Akilah 4 months eating rice cereal

Akilah (4 months) eating rice cereal

Aside from starting to eat solids, she loves to make sounds and is becoming more mobile. Her latest accomplishments include scooting backwards, sitting up for short periods of time and pushing up on her hands and knees. She is not yet crawling but she may just surprise us all next month.

Nicholas is still full of energy and really enjoying his new classroom. Now with both kids at the ECDL there are more things to pack up in the morning so Nicholas gets to use the backpack that Granddaddy Solomon bought him (and pictured below). He carries his blanket and empty bottles/diapers for his sister in the backpack. Nico really enjoys being able to help out in the morning.

Nicholas with backpack

Akilah always smiles when she hears her brother’s voice. Even when Nicholas politely says “Be quiet and listen to me Akilah” she will smile, continue making sounds and at times break into laughter. So I guess it has started early (the younger sibling totally disregarding what the eldest says). Can’t wait to see what happens when they get older and want to play with the same toys

And we open the quarter with an example of Illinois’s crappy secondary.  Big missed tackle from Trulon Henry.  Along this drive (all four plays of it) we see just how good the Illini D-line is, and just how bad the secondary is.

Announcers calling for a naked bootleg out of our own end zone.  Well, it would show guts, I guess.

It’s going to be hard to run on Illinois this year.  The line is solid, and the backers have great sideline-to-sideline speed.  So long as the front four can provide a strong rush, and the linebackers can avoid biting on play-action, I think we might be able to hide our glaring weakness in the secondary.  Until opponents start going 4 verticals on every play.

Nice to see Illinois realized that they can run with someone other than the QB; this is the team’s primary strength, and it should not be ignored.

The special teams really are improved.  Better kicks, better coverage, better blocking, better returns.

Jeff Allen (#71) is our best OL; but he’s been called for three, maybe four false starts.  I know this is a solid run blocking line, but is the pass blocking even worse than I thought?

Illinois’s only defensive strength is on the line, and Missouri, up 7 with the ball well in field goal range and one minute to play, runs the QB on a draw with an empty backfield.  That’s a really good way to end your season unnecessarily.

Mizzou woke up a bit defensively.  They’re paying more attention to the run now.

One of Illinois’s many question marks this year was the linebacking corps.  They’re looking pretty positive through this quarter.

I’m seeing some plays in this game that I would expect to see in high school.  The pass on third down by Gabbert to Kemp at about the 6 minute mark?  How many times are you gonna turn the wrong way over your shoulder?  Bad throw or bad route?  Both?

Scheelhaase has been too greedy on the option so far.  He had a Q1 play where a throw would have gained at least as much as the keeper (though he did get 5+ yards, and some option QBs are coached to always run if you can get 4 or more).  Several plays in Q2 where he’s keeping instead of handing off, and getting creamed.  If someone is gonna get hit, make it your RB, not your QB!

Seems like the game plan is all up the middle.  There’s room to the outside.  But hard to complain when you can gain 4 with a handoff up the gut and 8 in the defensive box.

The drag route to crossing receiver sure seems to be open; it was on the TD and on the two or three other times they went to it.  Establishing the run is a proven myth in the NFL, but it seems to have produced results in this game.

I’m not impressed with our special teams, but I do like them.  No mistakes, good coverage, solid tackling.

AND OH GOD NO, they’re in the prevent for the last 2 minutes.  At least pretend like you might play man or blitz!  And then we get lucky on some bad throws and drops, and Clay Nurse beats the crap out of the left tackle.

How long until some industrious student orders a crapton of 2 Liuget 2 Quit t-shirts?

Nice to see other teams using the horrible rugby-style punt.

Both QBs have happy feet so far.  Expected for Scheelhaase, but for Gabbert?