Eastern Illinois Football vs Fighting Illini 2024 preview

[Music] welcome to the first episode of the Bleed Blue segment on the coach Steve Show podcast this is where we will talk about everything with Eastern Illinois University mainly football we will try our best to talk about basketball and other sports but this is where we will talk about everything Eastern Illinois it's a football school no offense to anybody but this is the first segment it's part of the coach Steve show called Bleed Blue so make sure if this is your first time watching or listening you like And subscribe to YouTube channel follow it and give it a rating on and iTunes and Spotify check all that stuff out follow on X or Twitter whichever one you want to call it at coach st72 Instagram coach Steve 72 as well and they're both on Instagram and X as the coach Steve show as well again this is Bleed Blue part of the coach Steve show if you subscribe you'll get a playlist look and it'll be Bleed Blue it'll be up there we have stuff for everybody on this channel we've got interviews with high school and college football coaches and other people in the sports media world we have a bear down segment um co-host Zack Kyan will be on here weekly to talk about the Chicago Bears then we have our IL inii segment to talk about everything University of Illinois Athletics and then we got Bleed Blue so we can talk about everything that has to do with Eastern Illinois University I am repping them today that is where I went to school that's where everything uh so let's get into the sple blue first episode of this on the coach Steve show Eastern Illinois football opens up tonight against the University of Illinois I have been a University of Illinois fan since birth growing up 20 25 minutes outside of champagne or bana my whole life I have been in Illinois fan since birth so this is very awkward because then I go to college at Eastern Illinois and then I become I think built a relationship with some coaches down there I have a former player that I coached in high school on the coaching staff so this is very awkward for me I did an IL and I segment talking about the keys for Illinois to try to get the win over Eastern Illinois and I was as respectful as I could be and I'm going to try to do the same here with Eastern Illinois kicking off versus the University of Illinois it's at 8:10 pm. central time I think it supposed to be now it's 810 so let's just talk about Eastern Illinois football coach Wilkerson is his third year coming in had a rough year and then they went had a very good year last year uh I believe it was eight and3 nine and3 they did not make the playoffs uh so they went eight and3 in the regular season 4-2 in the conference they are back on the map here they should have made the playoffs it was actually very shocking to a lot of people in the media world in the ovc the Ohio Valley Conference that they did not make the playoffs but they said they would have to win the championship in order to make it that just showed how tough of a schedule they had and showed how tough the conference was because if that was the only way to get in and you had other teams that were winning a lot of games it was very tough um coach Wilkerson came in he used to play there he I think he was a ga there met his wife in Charleston so he is eiu through and through he was a successful coach at the University of Chicago division three School up here uh in the suburbs and in Chicago went down to Eastern and he took his division three culture mindset and implemented it into Eastern Building off of the culture that was already set has a great coaching staff built there and talking to those coaches you can check the episodes out on YouTube or on Apple and iTunes I've talked to Coach Wilkerson I've talked to their strength coach o line coach offensive coordinator o line coach I've talked to a lot of people they are very fired up for their season they're doing everything right uh they hit the transfer portal uh the right way that they needed to they did not lose a lot of players and they have players coming back their quarterback's coming back he had transferred in from Georgetown last year year so he had division one experience and played well last year they have the running back back they've got some lineman back I even have a player that I coached one year in 2018 Anthony shaki he is a linebacker for Eastern Illinois University as well I believe it's his fifth year uh he's big number five he's like the biggest dude on the field and so I have some ties to Eastern I've also built a relationship with Coach Bart Miller at the University of Illinois so again this is going to be as respectful as I can be this is a tough game this is a very tough opener game for Eastern Illinois um this is not uncommon to see a division one or FCS team go play division one uh division one and the FBS they pay FCS teams to come in and we've seen FCS teams upset the division one teams Eastern Illinois actually did it when Jimmy G was there they traveled to uh San Jose State I believe and they beat them so it's not uncommon to see an FCS team we even saw appalachin State uh you know a long time ago beat Michigan at Michigan so it's not uncommon so we have to sit here and talk about this is and I said this for on the IL segment this is not an assumption win you could say on paper for Illinois it's an Inception win versus Eastern this is not a typical FCS team th this and and no offense all the other sports when people hear Eastern they think football and that's just