Let’s not sugarcoat it: Illinois didn’t do its job down the stretch, and the Illini now won’t get another shot at Michigan next week in the Big Ten Championship.
That stinks.
And a 41-3 throttling of Northwestern on Saturday at Ryan Field doesn’t change that.
But I think the entire scenario I just laid out — which all happened — would have had most Illini fans ecstatic in August.
I remember driving down I-57 to the Wyoming game in late August. The car conversation focused on, “Do you think we can win today?” and “What will it take to get to six wins?