Magnetic Curses

That guy! I love that Illinois is basically in a no-lose situation. Everyone expects them to get blown out, so they can only impress. People who think Illinois is going to get blown out either just hate Illinois or they don't follow Illinois or both. We were being blown out just once this season and it was the first game of the season. And we ended up losing by just 4. USC is playing well right now, but did anybody watch the USC/UCLA game? USC didn't look all that dominating to me. They looked much better against Arizona St. to me. Offensively USC didn't look spectacular against UCLA but defensively they were amazing. They held UCLA to 168 total yards and just 12 total yards. Outside of what turned out to be a fluke drive in the last :45 seconds of the first half, USC shut out UCLA and held them to 103 yards. They held Arizona State to 16 yards rushing. This is a very good team that should be healthy once the Rose Bowl rolls around. Illinois is nothing special defensively and has only faced one team that can come close to USC offensively - Missouri - and they were down by 24 in the third quarter and gave up 40 points in the game. And USC's defense is a hell of a lot better than Missouri's. Illinois is going to have to score a lot of points to win this game because I guarantee you that USC will and I don't think Illinois can score a ton of points againist USC. Yea I was impressed with USC's ability to stop the worst scoring team in the Pac 10 outside of Stanford from scoring more than 7. I was also impressed USC could stop the worst passing team in the PAC-10 from gaining many yards thru the air. UCLA fumbling 4 times also was very impressive by USC. U of I scored 28 points against an Ohio States defense that only allowed more than 17 points 1 time, against the Illini. U of I wont fumble the ball away like UCLA did. and again, illinois beat 7 teams at or above .500 and 5 bowl teams. i think they have a shot....

That guy! I love that Illinois is basically in a no-lose situation. Everyone expects them to get blown out, so they can only impress. People who think Illinois is going to get blown out either just hate Illinois or they don't follow Illinois or both. We were being blown out just once this season and it was the first game of the season. And we ended up losing by just 4. USC is playing well right now, but did anybody watch the USC/UCLA game? USC didn't look all that dominating to me. They looked much better against Arizona St. to me. If there was a Pac Ten vs Big Ten challenge in football, how many games do you think the Big Ten would win of the following? Maybe two or three, like they do in basketball vs the ACC. OSU vs. USC Illinois vs. ASU Mich vs. Oregon State Wisc vs. UCLA Penn State vs. Oregon Iowa vs. Arizona Indiana vs. Wash State Mich state vs. Stanford Purdue vs. California Northwestern vs. Washington Indiana vs. Best High school team in California Indiana went 7-5 and is in a bowl game; I think they deserve a better matchup than a high school team. I'm sure you mean "Minnesota" at the end. As for that list, the Big Ten would win well more than two or three. I feel pretty comfortable on five of those, ignoring #11. And that doesn't include a couple toss-ups. (I'm assuming Dixon is still out in this scenario.) if dixon is out, you might as well put oregon up against dixon, IL's high school team.

Something wrong with Georgia-Hawaii being only -11 while USC-Illinois is -14. Why? cus hawaii is an awful team who can barely beat nevada Ooo, this is fun. I can play this game too. Illinois is an awful team that LOST to Iowa. See, it works both ways. illinois is an awful team?

That guy! I love that Illinois is basically in a no-lose situation. Everyone expects them to get blown out, so they can only impress. People who think Illinois is going to get blown out either just hate Illinois or they don't follow Illinois or both. We were being blown out just once this season and it was the first game of the season. And we ended up losing by just 4. USC is playing well right now, but did anybody watch the USC/UCLA game? USC didn't look all that dominating to me. They looked much better against Arizona St. to me. If there was a Pac Ten vs Big Ten challenge in football, how many games do you think the Big Ten would win of the following? Maybe two or three, like they do in basketball vs the ACC. OSU vs. USC Illinois vs. ASU Mich vs. Oregon State Wisc vs. UCLA Penn State vs. Oregon Iowa vs. Arizona Indiana vs. Wash State Mich state vs. Stanford Purdue vs. California Northwestern vs. Washington Indiana vs. Best High school team in California not the way i'd split it up, but it looks fairly even to me, except for indiana being mentioned twice.

Something wrong with Georgia-Hawaii being only -11 while USC-Illinois is -14. Why? cus hawaii is an awful team who can barely beat nevada phew, i was hoping it had nothing to do with illinois being good, just hawaii sucking. dodged a bullet, there.

the illini will be just fine. they went into a bigger stadium filled with nearly 20,000 more hostile fans and beat the #1 team in the nation, and that means that they were #1 then and #1 now, for people who want to pick apart the illini's schedule. likely, they'll be #1 when all is said and done, as well.