it now they have a great great track program they've had great uh basketball players come through their softball team does well they've had good girls women's basketball they've had volleyball but when you hear Eastern Illinois I think one of the first things you think of is football and so they have a great football tradition Tony Romo Shawn pyton uh Jimmy G and and just the list goes on and on on Kyle Shanahan went there uh the legendary coach coach SPO coach Wilkerson went there Cole Hoover who's a tight end Coach he went to school there and played there so there's a lot of ties that come around to Eastern and when you don't necessarily will have the quotee unquote Talent from an FCS to an FBS how how do you beat those teams well you have to be very well coached and the players have to buy in on what they're doing the players are very bought in to what coach Wilkerson and staff are doing they are fully 100% committed bought in to what they're doing the culture is set in they're working extremely hard and if you look at their schedule last year they won a lot of close games the the closer wins are almost more impressive than the blowouts because you are put into an uncomfortable situation and you are in a very close game and how do you battle and come back and or hold on to a lead or go back and forth or it's a defensive battle how do you march down the field and score can you get down there and kick a field goal all those things come into play and Eastern last year showed that and with a lot of returning players coming back Eastern is set to have another big year like this and their next step is to make the playoffs and try to make a run in the playoffs and we talked about this when we talked about the Illinois side of this Illinois average 24 I think point6 points a game Easterns averag 23.6 points per game now I know that's not a lot but they averaged that much and they kept their opponents to 19 points and they forced 25 turnovers last year Eastern Illinois did their defense is fast they have a decent sized defensive line up front decent sized lineman up there and they are very physical they do give up some chunk plays but when it gets down into the Red Zone they are hitting you they are rallying into the football and they are very physical to force 25 takeaways is a lot their offense uh they can really change speed on you they can go up Tempo they can really focus on the Run game and Coach deerson their offensive coordinator has been with Coach Wilkerson for a long time so they understand each other and when you have that dynamic because he was a special teams coach with him at Eastern Coach Davis was their offense coordinator now he's the head coach at Western Illinois they they they are not this is not going to be oh my gosh Eastern's going into Illinois and it's an automatic win for Illinois it's not and we talked about this for Illinois they cannot Overlook Eastern uh I remember growing up Eastern would play Illinois because they're 45 minutes away from each other so why would you not if you're going to play a division one team well not just you know you don't have to pay for an airplane or anything like that you may they probably got a hotel and champagne but you really don't have to you know if the game is tonight it's at 8:00 so you could have left this morning went there able to practice either there or there's High School fields around that you could use and and everything else so why would you not play them but I remember Eastern would always keep it a close game because it's a football school Eastern is known for physicality they're known for being able to run the football hard and when you got guys coming back for Eastern that can do these type of things it's going to make it a tough game for Illinois as well I think um a lot of people are predicting that Illinois wins you know 40 something to 13 and some like that's been the average 40 something to 13 the closest one I saw I think was like 38 to 17 or something like that that was the closest one and if if they can force ill Illinois into some mistakes and stick around um take some time off the clock and be confident in what they're doing it will be a close game uh and again I talked about how they had 25 takeaways um Pierce Holly their quarterback he transferred in last year from Georgetown uh he understands how to play football he gets rid of the ball quick he puts it where he wants it he's very good at maneuvering in the pocket um if Illinois because one of the challenges for Illinois is are you going to get pressure on the quarterback now that you've lost some D linen and some players to the NFL the last two years are you able to generate pressure and then the key is Eastern Illinois offensive line they have a very good offensive line coach uh one of my buddies players former players plays there and uh one of my former players played offensive line there that coaches there and so if they're able to make sure that there's no pressure on Holly he's going to be able to move the football um MJ flowers is the running back he played last year in a few years um they're calling it a veteran one-two punch and so um they they played Bowling Green last year and were able to move the ball they didn't score as much as they wanted to uh they've played Northern so they've played some division one teams and so they they I think Illinois is going to want to go out there and try to prove the defense and being an on only fan you want that but having a veteran quarterback that's played division one and played it Eastern