October 10th, 2007, 6:56 pm · Post a Comment · posted by sporter
Wednesday, Oct. 10
By STEVE PORTER
Illinois football is the rage thse days statewide and that’s a sharp contrast fromlast year when the Illini went 2-10 and seemed to be a program in disarray. In fact, Illinois was playing younger players in 2006 and seemingly disguising what it might accomplish this season.
Nobody expected a 5-1 record at this point — don’t let anybody kid you about it — but everybody thought there would be improvement.
Of course, in football you usually don’t go from 2-10 to 10-2 and the Illini haven’t gotten there yet, but there’s a chance they could do it. The Michigan and Ohio State games will tell how far they have come and if they have a chance to win the Big Ten.
For now, it’s a relief to see the program escape the ash can and rise to No. 18 in the country. Fans are actually flocking to venerable Memorial Stadium again.
More on this turnaround later.
