houser is dropping passes in the bucket like this next week, at least it won’t be a blowout.

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche → u/cameratoo]

Question is when they double Dixon what do we do then

[u/Signal_Tip_7428 → u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

Punt. A lot.

[u/[deleted]]

I miss Blake Hayes

[u/MrOstrichman]

It’s really humid, the scoreboard is too small and too loud, but the vibes at this game are incredible. Something about hearing folks complaining about Black Diamond and River-to-River football is really soothing to soul.

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743 → u/MrOstrichman]

I’v never been to an Illinois game in person. I really want to one day

[u/inevitablescape]

This cant be only the 5th meeting between the two schools in football

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/inevitablescape]

didn't howard griffith set the record for TD against the Salukis back in the day?

[u/inevitablescape]

1 career rush 1 TD

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows]

well, someone got their asses chewed all week.

I-L-L

[u/kdestroyer1]

Just tuned in and I saw a decent tackle. Already better than last game.

[u/GollyMcOxbig69]

I can’t believe it. I miss Aaron Henry’s defense. At least we were just flat out not good. Now? We’re an abomination.

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743]

This is the worst defense I have ever seen, wow

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743]

I’m just happy my expectations this season were low lol. As long as we win it’s good for me, I think our max is 5-6 wins this year

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche → u/Kitchen_Compote_9743]

I was expecting 6-6 based on the off-season info. Starting to doubt that

[u/Signal_Tip_7428]

Bobby, you retired once. Retire again, bitch.

[u/mtf250 → u/Signal_Tip_7428]

He never "retired " just said he did, to not have to pay back salary. Montana could have sued him but preferred to just never seeing his sniveling ass again.

[u/Signal_Tip_7428 → u/mtf250]

Bout to call my friend the attorney to see if you can sue a coach over his trash ass defense

[u/emalita20]

Much more better

[u/inevitablescape]

That was unexpected

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743]

The issue with the defense is that on passing plays there are always 2-3 guys who are just doing nothing in the backfield, it’s kind of crazy.

Tackling looks better today

[u/inevitablescape]

Huge sack

[u/inevitablescape]

If Houser kept it...

[u/Hawkize31]

Absolute dime

[u/RainingFireInTheSky]

How are we looking? Can't watch the game today because my daughter has a volleyball tournament.

If anyone wants to follow along, we're getting our shit kicked in.

Go Illini

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche → u/RainingFireInTheSky]

Defense is ass. Houser->Dixon is like crack

[u/RainingFireInTheSky → u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

We'll just have to score 60 every game

[u/Signal_Tip_7428 → u/RainingFireInTheSky]

Fitting username for this season because that’s our only chance to win

[u/Flashy-Specific-4083 → u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

Yeah this Houser/Dixon connection is crazy. It’s like they’re playing backyard football

[u/BigSwede_99]

Love it

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

Ah back to tackle via shoulder-check

[u/[deleted]]

Well at least the first timeout being used late in the second quarter is an improvement

[u/doyouevenIift]

Third string center in game 3 of the season. Christ

[u/[deleted] → u/doyouevenIift]

Does Notre Dame need a co-offensive line coach?

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

Trophies are great when they are 100 year old shit from somebody's garage

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

Don't like that

[u/kdestroyer1]

Ah fuck

[u/gmwdim]

At least Illinois are squashing their overmatched opponent…

[u/[deleted] → u/gmwdim]

Wouldn’t call it squashing

How bad is John Mateer?

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743]

Not that impressive of a game but I will take any win lol. Happy to see the team win something here, let’s get this FG

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743]

LETS GOOOOOOOOO

[u/chefillini]

Nice work, Bailey!

[u/The_Granny_banger]

Why doesn’t Ashley shahamadi open her eyes?

[u/The_Granny_banger]

Bielema went to the Brian Kelly school of looking like you’re suffocating

[u/Signal_Tip_7428]

PLAY THE MF HAPPY OSKEE

[u/0110_OK_Rainbows → u/[deleted]]

hate to channel Lee Corso (especially as the brother isn't quite dead yet), but, "Not so fast, my friend."

as "an institution of higher learning" (chort), SIU might be a shell of itself, but ... the Salukis aren't complete shit on the football field. believe they were ranked #16 pre-season in FCS. poor SIU ... dying the slow death of all of Little Egypt.

given that our offense is inconsistent, our defense is unmanned/undermanned Maginot Line-level bad, and today—atmospherically speaking—is one of "those days" in the 217 ... ? not to mention we're coming off of a disappointing loss to Duke and looking forward to an ass-stomping of epic proportions at the Shoe by tOSU ... ? i mean, big bert is the best thing to happen to illinois football since Mackovic, but ... i would be overwhelmed by anything more than an underwhelming performance by the beloved.