last year you have a veteran running back I don't think they're going to be rattled right like even if you get pressure on Holly I don't think he's going to be rattled because he's seen it and if you go back and try to watch some of the previous games from last year when he was at Eastern anytime the pocket did break down he was able to move and you know again maneuver the pocket right he was able to do those things and so um it's you know I don't know it's it's it's a tossup because you want to sit here and say that you never if you're Eastern you never want to go into it saying you don't have a chance to win because division one right like you're not just doing it for the money you're doing do it to better yourself right but you are trying to put yourself in a situation where you're trying to beat the division one team or as from a coach perspective if you can come out and say that wow we really competed with a division one program like if you do a lot of good things now take that into our conference into our schedule because this isn't the only division one team they're playing they're going to play Northwestern here later on in the season it's coming up soon I think September 14th actually trying to go to that game so it's not the only one so if you can move the ball on Illinois's defense if you're able to slow their offense down and not give up big plays you're going to take that confidence and move it on to your schedule um there was an article about you know Eastern Illinois versus Illinois in the preview um they they predict that e it says Eastern Illinois will come up with a few points here and there to make Illinois keep trying but there shouldn't be too much drama right and that that's usually what happens right your division one teams quotequote have more depth and talent because they're division one right but I also think it's interesting to watch these type of games because of the transfer portal right um I don't like the way the transfer portal is set up and the way it's going with name image and likeness but with this transfer portal you're getting players and I talked about it on Tuesday was you're seeing a division one realm where you know people complained about Alabama getting all the players and Ohio State and now Georgia and you're seeing guys go to the transfer P now they're kind of all over the place and it's making college football more equal you can kind of make an argument for that but you still have the Alabam you still have Georgia you still have Ohio State uh and then you got Oregon that's still good like these teams that have been good are still good even with the transfer portal stuff going on but when you do watch football now you are seeing these division one like power five Escalon of the players now on different teams but what's happening is and I don't think it's talked about enough as these kids go to the transfer portal thinking they're going to go be division one or big time power five on those top teams and they can't find a home so FCS swoops in and says we're still division one football because I think PE I wanted to say this state this here because of you know going to Eastern and stuff FCS is still very very good football like a lot of guys still go to the NFL people they'll play at FCS for three years or so and all of a sudden they're Escalon power five right so they're still a lot of good players they's still a lot of that stuff and it's not talked about enough and Eastern always produces good football players you know you could say well are they good football players unless they go to the NFL no I mean you could say that but they still produce very good football players um the other part of this article said that uh it's the second game Illinois's played against an FCS team since 2018 it won't be a brief either but it'll be a good test for the team that needs to reestablish his identity right away uh the defensive front for Illinois will sett on after a few good eiu drives then it will start to become more about the offense turning up and testing some things out and I get it but I'm gonna tell you right now these articles I guarantee you coach buma doesn't like them either because you cannot Overlook any team and he's not gonna walk into that Illinois is not going to walk into this game and think that they're just going to roll over Eastern Illinois right and Eastern Illinois is not going thinking that they're going to lose either they're going to go in there and try to compete and if the score ends up being 44 to 17 as long as Eastern competes and does things well that's a win right and so this is a good test for Eastern Illinois to go in so in order for Illinois Eastern Illinois to get like an upset win they have to make sure Illinois does not have big plays they have to make sure that they turn the ball over you you made teams turn the ball over 25 times last year which is a lot so if you can force them into making mistakes and kind of hope that they are overlooking you you are putting yourself in a position to compete in this game and on offense you have to make sure that you do not give up opportunities you cannot give up open passes like dropped passes you cannot afford to miss a block you cannot afford to let you know pressure get to your quarterback even though he is veteran I don't think it's going to bother him but to get if he's moving around in the pocket a lot it's not going to go well for you and so he's like I I talked about in the other segment on Tuesday Illinois cannot afford many mistakes Eastern really