Illinois might have turned the corner after big wins over Iowa and Indiana. Hopefully they can keep the momentum going this weekend vs. Wisconsin.

Will there be one? If so, who should the Illini play? Would you like a crack at Duke?

Don't forget to pick the Illini!

Northwestern clearly wants to "own Chicago" but we in Urbana don't want that to happen do we? Illinois's played a few games up at Soldier Field in the last decade including the Northwestern game in 2015. Maybe we should play a few more games up at Wrigley/Soldier Field to match Northwestern in the future. Northwestern Chicago's Big Ten team? No. WE ARE!

I know it means nothing but I can't remember Illinois being in any bracketology predictions in several years so I think it's noteworthy.

"The appeal for Illinois sophomore tight end Luke Ford, who transferred to the Illini in January after spending his freshman season at Georgia in 2018, to be eligible for the upcoming season was denied by the NCAA Division I Appeals Committee for Legislative Relief on Friday." Seems like not all schools are treated equally. Ohio State and Miami get waivers for big time transfer quarterbacks, but Illinois can't get a waiver for a kid who wants to come home.

Really? Has anyone ever considered Northwestern a rival to Illinois? Now I'm old but in the Lou Henson days when Northwestern was your rival, you sucked. Now that they have Chris Collins as their coach and we're a perennial NIT team maybe we should hope to be their rival. But putting us with Michigan-Michigan State and Indiana-Purdue wasn't necessary. I didn't think they needed any protected rivalries, maybe just Indiana-Purdue. But the move to 20 games

I'm shocked I tell you. Shocked.

Fighting Illini football opened up training camp this week, and new athletic director Josh Whitman was on hand at the first practice. Apparently, he decided to give the wide receivers a few pointers, too.