Saturday's game is important for all of the obvious reasons of course, its the start of the Big Ten schedule, the Illini are 1-1, its the first of two top 20 teams the Illini will face in back to back weeks. But for me it is important because Columbus Ohio is where the signature win for Zook and Juice took place, a game in which the then unranked Illini took down the #1 Buckeyes and launched the team to the Rose Bowl. A game that I was at.

It was without a doubt the coolest football game I have seen in person. I was with the Block I on the annual road trip, and as a result had some of the best seats in the house, right behind the end zone, right in front of the student section. If you never have been to Columbus for a football game, I cannot recommend it enough. It is a zoo. Aside from the 100,000 plus people actually at the game, there is tailgating and other events going on outside that must include another 10,000. I love Memorial Stadium and gameday in Champaign, but in terms of pure scale it is a long way from Columbus.

The stadium looked huge on the inside of course, but it was not really as overwhelming as you might think. It is designed really similarly to MS and really just looks like a scaled up version, with a larger press box/luxury suite edifice. What cannot be overstated however is what 100,000+ people sound like when they are all yelling at once, it is absolutely deafening.  I still cannot believe that a football team could hear to snap the ball there. Lucky for us I suppose, that Juice does call the snap but signals for it when he is in the shotgun.

More impressive than the fans, more impressive than the stadium, and more impressive than Jim Tressel's meticulously cleaned sweater vest was the way Illinois absolutely shocked Ohio State. The year before of course the Illini had kept it close at MS and given OSU a real game, but Buckeye fans simply chalk it up to looking ahead to Michigan and dismiss the idea of an Illinoi team, coached by Ron Zook no less, could actually pose a threat to their undefeated season.

Then Daniel Dufrene busts an 80 yard run straight up the middle all the way to the OSU 5 yard line. (Oh please please don't start talking about blown calls and referees under investigation, as I recall OSU fans, you still made it to the BCS Champ game just in time to get blown off the field by LSU.) The Illini tied the game soon thereafter and made sure they would not go quietly like the rest of the Big Ten that year.

It was also the game where the Illini defense showed the rest of the nation just how bad a QB that Todd Boeckman could be. 3 INTs and alot of running around in the pocket. He would later show the same poise against LSU in the title game, and against USC the following season. You may recall that merely a week earlier ESPN was suggesting Boeckman as a serious contender for the HEISMAN. Miami Thomas did America a favor and ended that talk very quickly.

The most memorable part of the game of course was the famous 4th quarter drive. The Illini had the lead by a touchdown and the ball with 8 minutes left. An absolute eternity.  Most of the time when coaches and fans refer to just how good a player Juice can be, they point to this possession, where time after time he dared the OSU defense to stop him, but made first down after first down. Most of the time simply running up the middle on QB draw plays through massive holes that were opened up by the O-line. If you had asked me at the time what the Illini needed to do to win the game, I would have told you to make it to the 30 yard line and kick a field goal to make it a two possession game. It seems completely crazy to me, but Zook out-Tresseled Tressel. He sat on the ball for 8 minutes and ended the game without giving OSU a chance to win it in the last minutes.

Let me tell you something though, as loud as that stadium was early on in the game, it was a stunned silence as the final seconds ticked off.  I sincerely doubt I get to see a game quite this cool again. At least until the next time the Illini play there perhaps.