The one downer: piriformis just ached…need to stretch after driving.
The rest of it: pretty fun..though the Illini lost.
I had predicted Maryland 42-31 and the game ended up being more of a defensive struggle, at least for 3 quarters.
Initially, not much; Illinois had a drive that ended in a blocked field goal; Maryland made theirs…then the Illini had a drive that ended in 3. So 3-3 at the half.
3’rd quarter saw a momentum shift. Maryland got the kickoff and marched 75 yards for a touchdown…easily. Illinois punted…another easy drive until a big hit forced a Maryland fumble at the Illini 11.
Then Illinois had a nifty 89 yard drive ending with a spectacular 30+ yard touchdown run to tie the game.
Later: Illinois forced another fumble..but threw an interception.
Early 4’th; breakway Illinois run looked like it would end with a fumble, but an alert Illini receiver picked it up and ran it in..17-10 early in the 4’th.
Maryland drove..but a TD was called back due to a chop block penalty.
It appeared that the Illini was going to put the game away but with 4’th and 1 at the Maryland 45, Illinois called on their punt team to pin Maryland deep.
Some fans did not like that call, but I did: the illini defense held Maryland to 10 points in the first 56 minutes and their punt team is outstanding.
But with 4 minutes to go, Maryland marched down the field and scored with just over 2 minutes to go to tie the game at 17.
Then came the last 2 minutes. The Illini used a time out and got a first down..but then 2 sacks and an intentional grounding penalty (QB threw to the center!) gave Maryland the ball back near midfield with about a 1 minute to go.
It didn’t take the Terps long to move the ball to field goal range, and they won it on the final play of the game.
Upside: defense played reasonably well. Ground game looked good at times.
Downside: it doesn’t appear the the O-line is used to pocket pass protection; most of these guys grew up on blocking on RPO’s and sprint out. QB got stacked and hurried many times.
Life of an old goat 