From The Stands - Michigan State 2022

This one hurts. It means I have to stop daydreaming. Getting to daydream about "what if the Michigan game REALLY means something in the national playoff picture?" was fun, but we can put all of that to bed now. Back to just "how good of a season can we have?"
The hardest part about this one, for me, was losing a field position game. Which is what I talk about in this From The Stands. Yards were 441 to 294 and turnovers were even. The only way to lose that game - the ONLY way to lose a +150 game where turnovers are even and there are no defensive points - is to lose the field position battle. We got DESTROYED in the field position battle and so we lost the game. 441 yards of offense, two touchdowns. Yikes.
Given how I've always been that guy screaming about field position, losing a game like this hurts a little more than it should. Former Illini Bryce Baringer pins us at the one, and all I'm thinking is "we're about to go 90 yards and get no points". And then we go 80 yards... and get no points. I just hate losing like that so, so, so much.
Michigan State did give us an opportunity at the end, though. Their pass on third down with 1:15 left was the dumbest coaching decision I've seen in years. They gave us 40 extra seconds to put together a drive. That's when I pressed "record" here, so that's where this FTS begins.
Spoiler alert: I start getting excited that we're going to go down the field and score the tying touchdown. And then we didn't. We went 50 yards... and didn't get any points.
Out played, out coached, and probably over rated. Still a better season than expected even if they lose out. Of course, it would be deliciously ironic if they now beat Michigan.
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Should we hire a meteorologist? This crazy wind should be part of our home field advantage.
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We are Illinois football and we can’t be trusted.
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My wife hates losses more because of how it ruins my weekend than the actual loss. The dream is gone.
But the amazing over achieving season remains. B10 Championship game is still in our sites.
Beat Purdue, play with house money against Mich, then I’ll be at NW game to see us cap off the best regular season in (over?) 15 years.
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couldn't agree more. I was a little late to the bandwagon but after yesterday, I moved from middle of B section to upper level A section. I still believe this team can knock off Purdue, give MU a hell of a game, give NW a bully beat down and then play in the Big Ten championship. Looking forward to watching us playing in a bowl game in January.
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