I’ll admit it. Only recently did I discover the magic of college
football. It all started on a cool, autumn day on October 12, 2003,
when my friend Don and I traveled down to Columbia, Mo. to watch the
Missouri Tigers defeat the Nebraska Cornhuskers 41-24.
The loss was significant in that Missouri ended a 24-game losing streak
to Nebraska. We sat in the Nebraska section of the stadium, and the
fans were completely devestated. I’d never seen fans take a loss like
that. The funniest moment from that game was when all these
past-their-prime security guards circled the field in hopes of forming
a human barrier to keep the readying college students from rushing the
field. It didn’t happen and the fans sprinted out to capture the goal
posts. There was a little controversy after this game after a Nebraska
player gave one of these sprinting fans a push of his arm, sending the
student to the ground. But in the end, the goal posts were had, and
they pulled the goal posts out onto the streets and began sawing pieces
to keep as mementos. It was chaos. Pure, unbridled joy. It was a
fantastic experience.
The Illini. I joined the Zook bandwagon at the beginning. Me with my
newly-found appreciation for college football, he with his new SEC-free
job. Illini football has been kind of stale since the Simeon Rice-Kevin
Hardy years. We had one year where we went to a BCS bowl and
subsequently got slaughtered by LSU. I’d never attended a game the
Illini had won and I had been to 3 or 4. Enter Zook with his knack for
bringing talent in. And before you know it, we’re throwing to blue-chip
prospects. Also, a young defense ages under Zook to form a formidable
veteran force. All of a sudden we have a team. The Illini (just coming
off a win at Indiana) had something to prove against Penn St. when they
came to Champaign. They needed to be a formidable Big Ten opponent. I
was there and it was spectacular. Aurelius Benn
had a breakout game, with a kickoff return for a TD and a spectacular
receiving TD where he refused to give up the fight for the end zone.
The thing that was most awesome, though, was to see the Illini run the
option to perfection (hence the corny post title). Years before, I had
seen Nebraska run the option like crazy in that Mizzou game and was
pretty fascinated by it and here were my Illini doing it to perfection.
We won the Penn St. game and subsequently beat Wisconsin the next week
at home. And all of a sudden the Illini were in business. Their
Wisconsin victory was the main story on ESPN.com. Things were looking
up, up, up.
Then, a misstep at Iowa. Iowa shuts down the Illini’s
offense and takes a victory. We’re bumped from the rankings and right
back to where we were at the start of this college football season.
From the outside looking in at the top 25 polls. But this weekend, we
face No. 25 Michigan and yours truly is going to be there to cheer them
on. It’s a 7 p.m. game, and I will be tailgating hardcore before hand.
Hopefully, I can see another victory at Memorial Stadium. Prediction:
Illini 31-20.
Ok, so I was pretty wrong about the Illini. Thought they'd win the game against Missouri but still they are on the right track. Apparently, there is some sort of QB controversy going on. How on earth do you not go with "Juice"? I think this is all being drummed up by the media
Eddie McGee had himself a good game but "Juice" is the future. We've been going through all this off-season expecting "Juice" to light it up. Let's see what he can do when given the chance.
Juice, Juice, Juice!
Who do you like this weekend?
I'm predicting a nice start to the season for the Illini with a 17-14 win.