Wow, that's just a terrible photoshop. That's the best that phag could come up with? suck on it, mizzou.

i got to tell you, i just don't see usc running away with it. i think they're going to be stunned by the tenacity of our o-line.

Oh so you go to kU? We prefer "FedEx Orange Bowl-bound KU." seriously, is the cotton bowl in the bcs?

i don't think that USC has played anyone as physical up front as the illini and their "7-pro" front is in for a rude awakening. now, when i say "physical", i don't mean that in the big 10 sense of the word, i also mean fast.

no, that would just be lucky.

why do you care so much?

and i count the indiana game as one of the illini's key victories. indiana is tough and will be for a while. I felt going in the winner of Indiana-Illinios would be the Big Ten's surprise team. I just hoped it was Indiana, though I didn't plan on it. I am, however, worried about IU's future. As long as they have Kellen Lewis at QB they'll be competitive. We'll see after that, though. well, they have a 2 year stay of execution, and i think they'll figure something out by then. True. And Indiana HS coaches love Lynch, so hopefully he can make some recruiting inroads here. (Not that securing Indiana talent will get us the Rose Bowl; any bowl is a reason for celebration around here.) now go out and beat oklahoma state!!!!!!!!!

and i count the indiana game as one of the illini's key victories. indiana is tough and will be for a while. I felt going in the winner of Indiana-Illinios would be the Big Ten's surprise team. I just hoped it was Indiana, though I didn't plan on it. I am, however, worried about IU's future. As long as they have Kellen Lewis at QB they'll be competitive. We'll see after that, though. well, they have a 2 year stay of execution, and i think they'll figure something out by then.

and i count the indiana game as one of the illini's key victories. indiana is tough and will be for a while.

That's some mind bendingly awful logic. I agree. I mean.....wow. :lol: Are you saying a team shouldn't get credit for beating a team ranked in the top 5 in the nation? What constitutes a top 5 win? My logic is apparently flawed so please explain. I'll explain in three sentences. ND beat No. 3 Michigan at the Big House in 2005. Michigan finished 7-5. No one did or should have considered that a top 5 win. End. when you go back and cite a certain team's all-time record against #1 teams, that does't necessarily mean that every one of those #1 teams goes on to win the national title, does it? now, that's nailed, right?

That's some mind bendingly awful logic. I agree. I mean.....wow. :lol: Are you saying a team shouldn't get credit for beating a team ranked in the top 5 in the nation? What constitutes a top 5 win? My logic is apparently flawed so please explain. I'll explain in three sentences. ND beat No. 3 Michigan at the Big House in 2005. Michigan finished 7-5. No one did or should have considered that a top 5 win. End. The stats site that as a top 5 win. It's not really hard to understand. I agree that Wisconsin isn't a top 5 program right now, but that is what they were ranked at the time they played Illinois. The fact of the matter is, Illinois beat 2 top 5 ranked teams. Whether you think those teams should have been ranked in the top 5 is another issue all together. oh, and they also have 7 wins against teams with winning records-and 6 wins against either bowl or bowl eligible teams, losing 2 close games to 2 others.

That's some mind bendingly awful logic. I agree. I mean.....wow. :lol: Are you saying a team shouldn't get credit for beating a team ranked in the top 5 in the nation? What constitutes a top 5 win? My logic is apparently flawed so please explain. Andy just nailed it. nailed what? illinois beat the #5 team in the country and the #1 team in the country, case closed.

Gee, I wonder why is that? who knows, but anyone who thinks that record is meaningful needs to work on their analytical skills. im pretty sure a good portion of those games occured over 15 years ago Really? Then what conference was Florida in? the WAC? Gimmie a break. If there is a Big 10 school, matching up aganist a SEC school, almost 75% of the time, a SEC school is going to win it. The talent in the SEC > the talent in the Big 10. Go check the Big Ten vs Sec in bowl games since the BCS system. B10 has the slight advantage. For now. Just give it time. It'll slant over to the SEC eventually. ohio state doesn't impress me a whole lot, but i think they're going to take lsu to the woodshed. lsu isn't a very good team, in fact there's no great team out there, but osu appears to be the best of them.

it's going to be exciting, i'm so happy--i totally forgot the bears blew it tonight.

everybody knew it was going to happen. pasadena, baby,

and that drop spells the end of the bears. momentum gone,.

all i know is that daniel looks like a punter befor every play. i'm like, "hey, it's 2nd down, what are they doing punting?" then i'm like, oh, that's right.

This assumes LSU in the NC? Even if Georgia takes their place, the Sugar Bowl would still take LSU...right? and the illini play in the rose bowl so everyone's happy. i can't envision an sec team not playing in the title game.

This assumes LSU in the NC? apparently.