Well, OK......so the "mystery team" turned out to be pretty dam GOOD !!! 
(HOORAY..!!! 👍🎈😃)
I have a thread on here questioning why Illinois was not FAVORED after THUMPING a pretty decent Wyoming team last week 38-6, whereas IU was a complete unknown - a mystery wrapped in an enigma (to coin a phrase 😜) - with no vids or even stills coming out of Fall camp to hint at how good/bad IU might be...people on here were even trying to "read the tea leaves" by quoting articles going back to when Walt Bell was OC at ARK St for God's sake (accurately, as it turns out.).
But the spy vs spy cloak of silence (to wildly mix metaphors), was WORTH IT...!!! 😄....worth the egg on my face and the (no doubt) ridicule I received for even QUESTIONING the judgment of messers CTA, Walt Bell and Chad Wilt. (I never bothered - after the first response - to look at all the scorn that was probably heaped upon me...)
BUT ONE THING IS CLEAR AFTER THAT WONDERFUL LAST DRIVE:
One Mr. Thomas Allen MUST allow Mr. Walt Bell to have IU be a Don Coryell/Air Raid Offense PASS FIRST, RUN SECOND offense !!
I mean, yeah, Illinois more or less FORCED IU to go all-pass on that last drive by stopping the run so well all night (as they had against the Cowboys the week before), but I think a LOT of B1G teams are built that way, so CTA should let Bell HAVE AT IT: spread 'em out & let're rip with passes & just enough runs to keep em honest....
With Bazelak's "cool customer former SEC QB" head on his shoulders, and a variety of good receivers, the magic may be just beginning...
And never have I been SO glad to be WRONG !!! 🤪🤷♂️
(HOORAY..!!! 👍🎈😃)I have a thread on here questioning why Illinois was not FAVORED after THUMPING a pretty decent Wyoming team last week 38-6, whereas IU was a complete unknown - a mystery wrapped in an enigma (to coin a phrase 😜) - with no vids or even stills coming out of Fall camp to hint at how good/bad IU might be...people on here were even trying to "read the tea leaves" by quoting articles going back to when Walt Bell was OC at ARK St for God's sake (accurately, as it turns out.).
But the spy vs spy cloak of silence (to wildly mix metaphors), was WORTH IT...!!! 😄....worth the egg on my face and the (no doubt) ridicule I received for even QUESTIONING the judgment of messers CTA, Walt Bell and Chad Wilt. (I never bothered - after the first response - to look at all the scorn that was probably heaped upon me...)
BUT ONE THING IS CLEAR AFTER THAT WONDERFUL LAST DRIVE:
One Mr. Thomas Allen MUST allow Mr. Walt Bell to have IU be a Don Coryell/Air Raid Offense PASS FIRST, RUN SECOND offense !!
I mean, yeah, Illinois more or less FORCED IU to go all-pass on that last drive by stopping the run so well all night (as they had against the Cowboys the week before), but I think a LOT of B1G teams are built that way, so CTA should let Bell HAVE AT IT: spread 'em out & let're rip with passes & just enough runs to keep em honest....
With Bazelak's "cool customer former SEC QB" head on his shoulders, and a variety of good receivers, the magic may be just beginning...
And never have I been SO glad to be WRONG !!! 🤪🤷♂️
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