[NU Sports] best Illinois games ....

[Brad Wilson]

Having seen most of these since 1984, this is a topic
I can sink my teeth into:

Top 5:

1) 1995. Thrilling, tight 17-14 win in the cold and
snow in Champaign during the best season ever.
Memorable especially for us because we partied with
Willie part of the game. A classic.

2) 1986. Bad season, but John Duvic's kicks beat the
Illini late, 23-18, in Champaign to win a frosty
nailbiter. Especially memorable for an incident late
in the game -- we are dancing around celebrating and a
bunch of clueless ILlini people throw a huge mass of
ice at us, as we sit down, it flies over our heads and
lands on the Illini fans in front of us. If you saw a
bunch of drunken, rather unatheltic 21-year-olds doing
Redskins-style "Fun Bunch" high-fives outside Memorial
Stadium afterwards, that was us.

3) 2000. 61-23 over these creeps? WOOOOOO-HOOOOOOO! A
glorious weekend in Evanston. Shoulda been 61-7, or
more, but Walker took the starters out. I know,
sportsmanship.... but damn, after Jeff George, their
Hat on our Cat ('98) and assorted routs at their
hands, this one felt GOOD!!!!! (Also only time I have
ever seen NU score 60-plus points.) Cigars and
Champagne afterwards to celebrate clinching Big Ten
title against the damned Illini -- hard to top. 

4) 1996. Thriller again (27-24) under a gorgeous fall
sky in Evanston with the winning drive kept alive with
a fourth-down pass to the greatest clutch receiver
ever, Brian Musso. I was at this one with some
Wisconsin people, and just before that first down one
of them was yelling, "Everyone in the stadium knows
where the ball is going! And they won't stop it!" And
they didn't.

5) 2003. One (incomplete) pass in the second half as
NU wraps up a bowl bid by running Jason Wright and
Noah Herron down the Illini's throats with a 37-20
thumping on a sunny day (in more ways than one) in
Champaign. Celebrating the bowl bid in the end zone
with the players afterwards ... priceless.

Close: 2004 (Jeff Backes' miraculous 80-yard punt
return sets up 28-21 OT all-timer in Evanston); 1991
(17-11 Grapes in the Rain in Evanston); and 1992 ("The
catch" by Lee Gissendaner with four seconds left stuns
Illini 27-26 in Champaign). The latter two would have
made the list had I been there, I suspect.

Worst: 1989 (63-14 in Evanston, 49 straight points by
Jeff George-led Illini); 1998 (13-10 loss in Evanston
when punt bounces off NU leg, recovered by Illini to
set up winning TD; Illini plant disgusting orange flag
in our turf and put their Hat on our Cat (statue); I
had to restrain a friend from murder that day); 1993
(20-13 loss in Champaign, totally winnable game,
barf).

Best memory, non-game action: 1985, when we carried a
banner, done in "generic label" style, around Dyche
that said "U of I: Home of Generic Education"; at one
point one Illini coed asked, "What does that mean?"
Point proven ... (game sucked, 45-20 loss)

Second-best memory, non-game action: 1999, before an
otherwise dismal 29-7 loss in Champaign (though Kustok
showed flashes of the moxie he'd dazzle us with in
2000). Tailgating with a Wisconsin pal, eating steaks
with peppers and mushrooms, creamed potatoes, washing
all down with Special Ex longnecks (THE beer for
tailgates) while relaxing in comfy chairs ... an
Illini couple pulls up and makes their, er,  feast:
PB&Js out of the trunk. The looks of jealousy we got
... 

I know most on the list find NU's rivals to be
Wisconsin and Iowa, but for me it will always be
Illinois -- by a mile. 

I am once again making the trip from Philadelphia this
week, this time to watch NU win the 100th game!! GO
CATS!!!

Brad Wilson




"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.

"We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular." -- Edward R. Murrow, 1954.

"Quis ipsos custodes custodiet?" -- Juvenal


 
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