cannot afford mistakes against this team they cannot go out there and turn the ball over they cannot go out there and um I think it was Bowling Green last year I was rewatching some games and trying to get a feel for this team because they're bringing players back there was times they had guys tackled and then they they broke off a tackle they went for a Kill Shot they didn't wrap up and and Bowling Green instead of getting tackled for a one yard gain would break it there was one and he broke it for like a 20 yard run so you can't afford things like that to happen right and you just have to be yourself you can't try to do too much you have to do your job and that's what coach Wilkerson talks about is like doing your job they have the culture set they play for each other and you're not going out there thinking you're going to lose and as you continue to this article um it says why Eastern Illinois will win like how could they win um they let the FCS and turnovers with 25 takeaways Illinois um doesn't have the type of team that can overcome a ton of mistakes is what they claim um it says on other side of the ball Pierce Holly and running back MJ flowers they have a good veteran onew punch in the back field that they're not going to be phased by a big 10 defense um then it says why Illinois will win this is a tone setting game Illinois running game has to be better this year they retooled the offensive line uh they'll come out looking to pound right away the defense didn't have the same nastiness or production as they did in 2022 the loaded linebacking core will lead this way to approve the bunch for all the good things about Eastern Illinois the offensive line is about to be overrun it struggled last year in pass protection and Illinois's defensive front is about to eat so I don't like these articles for that reason is that you're as an Illinois fan you'd like to see it but if you're an Illinois coach you don't want to hear this stuff you don't want to read this stuff because who knows who wrote this do they really know what football is then if you're Eastern Illinois you're like well wait a minute like where's the respect for us like we're Eastern Illinois now talking about championships yeah they kind of lack but they are always competing it to get to the playoffs and they're competing in a very very tough conference and they play tough teams and so I talked about Eastern Illinois's offensive line they've got to play a lot better that's that's one of the biggest keys right there is the offensive line um I already read you know what they predicted who would win um this article says Illinois would win 41 to 13 uh it's over under at the time uh 25 a half and over 45 points um it's a must-see rating of 1.5 I still I think you need to watch it um Eastern even if Eastern loses they still do a lot of good things um so that that that right there to me is the key for Eastern Illinois to try to compete and try to come out of there uh with that thank goodness this is over because I don't want to offend any Eastern Illinois coaches I don't want to offend any UI coaches I was trying to do the best I could because I am the biggest Illinois fan and I the one a huge Eastern Illinois fan I'm a huge fan of the coaches and they're going to do a good job and both teams at the end of the day are going to want and come to compete and try to execute what they've been working on since spring practice um so I don't I think that you know I'm not predicting a winner like I said I'm G to be watching this game with either this shirt on and Illinois hat or something I'm gonna have both on it's a lose lose win-win situation because if Illinois wins you're happy as an Illinois fan if Eastern wins you're happy as a fan but then you're sad because Illinois lost and then you're sad that Eastern lost I cannot wait for this game to be over I'm excited to watch it but I can't wait for it to be over so we can really get into the meat potatoes of the rest of their schedule for Illinois and Eastern because we're going to talk about both we're going to try to have postgame shows if we can a lot's happening here so please like And subscribe to this YouTube channel we're over a thousand subscribers we got to get it more we got to blow this thing up we did not set up a studio thing like this to not get it blown up and so please like And subscribe follow on Twitter coach st72 Instagram coach st72 X and Instagram the coach Steve show as well um like and review radio on Apple and iTunes you know we got to get that up too please leave comments in the comment section down below as to what you think is going to happen in this game um check out other things uh missed a couple ones here uh Ben Ellison said fellow eiu alumni hoping to be competitive at least absolutely like I said Eastern Illinois has to um get there um fellow eiu alumni just finished my degree the summer congratulations on finishing your degree at eiu it's a great uh degree to get I'm hoping for a competitive game if we beat them my brain will explode um Bryce is a player at Eastern Illinois uh played for my friend Nathan rolling effing thirsty Bryce you know I was doing my best because I you know you're probably an Illinois fan growing up and I am I'm trying to keep it civil in the best way I can Bryce good luck tonight if you're still watching I'm going to be wa Bryce I'm an old man and this game's on at8 o'clock what are we doing can you tell talk to somebody for me about why this game is at 8 o'clock why couldn't it be at 6 or 6:30 because I'm old so staying