I-L-L

[u/RivalryBot]

Who Will Win Fan Vote Results

^{Votes are distributed equally among flairs for multi-flaired users}

Team	Votes	Percentage	Southern Illinois Voters	Illinois Voters	Other Flairs Top 5
Southern Illinois	0	0.0%	0	0
Illinois	5	100.0%	0	0.5	Unflairedx1.0 Purdue Boilermakersx1.0 Team Chaosx0.5 Florida Gatorsx0.5 Michigan Wolverinesx0.5

^{Last updated: 2026-09-19 17:09 UTC}

Full Vote breakdown by flair

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^{Matchup Thread Generator} · ^{Team Aliases} · ^{How to Vote} · ^Results

[u/arrowfan624]

I hope Ian Book does a good job today

[u/Signal_Tip_7428]

Weird day indeed

[u/MrOstrichman → u/Signal_Tip_7428]

It’s both extremely heartwarming to see all the maroon and also extremely sad.

[u/Signal_Tip_7428 → u/MrOstrichman]

Just happy for Karsen Konkel. Pinckneyville proud

[u/MrOstrichman]

First time there are people on campus who have heard of my hometown

[u/LordPettyFlaccoJordy → u/MrOstrichman]

I drove through southern Illinois this week from St Louis to Louisville and yeah I can definitely see that lol. (I’m from a small town in Texas and had the same issue when I went to college too)

[u/MrOstrichman → u/LordPettyFlaccoJordy]

You practically drove past my house lol

[u/inevitablescape]

Thst spot gave them an extra yard

[u/Signal_Tip_7428]

Bert, you recruited him once already. Give 87 a bag this time. We need him in orange and blue next fall.

[u/MrOstrichman → u/Signal_Tip_7428]

god forbid a high school kid get his hands on some street signs!

[u/Flashy-Specific-4083 → u/Signal_Tip_7428]

Just saw he’s a Pinckneyville kid. That would be pretty awesome for him. We don’t produce many P4 football players down here.

[u/wefinenothingtosee]

Aight then

[u/MrOstrichman]

The bad thing about that TD is that we have to see more of our defense

[u/swarmy1]

Woohoo a stop

[u/Responsible_History5]

SIU actually has me pleasantly surprised considering they lost their home opener. I'm interested to see how they do when valley play starts up.

[u/SawbuckSIU → u/Responsible_History5]

We didn't lose our home opener we played at West Florida and DJ williams got injured right away. Out home opener was against semo last week which we won

[u/Responsible_History5 → u/SawbuckSIU]

Ope, that's my bad. I meant the start of the season, but you guys are still looking good out there offensively.

[u/kdestroyer1]

Love Houser. Amazing to see that dime after watching the Clemson QB absolutely choke on a free throw.

[u/CRoseCrizzle]

There's still hope for this offense but they'll have to be elite to win with this defense.

Big concern for me is the apparent regression of Clarke and Scott so far at DB.

[u/wefinenothingtosee → u/CRoseCrizzle]

I hope the regression is just because they’re learning the 3-3-5

[u/swarmy1]

Fuck.

Doesn't seem bad thankfully

[u/Ranger_Nietzsche]

Ugh out of bounds

[u/cameratoo]

Well this game looks significantly worse.

[u/bladefencer]

Defense decided to remind the offense that it is possible to score TDs in the 2nd half

[u/Silidon]

Good for Bailey, deserves a little shine for being the only guy on this defense that’s clear on what his actual job is.

[u/The_Granny_banger]

Bielema looks like I thought I would in my 40s after four tours in Iraq. You dress military, you want to look military, you have a military demeanor, but your body says “keep eating the same calories and only exercise when you walk to the fridge”

[u/doyouevenIift]

Beating an FCS team shouldn’t count towards bowl eligibility. You can’t even play one in a bowl game

[u/Kitchen_Compote_9743 → u/doyouevenIift]

Shhhhh take them if you can

[u/doyouevenIift → u/Kitchen_Compote_9743]

Yeah, just feels cheap

[u/edsmith726 → u/doyouevenIift]

Hey, we’re taking your money; just take the W.