|
Part 2
A funny thing happened
on the way to the Rose Bowl
By Jeff Mayfield
[OCT.
6, 2000]
Actually,
it’s not all that funny. Illinois’ dream college football season
has hit a partial derailment. Now they have a bye week to try and
right the ship and avoid a total train wreck. I tried to warn those
who were caught up in the early euphoria. In fact, the LDN said if
the Illini somehow managed to go 8-4 again, we would just mail that
in to the NCAA home office and move on to basketball. I had
questions about our defense. They did play an inspired first half
against Michigan, but in the Big Ten you must string two halves
together! There is a great opportunity to get well against Iowa, but
then the schedule stiffens in a hurry. This week the LDN does all it
can do to keep the faith and to will the Illini back to...
|
|
...health
and respectability.
[click
here for Part 1, posted previously]
Don’t
quote me, but I think the Illini will have a difficult time with the
Lions. They follow up that contest with a road tilt against the
Spartans of Michigan State. If we can play them as inspired as
Missouri was when they played them, we could pull out a road upset
in East Lansing.
On
the other side of the coin, if Penn State drills us, we no doubt
will struggle with the Spartans as well. I’d rather see us rally
the troops. Bring in brother Clint Eastwood for a pep talk right out
of the Outlaw Josey Wales. Clint would make our guys mad-dog MAD.
Then we would go to Happy Valley with a "take no
prisoners" attitude. A win there could parlay itself into a win
over MSU, and then you might be onto something!
Then
we come back to Chambana for two home games, one against Indiana and
one against Ohio State. I never have understood our games versus
teams like Indiana, Purdue or Northwestern. I always feel like we
should drop those clowns. But we don’t always get it done.
Sometimes...they even beat us. And then when you least expect it,
they sometimes pummel us. I won’t even pretend to give you an
answer as to how and why this can happen. I guess that’s just good
ol’ smash mouth Big Ten football! It boggles the mind.
We
had Indiana smoked last year in Bloomington. Someone forgot to tell
the Hoseheads that they couldn’t come back in the fourth quarter.
They did and we took a big L. That would have made us 9-3. I don’t
know how much better we could have been than that.
I
guess I should have more respect for all of the teams in our
conference. Don’t worry, if I were on the coaching staff, I would
be telling the players every week how our next opponent reminds me
of Florida State. Just ask ANY of the players who used to play for
me. They got sick of me telling them how opponents are either feast
or famine. And when they line up against ANYONE with LINCOLN on
their chest, they want to bury them!
But
as a sports writer, the only team that I really want to respect is
our own local heroes. I guess you could say that I’m a lot like
Z-93.3 — I’m all ILLINOIS...ALL the time!!! I can’t make any
apologies for that. The spirit of Fred Hoppin hovers over me at all
times.
[to top of second
column in this section]
|
I
will never understand why anyone is caught up with the maize and
blue or the gray and blue out East. Those color schemes literally
make me hurl. The ORANGE and BLUE goes together so well it’s
almost as if a higher power preordained it. My crack research team
says that actually that color scheme was devised right down the road
from Lincoln.
Not
only that, I have it on good authority that at one time Lincoln was
a suggested site for the University of Illinois. I wonder if they
would have played LC and LCC on a home-and-home basis?
At
any rate, after we tangle with the Hosers, we will then line up
against the true Jekyll and Hyde of the Big Ten Conference: the Ohio
State Buckeyes. I’m not even sure what a buckeye is? Oh sure,
someone showed me one and told me what it was, but I’m still not
sure what it is. Their team is a lot like that. They get some of the
best recruits in the country. I always feel like they should just
destroy us, but last year we picked them apart in their own back
yard. They always seem to play us well in Memorial’s Big House!
Who knows how that game will turn out. I just love to beat them and
then read all the e-mails on their message boards from their
millions of coaching geniuses.
We
finish the season at Northwestern...and the way they’re playing
right now, not only do I not want to play them this season, I don’t
want to play them ever again. Is Jerry Tarkanian coaching them now?
How did all of their current players make it through their stiff
entrance requirements? Mysterious circumstances have to be swirling
all over that program. Going up there will be a tough way to close
out our season. I hope a bowl bid is already secured before we get
to Evanston. If one is on the line when we get up there, it could be
a real adventure.
Indeed,
a funny thing did happen on the way to the Rose Bowl. The Illini
fell off the horse. Right now the Illini are dusting themselves off,
since they fell off the horse twice. I hope they will remount and
ride all the way to a bowl game in California, Hawaii or Florida.
After six weeks with a new baby by then, I’m sure I’m going to
need a vacation with Illini nation!
[Jeff
Mayfield]
|
|
Part 1
A funny thing happened
on the way to the Rose Bowl
By Jeff Mayfield
[OCT.
5, 2000]
Actually,
it’s not all that funny. Illinois’ dream college football season
has hit a partial derailment. Now they have a bye week to try and
right the ship and avoid a total train wreck. I tried to warn those
who were caught up in the early euphoria. In fact, the LDN said if
the Illini somehow managed to go 8-4 again, we would just mail that
in to the NCAA home office and move on to basketball. I had
questions about our defense. They did play an inspired first half
against Michigan, but in the Big Ten you must string two halves
together! There is a great opportunity to get well against Iowa, but
then the schedule stiffens in a hurry. This week the LDN does all it
can do to keep the faith and to will the Illini back to...
|
|
...health
and respectability. If the Michigan loss wasn’t enough to take the
wind out of our sails, the loss to Minnesota was a crushing blow. I
had a bad feeling about the Gophers while I was watching the
Michigan game snatched out of our mouth of victory. The
disappointment was so heavy in the air, especially because of the
way the last four minutes unfolded, that a letdown was almost
inevitable.
Most
people did not recognize it. However, if you’ve ever been in a
position or ever find yourself in a position to beat one of the
nation’s top 10 teams...then realize that you’re a couple of
minutes away from realizing your dream...then watch it evaporate
right before your eyes in an instant...then you might be able to
begin to understand the crushing blow that it is for a team’s
psyche!
In
my lifetime I have only seen one or two coaches ever who have been
able to mastermind some way of recovering their team’s morale
after such a disheartening loss. Coach Turner tried to turn our
fortunes around, but when both the heart and the soul are scared as
bad as they were, his task was next to impossible.
[to top of second
column in this section]
|
I’ve
been brought up to believe that you will play the way you practice.
Reports out of Chambana last week said that the Illini had a
terrible week of practice. As the great Joe Walsh once sang,
"It’s hard to leave, when you can’t find the door."
The Illini found it hard to practice after having their hearts
ripped out of their chests. They never could find the door to
bouncing back.
They
better get a heart transplant quick, because after Iowa comes
a-calling, the schedule takes a turn towards the brutal side. First
there’s a trip to Happy Valley, Penn. The uninitiated would say
that Penn State is down, so this is our year to kick them. Do you
have any idea how much Joe Pa Paterno prepares for Big Ten games?
His preparation skills are second to none. The Nittany Lions remind
a lot of Neil Alexander’s Railers...they don’t lose because they’re
not prepared…they lose only when they don’t execute. As a fan
and a sports writer, I love coaches who can take the game to that
high a level. If you’re going to play it, you might as well make a
commitment to excellence.
(To
be continued tomorrow)
[Jeff
Mayfield]
[click
here for Part 2]
|
