Scary moment at the Illini football scrimmage Saturday night at Rantoul High School. Rejus Benn, the heralded wideout from Washington, D.C., went down in what appeared to be a lot of pain and suffered a right shoulder injury.
By the time Benn could walk off the field, the training and medical staff had bandaged his right arm tightly against his body. He later returned to the sideline in a sling but, on Ron Zook’s orders, he was taken in a car back to the Camp Rantoul headquarters.
Zook said the injury does not appear to be serious, and if that’s true it’s great news. Because later, his backup, Chris James, was also injured and left on crutches and in a leg brace with what Zook thought was a sprained knee.
To be truthful, Zook wasn’t 100 percent sure about either injury and both players will be reevaluated today. Offensive coordinator Mike Locksley said he was told both players could be back before too long.
Defensive end Jerry Brown (hip) and freshman defensive tackle Josh Brent (sprained knee) were also dinged up during the scrimmage.
That took the focus off the on-the-field happenings. It was hard to tell (as often is the case in intrasquad scrimmages) much. Juice Williams was OK but missed some plays and Locksley sounded a little disappointed after Williams had three consecutive strong practices this week.
Williams was 8 of 16 for 99 yards and one touchdown. He did not throw an interception. And it’s hard to tell what he might be able to do with his feet. The refs blew the whistle any time a defender was within reaching distance (a smart move), but I think we know Juice could scramble away from some of that stuff.
Maybe the best news was that each punter got off a kick they could be proud of. Anthony Santella had a 54-yard boomer and Jared Bosch kicked his lone punt 53 yards.
On another topic, the Big Ten Network buzz will heat up this week when the Big Ten basketball schedule is released on Wednesday. So far, people are judging the impact based on football and which games they might miss if their cable or satellite carrier doesn’t have a deal with the Big Ten.
But Illini fans will have to make another judgment when they realize that as many as 18 Illini games will be available only on the Big Ten Network this coming season. That’s a bundle.
Jim Delany and Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman will be in Champaign on Thursday and I’ll be over there talking with them. The release of the Big Ten basketball schedule will turn up the heat on the cable operators, I would imagine.
August 12th, 2007 at 1:28 am
More than the schedule, I’m waiting to see the terms of the basketball TV contracts, which I’m pessimistically anticipating being similar to the football contracts.
While it is nice negotiating strategy for the Big Ten to be able to say 18 Illinois BB games are only on the BTN so that cable companies pay up, if it ends up being fewer games overall that we can see (as it will be for football), I’m not interested. College sports has been on the borderline (or has already crossed over, depending on where you place your borders) of becoming “professional college sports”. Making a money grab is one thing. Making a money grab, and talking out of one side of your mouth about how many more games the fan will see while at the same time taking games off the table is another, and it infuriates me. It infuriates me enough to just tune out and finally give up the TV altogether.
The end result of the football part of the BTN deal is that fewer Illinois FB games will be seen on TV, at least for those outside of the immediate Illinois market.
As a fan, I’m much more concerned about seeing as many games as possible. I’m much more willing to plunk down my $100 for football season and $100 for basketball season for the GamePlan/Full Court packages and seeing basically any game that is televised than getting the BTN at $1.10 per month and getting fewer games. And that is what I’ve been happily doing since I graduated and moved out of the area.
Previously, I justified the expense because I’d likely spend more than that to find a family-friendly place that might get the game (luckily, we have such a local place owned by an alumnus) and go out and pay for food and drinks at such a place for my family over the course of the season. Now, it looks like I won’t even have that option due to the TV contracts required to make the BTN happen. The BTN is abusing local fans by making them pay more for the same content they were getting before (and even charging those who don’t care about the sports), and abusing out of market customers (i.e. alums) even more by excluding them from even being able to pay for the games they were willing to pay for before and denying them the ability to watching their teams. I already am mad when a game isn’t available, now with the BTN coming online and knowing there will be fewer games available, all the while with Delany talking about how great it is for me as a fan, I’m ready to throw in the towel and just stop watching altogether. At least, until I can finagle a job back in CU and resume buying my season tickets
August 12th, 2007 at 1:49 am
I just went from being an optimist this year to a pessimist… somebody tell me something worthy me getting back on the optimist bandwagon…
August 13th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Hey Tupster: Thanks for the Heads Up on Benn–I’m really waiting to see what my cable company will do / if not / I guess I’ll have to go Dish ! GO ILLINI
August 13th, 2007 at 7:14 am
if tou want to loose a longtime cable customer, don’t get the btm and direct tv will put the hurts on you!!!!!
