Brad Underwood said the benefit of playing in Maui, despite going 0-3, is that he doesn’t have to wait any longer to know what his team’s about, and what they have to work on. It took longer to get to that point for Lovie and the Illinois Football program, but he’s there.
Despite the recent two-year contract extension, I think he’d agree that the “improvement” that needed to be seen in 2018, is completely imperative for 2019, or someone new will be coaching the Illini team he’s been building toward in 2020. All the buzz around the program speaks to an increased sense of urgency, and finally, some desperation to get wins.