There's nothing like a good rivalry in college football. Some of the most memorable moments in the game's storied history have come from Florida and Florida State, Oklahoma and Texas, Michigan and Ohio State, Army and Navy, and Auburn and Alabama, just to mention a few. These rivalry games are not only one team against the other - it's decades of history wrapped up into a single game every year. And when Northwestern and Illinois clash on Saturday at Soldier Field with the Land of Lincoln Trophy on the line, it's fair to ask--is this game a rivalry?
When now-former head coach Tim Beckman came to Illinois in 2012, he tried impossibly hard to make Northwestern-Illinois into something it isn't: a rivalry where the two sides absolutely loathe one another.