For openers, Illini on a streak
After three weeks of unfathomable tumbles, bumbles and stumbles by multiple Big Ten teams, conference play mercifully gets under way Saturday.
Illinois fans, you know what that means.
Time for a loss.
The Illini have found a way to drop their last 13 Big Ten openers by an average of 18.9 points per game. They haven't even held a lead in an opener since the first quarter in 2002.
If Saturday's trip to unbeaten Indiana turns into another loss, then Illinois will set the Big Ten record for consecutive opening losses.
The Illini share the current mark with Iowa, which didn't win a league opener from 1901-13.
(Similar to the way the 1972 Miami Dolphins celebrate each year once the last unbeaten NFL team suffers a loss, do you think there are any 112-year-olds from that 1913 Iowa team waiting to pop open some champagne if the Illini lose?)
It goes without saying that losing so many consecutive openers represents a bad thing. But it's not as cut and dried as adding a loss to the ledger.
As Illinois coach Ron Zook reasserted Sunday, Big Ten play is a whole 'nother level above nonconference action.
Regardless of the fact Illinois just smacked Syracuse by 21 points for its first nonconference road win since 2001, an immediate Big Ten loss (or win) sets the tone for the rest of their season.
Purdue's 10-year stretch under Joe Tiller provides the perfect example.
Prior to Tiller's arrival in 1997, the Boilermakers hadn't played in the postseason since the 1984 Peach Bowl. But Purdue won its first eight Big Ten openers under Tiller and went to a bowl every year.
In 2005, the Boilers lost their conference opener and, voila, they missed out on their first bowl under Tiller. Last year, Purdue resumed its winning ways in the opener and returned to a bowl.
Coincidence? Perhaps. But teams can't help but introduce an element of doubt when they don't get off to a good start in league play.
Fortunately for Illinois, it almost meets its match in Big Ten-opening misery Saturday. Indiana has dropped its last six Big Ten openers and 14 of its last 15.
If the Illini win, then it's no stretch to project them as a bowl participant for the first time in six seasons.
While it's never safe to predict victories at Illinois -- especially after last year's last-second home losses to Indiana and Ohio that ruined all momentum built at Michigan State -- the Illini (2-1) have Ball State, Minnesota and Northwestern on the schedule.
Plus, none of the other teams on the slate look particularly special, not even the ones ranked No. 8 (Ohio State), No. 9 (Wisconsin) and No. 10 (Penn State) in the Associated Press poll.
But for now, nobody expects nothin' from Illinois.
CollegeBCS.com's Jerry Palm projects the bowl scene each week. He has Indiana going to the Insight Bowl, but Illinois (and Northwestern) sitting home for the holidays.
That'll change, though, with just one little opening win. Funny how that works.