August 13th, 2007 at 10:09 am
Big 10 Network is a good idea with just terrible execution.
August 13th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Doug - the defense returns mostly intact, w/a few key additions. Juice has a year of starting experience. Mendenhall & Benn give the team playmakers. They aren’t a contender yet, but Zook’s got them headed in the right direction.
Hopefully the Weber apologists won’t hijack this thread & keep it about football.
August 13th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
There’s no way I’d pay extra to watch every Big Ten game. My wife and I already have an ongoing debate between what I spend on TV and pay for views vs what she spends on cell phones & internet. She would probably have the upper hand if I paid for a special ticket. Honestly I wouldn’t watch it all the time anyway. At least with the sports pay for views I pick and choose the ones I want. She already says I’m a spoiled brat if I tried a stunt like this she might be right.
August 13th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
tb, you have a good point. The problem is, the BTN contract is taking away the ability to actually get PPV. ESPN Game plan, for example, was both a season long package, and anything on there could be bought on a per game basis. By opting out, the Big Ten removes the ability to pay to see those games. Same with local games. The games that used to be on local channels are moved to the BTN. But, several of those games occur at the same time. The BTN can show only one of them. For cable customers, the plan is to localize what game will be seen. For dish providers, you get whatever they decide to show. Again, with no ability to pay (if you so decide) to see games that used to be available.
It would be bad enough if this was a money grab. This is a money grab done poorly. If you are on a system that gets the BTN and previously only watched over the air and on ESPN, you’ll pay a tiny bit more than now, and get fewer games that you are interested in. If you were willing in the past to pay more and get even more games, that option is no longer avaiable. If you live out of market, you get the worst of both of those worlds. I’m not seeing who benefits here in the least.
August 13th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
Sounds like Zook needs to take a hard look at Eddie Mcgee.Juice seems to be on track for a repeat of 06. Way to early to tell and Juice is still only a sophomore but Mcgee always seems to have good numbers when he’s on the field. Just my thought,not ment to start a q-back controversey.
August 13th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Cable companies could easily afford the Big Ten Network by simply canceling the contracts of their worthless, I mean less watched, networks. I have Comcast out here in PA and here are some suggestions for networks that could be eliminated.
1) CSPAN2, one CSPAN is plenty. 2) QVC/Home Shopping Network/Shop NBC, pick one that’s all you need. 3) EWTN Truth & Life Channel, let’s not put churches out of business. 4) Court TV, get a life. 5) ION Television, I don’t even know what this is.
If this list doesn’t save the cable companies the cost of the BTN, here are my honorable mentions: Style, The Food Network, E!, Univision and Lifetime.
If cable companies were honest, they would admit that most of these networks are only available so the cable companies can say they offer 65 channels in their basic package. Doesn’t matter that no one is watching half of those 65 channels.
August 13th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
living in florida and not being able to get the big ten network, makes me angry. I have paid for the cable game plans since I’ve been here. Will any Illinois games be on the internet CTV ? Finnally, we get a decent team and this happens. Makes me hope the big ten loses every Bowl game. Except, if Illinois gets in one.
August 13th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
#6- Reality Check- Love the name. Here’s hoping the football team wins more than two games this year so we can have something to talk about in August other than basketball. We have become a basketball school over the last 10 years so hopefully Zook will start winning and even the balance of power.
No Weber apolgists here. What does he have to apologize about? He just wins. I just wish everyone would embrace both coaches and both programs. It’s been a very long time since both programs have been successful. Having two successful programs at Illinois just makes the U of I more appealing to future results. It’s a win-win situation. Go Illini!
