By Woodrow Carroll
Lovie Smith’s five-year run as Illinois’ head football coach came to an end after a particularly ugly 28-10 loss at Northwestern Saturday.
To many, the hiring of Smith, who guided the Chicago Bears football fortunes from 2004-2012 and an appearance in Super Bowl XLI, the 2006 season, was viewed by many as an inspired move at the time. Illinois needed a coach with name recognition and a proven track record. Smith, with an 81-63 record in nine seasons with the Bears was the answer, however, turned out not to be the case!
The loss to Northwestern closed out Smith’s five years in Champaign with an overall 17-39 record. All five campaigns in Champaign suffered with losing records.
Smith’s best season was last year when the Illini ended with a 6-7 record. Even 2019 left a bad taste when Illinois lost its final three games, including a 35-20 setback to California in the Redbox Bowl. The Redbox Bowl was Smith’s lone bowl appearance at Illinois.
Things looked better for Smith last season after Illinois upset No. 6 Wisconsin, 24-23, which was the start to a four-game winning streak and had the faithful dreaming big. It turned out to be a dream and nothing else.
Saturday’s loss to Northwestern was the sixth straight setback suffered by the Illini to their State rival that goes back to 1892. The six-game streak losing to the Wildcats is a new low for the Illini.
The Northwestern victory over Illinois was not only good for the Wildcats, it was probably desirable for the Big Ten. Had the Wildcats lost Saturday, Northwestern’s record would have been 5-2 and a half-game back of Iowa, 6-2, in the West. The Wildcats had defeated Iowa earlier and head-to-head play was the important determinant. Still, the Big Ten was changing the rules on the fly, with Ohio State’s six-game minimum waived. Northwestern made sure its meeting with Ohio State at 11 a.m. Saturday for the Big Ten championship was secure.
It’s champions week in the Big Ten Friday and Saturday. The key game is Ohio State, 5-0, versus Northwestern, 6-1, in Indianapolis. The other six other games in the Big Ten has little at stake.
Smith is back at Illinois, but, not Lovie! Illinois offensive coordinator Rod Smith will call the shots when Illinois, 2-5, is at Penn State, 3-5, 4:30 p.m. Saturday in a season-ending crossover game.
Friday will be Nebraska at Rutgers followed by Purdue at Indiana. Saturday, Minnesota will play at Wisconsin, Michigan will be at Iowa, Maryland will play host to Michigan State.
There is incentive to play and win. Because of COVID-19 many bowl games have been canceled. The flip side of the coin has FBS teams opting out of playing in bowl games. Take a look at the newly created Myrtle Beach Bowl, December 21. Appalachian State, 8-2, vs. North Texas, 4-5. North Texas with only four victories and a losing record and, still, is welcomed to the bowl with open arms. Such is the world of college football and COVID-19.
• Northern Illinois closed out its season with a 41-33 loss at Eastern Michigan Saturday. The defeat left the Huskies with a 0-6 record all games in the Mid-American Conference It was a strange run for Northern Illinois. Three home games found Northern Illinois losing by 17 points or more on each occasion. All three road games were competitive with losses by eight points or fewer.