Primary Sidebar
Fighting Illini Fan Confidence Poll
Last tallied on 09/01.
Subscribe to our Podcast!
Fighting Illini Football Schedule
@
Missouri
|
Sat 09/04 | 11:30 AM CDT |
| Southern Illinois | Sat 09/11 | 6:30 PM CDT |
|
Northern Illinois
|
Sat 09/18 | 11:00 AM CDT |
|
Ohio St.
|
Sat 10/02 | TBA |
|
@
Penn St.
|
Sat 10/09 | 11:00 AM CDT |
|
@
Michigan St.
|
Sat 10/16 | 11:00 AM CDT |
|
Indiana
|
Sat 10/23 | 11:00 AM CDT |
|
Purdue
|
Sat 10/30 | TBA |
|
@
Michigan
|
Sat 11/06 | TBA |
|
Minnesota
|
Sat 11/13 | TBA |
|
@
Northwestern
|
Sat 11/20 | 2:30 PM CST |
| @ Fresno St. | Fri 12/03 | 9:15 PM CST |
Big Ten Divisions Announced for 2011 Season: How did Illinois fare?
by Jonah Puls on Sep 1, 2010 9:18 PM CDT
6 comments
The wait, anxiousness, and constant analysis have finally been put to an end.
The divisions for the 2011 Big Ten college football season were announced this evening via the Big Ten Network.
Much speculation has been put into which teams will go into which division, how the rivalries will be maintained, and how evenly the divisions could be split up.
But all of that speculation was ended tonight.
And without further adieu, here is a look at the new divisions (for now they are just called division X and O):
Division X:
Ohio State
Penn State
Wisconsin
Illinois
Indiana
Purdue
Division O:
Michigan
Nebraska
Minnesota
Northwestern
Michigan State
Iowa
Everybody's talking 'bout Divisions
by Joe Kutsunis on Sep 1, 2010 4:01 PM CDT
2 comments
Since tonight is the night we learn once and for all what the future holds for the Illini and Big Ten Divisions, I figured it would be a good opportunity to feature what some of the more respected figures of Big Ten blogging have said about dividing up the Old Lady.
Frank the Tank, long the source of paranoid/accurate/conspiratorial/incredibly-awesome expansion talk has some issue with how the divisions might shake up.
Alas, the very smart people at the Big Ten conference offices are completely outsmarting themselves here. For whatever reason, the KISS formula of a logical East/West division split simply won’t do. I can somewhat understand the desire to split the 4 "marquee brands" of Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State and Nebraska evenly amongst the divisions. However, the thought of (1) sending Michigan and Ohio State to opposite divisions and (2) moving their rivalry game from the end of the season to the midseason is even worse than the idea of New Coke.
Our most fearless leader in blogging, OrsonSpencer SwindleHall is waiting for Big Ten divisional play with open arms and a brotherly slap on the back, as the Big Ten seems to shed its exceptionalism and join the rest of the country in the dirty business of big time cash football. He also warns against using tradition as a crutch of an argument against something that makes so much sense.
Beware anyone who defends things out of tradition, since tradition all by its lonesome makes as much sense as changing things for change's sake, i.e. none. Thus we arrive at the Big Ten's door, or more specifically its fans, who lag behind the rather forward-thinking conference by insisting that Ohio State and Michigan should not play more than once a year, that moving them into separate divisions would be a travesty, and that men should take their hats off inside and most especially in the presence of a lady.* ...
If the rivalry game is all that matters to you, the concept of greater glory means nothing, but for the Big Ten that greater glory and the ad revenues for the conference are very, very important indeed. In this instance Jim Delany is more than happy to jettison tradition for innovation, something the Big Ten has done more often than one might think in the past.
BUNK! Says Michigan bloggerand father of sports metrics that I cannot/do not care to understand Brian Cook (also the name thief of one of my favorite Illini players ever) There is much more than money and conference championships at stake in the UM OSU rivalry! Much that must be preserved! For without Michigan and OSU playing one another during the day on Thanksgiving, how can any of us truly rely on anything?
It so happens that a lot of the time OSU and Michigan do decide the Big Ten, but did anyone want to beat OSU less in the mid-90s when Michigan limped into the game with 3 or 4 losses every year? Or last year? No. Would it matter less as an October game to be followed by three or four more? Necessarily yes. Is that the worst thing in the world? Yes.
