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EOG Master
COLUMN: My Assessment in 2016 of a Lovie Smith Illini Hiring Could Only Be Described One Way: Wrong - Sports Illustrated Illinois Fighting Illini News, Analysis and More
Smith refused to embrace what is and will always be the lifeblood of success in college football. On that March 2016 day, I was convinced every prospect in an Illinois home would be overjoyed at the prospect of the former Chicago Bears coach selling them on the Illini football program. By 2019, Lovie Smith was standing at a podium on signing day admitting that his program went 0 for 19 on scholarship offers on in-state prospects and failed to sign a single in-state player.
Smith was stubborn to adapt his Cover-2 defense to the RPO concepts of modern college offenses and were constantly near the bottom of the Big Ten Conference in several defensive statistical categories. Illinois needed to rely on the magic of “Lovie Ball” to get turnovers to even have a puncher’s chance in conference games.
Smith refused to embrace what is and will always be the lifeblood of success in college football. On that March 2016 day, I was convinced every prospect in an Illinois home would be overjoyed at the prospect of the former Chicago Bears coach selling them on the Illini football program. By 2019, Lovie Smith was standing at a podium on signing day admitting that his program went 0 for 19 on scholarship offers on in-state prospects and failed to sign a single in-state player.
Smith was stubborn to adapt his Cover-2 defense to the RPO concepts of modern college offenses and were constantly near the bottom of the Big Ten Conference in several defensive statistical categories. Illinois needed to rely on the magic of “Lovie Ball” to get turnovers to even have a puncher’s chance in conference games.
