[NU Sports] NU-Illinois

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Good game - about what I expected. Close for a half
and then we just take over. Could have been a lot
worse if our offense had capitalized on some
second-half chances (like that nifty Colfield
interception - put Barry in at TE!).

But a great game from Baz (you just can't say enough
about Brett - I know Robinson probably gets Big Ten
MVP, but no player means as much to his team as Baz in
the league) and a good way to head into the bowl for
Sutton. The defense didn't do much, but did enough.
And we're inching closer to tying the overall series
with Illinois!:)

So that puts the Cats at 7-4 overall, and 5-3 in
league play for the second straight season. If OSU
comes back, we could even wind up tied for third place
in the league. Not too bad for a team that came into
the season with a lot of question marks and was
limping out of Kenosha with some big injury news.

So now we see how things shape up around the league --
Iowa's big win means that after PSU/OSU, the Big Ten
bowls can pretty much take who they want. Michigan,
Wisky and Iowa with their fans and prestige are
clearly top level and NU, Minny and (with a win) MSU
are clearly second tier. The announcers today seemed
to keep pushing NU for the Sun, but I still think
Nashville is the best bet. Either way, Tennessee in
their home state or a 9/10-win Pac 10 team will be a
tall order to get that elusive bowl win.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

PS - All the talk of moral victories, lucky wins, etc.
this week gave me even more reason to hate the Domers.
Not only are they coasting this year off a "moral
victory" over USC (they have yet to beat anyone
outside of Michigan or look that impressive -
including today vs. lowly Syracuse) ... but the Irish
also don't get dinged for the close wins because of
that dang "luck of the Irish" myth. So at least one
school does get to have it both ways, even if the rest
of us get criticized for "lucky" escapes and don't
want to count moral victories. Ugh!:)

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


		
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