I have no tolerance for anyone too dense to grasp this, much less see it as a potentially good thing, as Dave at Maize N Brew does. I said his post on the matter was the stupidest thing I'd ever seen a Michigan fan write and it remains so. Orson's post on the matter is also the dumbest thing I've ever seen him write. The reason college football matters in a way the NFL does not is the idea it has that some things are not worth selling. Once the date of the Michigan-Ohio State game goes the only thing left is the labor of the players.
Illini Mizzou preview: Can we please end this rivalry now?
by Joe Kutsunis on Aug 31, 2010 2:47 PM CDT
7 comments
I love football, football season, the band, the three in one, the tail gating, the grilled foods and games of bags in the parking lot. College football is the greatest season known to sports, and it is for that reason I cannot wait to have this rivalry with Missouri out out to pasture like a lame horse. In past seasons, like say, the last three, Missouri offered an early test to what many thought could be a decent to good Illini teams. In every case it ended in a loss, in all but one case it led to the Illini not making a bowl. It has been a bad match up for this program, and hasn't served to benefit the Illini in any discernible way (which do you think was the bigger reason the Illini got Hawthorne and Scheelhaase, the Arch Rivalry losses or the Rose Bowl appearance?)
Three years ago the game featured an injury to our quarterback in the first quarter, last year our star wideout was injured in the first series! I am all for playing good competition out of conference, but why should Illinois schedule make its road to a bowl that much harder by playing a team that has gone to a bowl five straight seasons as its opener every year?
Starting the year off with Missouri, especially on a year where we are trying to rebuild, learn a new offense, break in a new quarterback, and replace two important offensive linemen, makes this opening weekend one of mixed emotions. I would rather we wait til the opening three weeks of the Big Ten season to give this offense a baptism by fire. Sadly that is not the case, and the Illini will certainly have their work cut out for them this weekend.
Aug 30, 2010 - Derrick Washington, Missouri's starting running back and their leading rusher for the past two years, has formally been charged with sexual assault after his suspension last week from all team activities. Boone County prosecutors filed one charge of deviate sexual assault, a felony charge, against Washington on Monday. Washington remains suspended from all team activities until he is cleared of all charges per university policy.
It is not cool to be happy about a sexual assault, ever, for any reason. I am not and neither should you. That said, this certainly wont hurt the Illini's chances on Saturday. Football makes us all very sick and disturbed people, doesn't it?
Illinois has suffered its second significant blow to the secondary this week, as starting cornerback Terry Hawthorne will miss 3-6 weeks with a stress fracture in his right foot.
Hawthorne had a screw inserted after suffering the injury in his fifth metatarsal. He'll miss Illinois' first two games against Missouri and Southern Illinois, and possibly more time.
"He had [the injury] as a junior in high school, and he didn't practice for a week," Illinois head coach Ron Zook said. "He's such a tough kid, he doesn't complain about anything. It bothered him a little bit during camp, but he never said anything, so he kept going
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Illinois safety Supo Sanni is out for the season after tearing his right Achilles' tendon.
Coach Ron Zook says the junior was injured during practice Wednesday. Sanni, who was slated to start in the secondary for the Illini, was scheduled to have surgery on Thursday.
Podcast #19 Still working out the kinks from the long summer off.
by Joe Kutsunis on Aug 27, 2010 12:50 AM CDT
1 comment
Illinois junior Mikel Leshoure and Northern Illinois senior Chad Spann were named to the Doak Walker Award watch list on Wednesday.
The Doak Walker Award is given to the nation’s top running back.
Leshoure rushed for 734 yards and five touchdowns on 108 carries last year. He averaged 6.8 yards per carry. He also caught 14 passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns
Secondary Sidebar
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recent FanShots
Big 10 Conference Standings
(updated 1.6.2010 at 12:40 AM CST)
| Conf | Overall | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
|
Ohio St. Buckeyes
|
7 | 1 | 11 | 2 |
|
Penn St. Nittany Lions
|
6 | 2 | 11 | 2 |
|
Iowa Hawkeyes
|
6 | 2 | 11 | 2 |
|
Wisconsin Badgers
|
5 | 3 | 10 | 3 |
|
Northwestern Wildcats
|
5 | 3 | 8 | 5 |
|
Michigan St. Spartans
|
4 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
|
Purdue Boilermakers
|
4 | 4 | 5 | 7 |
|
Minnesota Golden Gophers
|
3 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|
Illinois Fighting Illini
|
2 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
|
Michigan Wolverines
|
1 | 7 | 5 | 7 |
|
Indiana Hoosiers
|
1 | 7 | 4 | 8 |
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