up for this game I'll be up to like 10:30 and then I got to do a post game and then I got to get up early and drive to work and then we got our first High School game tomorrow too so Bryce can you talk to somebody for me and Bryce if you're still watching blame Ruckers and how yes Bryce if you're watching still I saw you guys are GNA be at Northwestern I am trying to figure out if I can go um I know their stadiums really small and the ticket prices for a small stadium outrageous it was like hundred and something bucks but if I'm I'm trying to figure it out September 14th I believe I am hopefully going to be there I have Eastern gear coming from BSN it's not here yet I've been emailing them like where is my gear but I I'm hopefully GNA be at that game I moved farther away from the city like I'm still considered a suburb but I am very far away but um working to go to that game Bryce so if I go I'll let you know and you know wave at me because that's a small stance in their practice field oh hit me up closer oh Bryce if you did that oh my goodness you'd have to sign something for me because you're big time but yes hopefully be at that game I'm trying to get make it work out um but yeah Bryce good luck and I want you guys to compete I want you guys to you know show some good things I was trying to rewatch some games uh from last year and stuff like that like I said it sucks because I'm a big Illinois fan and I went to Eastern and walked on there I'm a big time Panther and I really love the coaches there you have some really good coaches they're really good people and doing the right things and so does Illinois and so what I want from this game from both sides is I want it to be competitive game I really prefer to not see a blowout from either side if it ends up being that way one way or the other fine but I hope up until that point it's a back and forth game and it's just bang bang bang down to the W like I hope that's what it is and so Bryce good luck if you can tell coach Wilkerson Wilkerson and and Company I said good luck make sure my guy Cole Hoover treats you right I coached him at Charleston he's got to treat you right um he's a great coach he's a great person so make sure that um things are going well there so um now'll wrap up this first part of the Bleed Blue Bryce maybe you'll come on Amazing coach best in the country rolling to Memorial now awesome Bryce you got to come on here for B blue stuff you can come on here and talk about football season let's make that happen uh I can't give you name image and likeness money because I'm a broke High School coach but Bryce you have my full open invitation to come on here and talk uh I'm reaching out I'm going to be reaching out to your coaches too to see if can't once a week or every two weeks come on and talk to um coach wilkerson's the best the best um and I'm trying to make it down to Charleston um and make sure coach hman treats you guys right too your strength coach he's awesome uh great guy um and Illinois has great coaches too I got to go to their spring practice and stuff so um that'll wrap up this first part of the Bleed Blue which is everything Eastern Illinois Athletics mainly Eastern Illinois football try my best to do others um but that's what this is about out um the game's on tonight at 8 8:10 central time uh and why is it on the Big 10 Network Bryce you got to talk to people man like I got to figure out how to like come on just put it on FS1 what are we doing here like it's it's so hard so ridiculous but thank goodness I'm not on Eastern time you know waiting up till nine o'clock to watch it um but I'll wrap this up make sure you guys like And subscribe to YouTube channel follow radio on Apple and iTunes and all that good stuff follow on all the socials uh leave comments in the comment section down below tell me what you think about the game I'm going to do my best tonight if I'm not asleep because I'm an old man uh have a post game I don't know if I'm going to do a post game for the I and I segment or this one or both or just kind of put it on both so there'll be hopefully a post game tonight and then first High School game tomorrow so we got that going on too so just doing the best I can check out all the other videos uh if you're interested in coach Bart Miller from Illinois had him on and I had a lot of Eastern coaches so if you want to listen to that real quick before the uh game kicks off do that so thanks everybody um yeah Bryce any like Bryce let's try to make it if you want to make it weekly we'll do something so uh hit me up Bryce good luck tonight hit me up and we'll uh have you on here to talk about the game from an inside of a player perspective that'd be awesome so uh again no name image and likeness money because one I bought a house so I'm broke to I'm just a poor High School coach um so again thanks everybody for watching and or listening uh this is coach Steve yes Ben you're welcome thanks for the new podcast the podcast has actually been around since 2020 if you want me be honest with you I know I keep saying I'm gonna hop off I started in February of 2020 uh Ben and uh you know it's kind of been all over the place but you know what I figured I love Illinois Athletics um I'm a fan of Eastern Illinois Athletics I've always followed it and uh just decided to try to grow it a little bit and uh we'll see where it goes um and so again thanks everybody for watching and you're listening this is coach Steve we'll see you guys next time and make sure you like And subscribe see you guys next time