Illinois is playing in their first bowl game in ages next week when they play Cal in the RedBox Bowl and that is quite the accomplishment for a program that has been the second-worst in the Big Ten this past decade.
Despite only just getting to .500 on the season in 2019 though, you will find nobody more optimistic about the state of the program than their head coach. Speaking to the Chicago Sun-Times, Lovie Smith appeared to be spreading some holiday cheer by claiming that the Illini had not only gotten out of the gutter, but that they’ve caught their Big Ten West rivals like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.
“We’ve caught them,” Smith told the paper. “Now, it’s about us competing. We’re not running from what our record was the last decade. Illinois had been down a long period of time. But as far as catching teams in our division that have traditionally been very good, we feel like we’re there now. We plan on beating everyone and eventually being the champion of this league.”
Well, you have to admire his confidence at least. Maybe not too surprising given how impressive Smith’s beard is but also a bit head-scratching all the same given that the program has been above only lowly Rutgers in the conference pecking order for so many years now and sit at just 6-6 going into their bowl game.
There’s momentum in Champaign to be sure but the leap from six wins to a division title and competing with the big boys like the Badgers is needless to say a bit much from Lovie and company. We’ll find out next year if the team can indeed make the jump but, for now, we’ll just have to sit back and admire one of the more bold calls coming out of the Midwest to close out the 2010’s.