Some good news to get us started on the final LIVE! Report of the 2018 Illinois football season. Today's game at Northwestern — HAT! — most likely can't be worse than last week. A loss like last week's 63-0 Iowa drubbing hadn't happened to the Illini in more than 100 years. The odds are in Illinois' favor it won't happen again today in Evanston.
That said, the Illini are the underdogs this afternoon. The latest line has Northwestern as a 17-point favorite. Unless Illinois pulls the upset, a loss somewhere in line with that line would actually be an improvement over the team's other losses this season in Big Ten play (where they're happening by 30-plus points).