August 14th, 2007 at 8:32 am
so the day has come that you have to pay to see big 10 sports on tv. It’s a sad day. I remember saying that when I have to pay extra to watch these games I would not be watching. We’ll see. Greed! Shame on you Big 10 for making a money grab. You just couldnt resist that prairie farm ice cream ad money. Oh, and I guess the ad money isnt enough…. $100 sounds pretty steep. Do we pay that for the entire year or just football? and will this guarantee that my game will be on or might I be paying to watch Minn vs. Northwestern? Sorry for the dumb questions but I have been avoiding this day so I havent kept up on what it will take for me to watch the Illini on TV going forward.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:28 am
#6 reality- Quote “Hopefully the Weber apologists won’t hijack this thread & keep it about football.”
Even though there’s no such thing as a Weber apologist (I agree with Brooks that there’s nothing to apologize for), it sure seems like you’re making the first volley. I’m not biting, though, so crawl back into your hole.
So let’s keep it about football. I’m guardedly optimistic about this season and, like everyone, hope to see recent recruiting successes translate into wins on the field. As far as I’m concerned, I’m hoping for more than just improvment on last season’s two wins. Since it still galls me we didn’t have at least three or four wins last year (come on, we gave Ohio State a better game than Ohio U.), I’m hoping for improvement from there- maybe five or six wins. And I’m confident this team can do it. I can’t wait until Sept. 1 and we knock heads with Mizzou.
August 14th, 2007 at 10:05 am
I think they should offer a teams entire schedule both in football and basketball. I would also offer PFV for single games too. That way you catch all of the fans and the out of state alums could get any game they want. Isn’t that what we all want and wouldn’t that insure they grabbed every cent they could get out of every telecast?
August 14th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
My understanding on BTN is that they will allow the local cable companies choose which game to show on BTN in case of mulitple games. However, they will provide both feeds in case the cable company wants to show the alternate feed on a secondary channel.
I have DirecTV, which tends to do what I just mentioned. Channel 250 might be BTN and 251 might be BTN - alternate. I would be shocked if they don’t have every game televised.
There’s a lot of things I don’t necessarily like about DirecTV — but coverage of televised sporting events isn’t one.
On a different note, I can’t believe I am actually excited about Illini football. It sure has been a while! I just hope the Zooker has learned a thing about game management — or at least designated that to his assistants. The way we lost the Indiana game (and a couple others) last year showed some serious need for improvement…
August 14th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
#13 - The picture is pretty cloudy on what exactly will be on the BTN. You won’t have to pay $100, if you live in big ten country, it is $1.10 per month, or at least that is what the BTN is trying to get. As to whether you’ll see the games, the problem is that the BTN has agreed to not compete with the 2:30 ABC regional game. So they’ll show one 11:00 am game, and maybe one night game. If you are on cable, they may localize it so that a cable system in Champaign shows the Illinois game and one in Columbus shows OSU. What about Chicago - they have to pick either NW or Illinois? If you are on Dish/DirecTV, you get one game.
In the past, if you wanted, you could pay the $100 and get all games shown anywhere on TV (more or less). As part of the BTN deals, they have opted out of participating in that package.
For football, the situation (at least for midwesterners) may not be so bad. ABC will usually have an 11 and 2:30 game, ESPN still has a game or two, and the BTN will show a game or two, so at least during the Big Ten season, most games will be aired. For those out of market, not being able to get the midwest ABC game takes a lot of games off the table, which is frustrating.
The bigger problem will be basketball. A much larger percentage of those games were on local TV channels, which you could get pay per view or via a $100 package. Now the BTN will be showing some of those games, but again due to contract issues they opted out of the FullCourt package, and also took the local games off of network TV.
So, Mark is reporting that maybe 18 games will be shown on the BTN, and the Big Ten hopes that is enough to anger fans and make them demand the channel from their cable company. But, even if you get the BTN, overall fewer games will be available to you than last year due to the concessions they had to make with the various networks that carry Big Ten games in order to get the BTN off the ground.
August 14th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Big news Weber gets a 2 or 3 star east coast 6′8″ pf that will be playing this year named Mike Davis. No one knows anything about him. I think Weber maybe the worst recruiter I have seen at Illinois since Lou Tepper and Ron Turner.
August 16th, 2007 at 8:52 am
Actually, Tepper got decent recruits, just couldn’t coach worth a lick. Turner hated recruiting. Um, recruiting is the #1 factor in whether a coach suceeds at the college level. Great hire, Coach Guenther!