Let's Talk About the Illini : You Don't Wear Red After Labor Day

Tim Beckman will be fired. 

I have reiterated this sentence time and time again since the loss to Purdue.  Instead of sounding weird like many sentences when you continue to repeat it, instead it just seems to be truer by the second.

How doesn’t he get fired? Well winning out wouldn’t hurt. Making a bowl game is a nice little tally. Hell, winning the bowl game would help an Illinois program that seems to be in the dark with no sign of light to come.

Beckmen didn’t help himself at Wisconsin though. He somehow found a way to make it worse. Remind me later on how good of a slogan"found a way to make it worse" would be for the Tim Beckman era.  

Down 38-14 in Camp Randall, and the win out in jeopardy, Beckman took the red shirt off former four star recruit Aaron Bailey and put him in a game. I repeat, with the game already over and Riley O’Toole still healthy, Beckman put in Aaron Bailey, a player that was going to sit out this season to one day be the shinning star in the Illinois program.

I feel a new era beckoning again.

I have criticized Beckman since the day he put on his orange visor, but I admit that the redshirt was smart. Bailey primarily would come in to  run the option in third and goal situations last season. His speed is perfect for the college game and with him redshirting, he would get a chance to become a better pocket Quarterback.

Plus with Wes Lunt starting no matter what and Riley O’Toole going into his senior year, the Quarterback conversation was a little too wordy. The future waits while we live in the Lunt era. Everyone wins!

Then again, Tim Beckman will be fired at the end of the year for a reason.

Lunt of course factured his leg against Purdue and O’Toole was put in the driver seat. This made Bailey the back up and his redshirt in jeopardy. As long as O'Toole stays healthy and Bailey doesn't touch the field, everything will be fine. Everything will be fine.

This sentence doesn't sound as good repeated.

Long Story Short, O’Toole helps Illinois go up 14-7 in the First quarter and failed to score again. Wisconsin relied on their running game that is currently 2^nd in the nation and found a little spark in a struggling passing game. Fourth quarter rolls and O’toole Time has ended, I guess.

Beckman was against the wall. He was coaching for his job and the win out is possibly his only way of staying. Failing to even care about the future of the program that is taking it "one game at a time" is going to be a question Beckman better be prepared to answer when he is looking for a job next season.

Bailey had a good fourth quarter. 75 yards on 12 carries helped him lead the Illini in rushing and his only interception came as a last ditch effort to pull the game within 3.  

I mean, it was against second stringers . He had nothing to lose. Bailey did find a way to almost get Illinois within a score. He caught Wisconsin off guard. It makes you wonder “What if he had more time?”

Would of , Could of, Should ofs are going to fill Beckman’s resume, so that is something I will come back to next time.

Now for the Illini, Bailey (hopefully) will  be named the starter for the Homecoming match up against Minnesota in two weeks. Minnesota will have the advantage of watching tape of Bailey and making it an even larger challenge for the former Redshirter . Illinois will have two weeks to figure out how to stop minnesota’s top ranked run offense and get Minnesota to rely on throwing the ball. Which is exactly what they tried to do in Wisconsin.

So I say again, Tim Beckmen will be fired.