The Linking Illini appreciates the small things.

Hey its been a pretty depressing week here for Illini football fans, so I am going to take this opportunity to appreciate the good things we can look forward to this weekend. For one its a Big Ten home game, and kickoff isn't until 2:30 giving us plenty of time to get into that "football spirit" with your favorite gameday beverage and lots of tailgate food. weather calls for a day in the 50's with a slight chance of rain. In other words perfect football weather. So go out enjoy some football, the band, and getting together with your friends, it is after all about having fun, right? Anyways lets link this up right

• Illini’s Nurse motivated by criticism | The Daily Illini
  A cool article from the DI that illustrates a point many of us may forget, these guys have a full class load on their minds as well as football. These guys aren't NFL players who do nothing but football all week and head home to a mansion, these guys are college kids, just like we all used to be (or currently are) and we put an awful lot on their shoulders. So the next time you see a defensive lineman snoozing in class, I say let him be, he is just as bored with class as you are.

• Loren Tate on the Illini -IlliniHQ.com
  Loren Tate is a man that does not mess around, he lays out the depressing facts of where the Illini stand after 3 games this season, and that is 10th in the Big Ten power rankings, a number which I cannot right now disagree with. He gets down and dirty with the prospects for the Illini this season and I can tell you right now, it ain't pretty. The article though is as always top notch.

• Big 10 Football Tour coming to Champaign
  No they aren't the biggest names in the business, but these guys from Milwaukee are endeavoring to visit all 11 Big Ten schools for home games in 11 weeks, no small task and they will be visiting our good old University tomorrow. The Big Ten football tour is as much as I can tell pretty unaffiliated with any major sponsorship and just generally love the taste of Schlitz beer (pff, real men drink Old Style) they will be prowling around the tailgates tomorrow engaging in drunken revelry with the locals, so be on the lookout.