Steve Greenberg
Sports Columnist
Steve Greenberg is a sports columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times.
Outside of the Boilermakers, the Big Ten has had an almost nightmarish performance in non-conference play. Might as well start playing one another, then.
It’s OK that the Illini are missing out on the postseason. Nobody needed to see them play again.
We also asked if the holiday was better or worse because the Bears weren’t one of the six teams playing. In hindsight, maybe it was a dumb question.
Big Game Hunting: Buckeyes-Wolverines, Northwestern-Illinois, Alabama-Auburn, Notre Dame-Stanford and other Week 13 picks.
As end-of-November college football rivalries go, Illinois-Northwestern just might be the runt of the litter.
Braun has a 6-5, bowl-bound team after a 23-15 win against Purdue, and the whole thing is a miracle.
Such a scorer. Such a leaper. Such a waste of time?
It can’t be that hard for the Illini to beat Iowa, can it? And why is Purdue favored in Evanston?
Whether or not Braun wins as often as predecessor Pat Fitzgerald did, he’ll get a chance to try. That alone is the single biggest upset of this college football season.