advertisement

Imrem: Illini's reverse relevance not good

Until last weekend, Illinois' football program made at least one alumnus gratefully comfortable.

The Fighting Illini - maybe "Fighting" should have quotes around it - had become irretrievably irrelevant.

All the pressure was off. Nobody who cared about Illinois had to care about Illinois football anymore.

The won-loss record didn't matter. The Big Ten standings were meaningless. The season was … what season?

Then a funny thing happened on the way to football emptiness: Illinois lost to Purdue in a game between arguably the two worst teams in the conference.

("Arguably" applies because, to be honest, does anyone know anymore who comprises the 32-team Big Ten? Has North Park University been added yet? How about a virtual team from the University of Phoenix?)

Losing to Purdue reminded Illinois fans that the school still plays football, albeit not very well, which heaped reverse relevance on the Illini.

Illinois sure did look like the Big Ten's absolute worst of the worst regardless of how many teams are in the league. The "Sagarin Football Ratings" in USA Today confirmed the suspicion.

Yep, Illinois is the lowest-ranked Big Ten team at No. 109, with Purdue at No. 97. The Illini are just behind the likes of Texas-San Antonio and Indiana State and just ahead of the likes of Sam Houston and Eastern Kentucky.

(This so outraged and embarrassed Sam Houston that he, uh, it asked Sagarin for a recount. Meanwhile, Illinois fans yawned.)

Look, the Illini stink so badly that there's pressure to stink all the way to the bottom nationally, which would make them even more relevant.

One of the most cherished principles of sports is that only mediocrity is irrelevant. Being either very good or very bad is very relevant.

The very good teams are compelled to compete for championships, bowl bids and a way to not get caught doing whatever they're doing.

The very bad teams are compelled to compete for fans who don't have lives beyond monitoring how very bad their favorite team is.

Take Michigan. Faithful followers of the Wolverines still feel pressure to be better than they currently are: 0-2 in the Big Ten and 2-4 overall. Michigan fans believe they can compete against rival Ohio State every season, contend for national championships and win a Heisman Trophy.

That's foolish and a sign that Michigan supporters haven't caught on yet to how irrelevantly mediocre the Wolverines are.

Michigan is even considering firing head coach Brady Hoke, as if that would make a difference one way or the other.

Meanwhile, back in Illinois, the Illini have a legitimate reason to dump their head coach.

There is talk, perhaps an assumption, that Tim Beckman will be fired at the end of the season. He should be, but not for the same reason coaches' jobs are in jeopardy at other institutions of higher learning and lower football.

The sense among Illinois alums, boosters and students shouldn't be that the Illini can do better with someone better than Beckman.

It should be that Illinois football can do worse with someone worse than Beckman.

OK, maybe you think that no coach in America is worse than Beckman. Actually, a national search might reveal that the most recent coach fired at Eastern Kentucky is available.

Illini athletic director Mike Thomas, the sports genius who hired Beckman, can hire the former EKU genius.

Then Illinois can make a run at catching Valparaiso, which ranks last at No. 252 in the Sagarin ratings.

Like it or not, Illini fans, the loss to Purdue replaced the calm of being irretrievably irrelevant with the pressure of reverse relevance.

mimrem@dailyherald.com

Illinois head coach Tim Beckman watches his team warm up before an NCAA college football game against Purdue on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Andrew A. Nelles) Associated Press
Illinois quarterback Reilly O'Toole (4) advances against Purdue during the second half of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014, in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Andrew A. Nelles) Associated Press
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.