The Illinois "Fighting" Illini. I put "fighting" in quotation marks to imply that they don't have much fight left in them for this season, see what I did there? It's no secret that the Ol Zooker's cupboard is pretty bare. Gone are the likes of Aurelius Benn and Isiah "Juice" Williams that took this team to a Rose Bowl back in 2007. It seems like a long long time ago that the Illini made it to Pasadena, and rest assured they won't be back any time soon.
"Hey, that's not very nice, SBB!"
Illinois Returns 5 starters on offense, supposedly three of them are on the offensive line, which is why I can't name any of them. Mikel LeShoure returns as starting tailback where he saw most of the action last season but was very limited due to injury. Eddie McGee isn't even being considered an option at QB which leaves it a two freshman horse race for the starting spot. Lucky for this poor guy, he gets 3 returning lineman, but he still doesn't have anyone we've heard about to throw to.The Illini defense is more of the same, filling some holes left by last year's starters sprinkled in with a returning player or two. For a lot of programs this would be no big deal, but Illinois recruiting has dropped of in recent years due to people not buying what Zook is selling.
Illinois' 2010 schedule with projected results:
Mizzou (L) - They weren't good enough to hang with the Tigers last year and this year won't be any different.
Southern Illinois (W) - If you can't beat a directional state school you should just give up.
Northern Illinois (W) - See above.
BYE
Ohio State (L) - Big L. Even if I weren't the world's biggest homer, I'd still see this ending the same way.@ Penn State (L) - PSU doesn't have a QB yet, but that doesn't matter.
@ Michigan State (L) - Mark Dantonio's team will have to try hard to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory here.
Indiana (L) - Too much talent at QB and WR for the Illini defense to keep up with the spread attack of IU.
Purdue (L) - Robert Marve is the new starter apparently since he transferred from "DUH U" which must make him at least decent. Purdue's D is always pretty solid and the lack of offensive fire power won't do them any favors. Danny Hope's Mustache FTW.
Michigan (L) - Yep, bad enough to lose to Michigan. Last year Michigan showed they could score some points against inferior competition and that's what will happen here. This game will come down to who wants it more and pride/belief in the program and since it's so late in the season I could see it going either way depending on circumstances.
Minnesota (L) - Tim Brewster's madness wins. He'll later tweet about it since he knows how to do that somehow.
Northwestern (L) - The Wildcats have another mobile white QB waiting in the wings and will use him to find a way to win an ugly game.
ANOTHER BYE WEEK
@Fresno State (L) - Wisonsin had trouble with Pat Hill's bulldogs recently and nothing leads me to believe that Zook can figure these guys out. A long trip to (ugly)Fresno, California won't help much either.Final Prediction: 0-8 in Big Ten play, 2-10 overall. Obviously no bowl game. Zook could be on the way out by season end.
Crying because his Illini suck so bad. Not because Zook is getting fired or because of litter for that matter.
