By Woodrow Carroll
The University of Illinois football team has won back-to-back games by more than 30 points. Of course, the first of those two victories was last season in the finale when the Illini defeated Northwestern, 47-14, to finish with a 5-7 overall record.
This season’s Illini started well Saturday, Aug. 27 in Champaign in what was the earliest starting date ever for an Illinois football game.
Looking good on both offense and defense, Illinois won going away in defeating the Wyoming Cowboys, 38-6. Illinois was favored, however, the Illinois victory still was impressive.
Wyoming won the toss and deferred to the second half. Bad move! The Illini took the kickoff and 41 seconds later a 14-yard pass from quarterback Tommy DeVito to Chase Brown put Illinois ahead.
Wyoming closed to 7-3 before Brown rushed for a touchdown and an illini 14-3 lead.
Brown later added a third touchdown by rushing and Illinois pulled away to victory..
Illinois was favored to beat the Cowboys of the Mountain West Conference. What was impressive was manner in which the Illini handled the Laramie, Wyo. visitors.
Next up for Illinois will be a road trip to Indiana at 7 p.m. Friday in the Illini Big Ten opener. Unlike Illinois, it will be the Indiana season and Big Ten opener for the Hoosiers.
Illinois opened last season with a big victory over Nebraska then dropped four straight game that effectively ended Illini hopes of a bowl game.
• The land of Lincoln has been tough on the team from Lincoln (Nebraska).
Northwestern University knocked off Nebraska, 31-28, in Dublin, Ireland in what was the season and Big Ten opener for both schools. Last year Illinois defeated Nebraska, 30-22 in Champaign. Northern Illinois surprised Nebraska, 21-17, in 2017. Northern Illinois and Nebraska squared off in 2019 and Nebraska won, 44-8.
• Remember Jerry Kill? The former Northern Illinois head football coach calls the shots at New Mexico State University. It will be a challenge for Kill.
Plagued by health issues, Kill left Northern Illinois after three seasons, then took the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota. In five seasons at Minnesota, Kill’s Gophers were 29-29 overall and only 14-21 in the Big Ten.
With coaching in his blood, Kill accepted the New Mexico State job knowing full well it would be a challenge.
Similar to Illinois, the New Mexico State played Saturday, Aug. 27. A The final score was less than satisfying with visiting Nevada a 23-12 victor.
The Kill storyline is the 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1 (game at Minnesota, led by head coach P.J. Fleck, who played at Northern Illinois and Kaneland High School earlier. No, Kill and Fleck did not overlap at Northern Illinois.
Words between Kill and Fleck were supposedly bandied about over the direction Minnesota football has taken in recent seasons. As is usually the case, the comments were likely blown out of context.
An hour prior to the Minnesota and New Mexico State kickoff, Northern Illinois will take the field against Eastern Illinois at 7 p.m. in DeKalb.
The Huskies were 9-5 last season and captured the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship and are favored to repeat this season.