Where Will the Illini Go Bowling?

It's been a while since we could glance at the various bowl projections floating around the Internet and see the word "Illinois" written in it (except when it appears with the "Northern" in front of it, but I digress).

So now that the Illini are officially bowl eligible after Saturday's win over Northwestern, where might they be headed? Let's take a look at what the pundits think:

• SBNation.com's Jason Kirk — Quick Lane Bowl vs. Pittsburgh (Dec. 26, Detroit, MI).
• CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm — Heart of Dallas Bowl vs. Marshall (Dec. 26, Dallas, TX).
• Phil Steele of PhilSteele.com — Quick Lane Bowl vs. Virginia Tech (Dec. 26, Detroit, MI).
• SportingNews.com's Bill Bender — Quick Lane Bowl vs. Virginia Tech (Dec. 26, Detroit, MI).
• (For what it's worth, ESPN.com had yet to post its latest bowl projections as of this writing, but last week Mark Schlabach and Brett McMurphy had Northwestern pegged for the Quick Lane Bowl and Heart of Dallas Bowl, respectively, so that's a spot they would presumably place the Illinois in their latest iteration.)

Seems pretty straightforward at this point. While it's not outside of the realm of possibilities that the Illini get sent to a different bowl, Detroit or Dallas seem the most likely destinations. We'll obviously know more next week.