Underdog Illini in first bowl game since 2014

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By Woodrow Carroll

For a football team that finished 6-6 overall and 4-5 in the Big Ten , the University of Illinois fared pretty well when the bowl assignments were passed out Sunday. The Fighting Illini, who were accorded little chance of winning the six games needed to make it to a bowl game in most of the preseason prognostications, will play the University of California in the RedBox Bowl, December 30, in Santa Clara, Calif..

The Golden Bears ended up with a record of 7-5 overall and 4-5 in the Pac-12.

The trip west will be the Illini’s first bowl game since a 35-18 defeat to Louisiana Tech in the 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl.

The venue for the RedBox Bowl is Levi’s Stadium, home to the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers. Given that the Golden Bears are from nearby Berkeley, we know the home fan team.

Perhaps Illinois will duplicate the success the team had in 2011 against another California team. Illinois opened 6-0 then lost six straight game.

The losing streak cost Illini head coach Ron Zook his job. Under interim coach Vic Koenning, the Illini edged UCLA, 20-14, in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants. Illinois pieced together a four-game winning streak midpoint of the season. California won four straight to open the season. California dropped four straight games before rebounding to take three of four to finish the regular season.

To no one’s surprise, all nine Big Ten teams that were bowl eligible will play in bowl games. Undefeated Ohio State, 13-0, led the Big Ten entrants with a spot in the Fiesta Bowl against Clemson, 13-0. At the other end of the scale, Illinois and Michigan State were the least fancied, bowl-eligible, Big Ten teams. Michigan State, such as Illinois, ended up 6-6 and will face Wake Forest, 8-4, in the Pinstripe Bowl, December 27, in Yankee Stadium.

The Mid-American Conference further added to an already inglorious season when Toledo, 6-6, was the lone bowl-eligible team passed over among the 78 need to fill bowl assignments. The Rockets dropped their final three MAC games when a victory in any of the three would have earned a bowl berth.

Every FBS conference has at least one team with 10 or more victories with one exception. The MAC! Heading into the bowl games, Miami of Ohio, MAC champion, and Central Michigan, runner up, have eight victories each to lead the MAC pack.

One positive note about the 39 bowl games! None of the bowls will have two 6-6 teams involved. That’s a minor improvement for sure. Still, every bowl will have one team with a winning record involved which has not been the case in recent years.

LSU, Ohio State, and Clemson finished 1-2-3 in the final poll. All three pieced together undefeated regular-season record. And they strung together some amazing statistics.

All LSU did was beat Texas, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, and Georgia along the way. Blue bloods each! All 13 of Ohio State’s victories were by 11 points or more. And Clemson? Seven straight victories by 35 points or more for the defending National champion.

October 26, Oklahoma lost, 48-41, at Kansas State in a Big 12 Conference game. That game turned out to be the only defeat suffered by the four finalists in the National championship hunt. Combined LSU, Ohio State, Clemson, and Oklahoma have 51-1 record.

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