O’Donnell: NBC set to show if the Fighting Illini are ready for their close-up
THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN A SUSPICION that a teeming underground of major media types hopes eternal that University of Illinois football will thrive.
The spawn of the school's College of Media have long been impressive. That honor roll ranges from 13 Pulitzer Prize winners — including Roger Ebert, George Will and New York Times/White House legend James “Scotty” Reston — on over to such sports & other powerhouses as Bill Nack, Hugh Hefner and ABC programming wunderkind Dennis Swanson.
Every 20 years or so, the Illini rekindle that keystroke fire with a Big Ten championship. Long ago, under classic coaches Bob Zuppke and Ray Eliot, the university actually produced undefeated teams, the last in 1951.
SATURDAY, THE LATEST BLUE-AND-ORANGE GRANGE GROVERS try to keep it going in a battle of hope-summer unbeatens at Indiana (6:30 p.m., NBC, AM-890).
The game looms as a marvelous Old Big Ten showcase between Bret Bielema's surging No. 9 Illini (3-0) and Curt Cignetti's No. 19 Hoosiers (3-0). Noah Eagle and Todd Rutledge will call.
Vegas tipplers have Indiana as a 4-point favorite. The midweek over/under hangs at a comparatively understated 52½.
Fresh optimism hangs over the athletic program in Champaign-Urbana. Bielema's fifth edition is an increasingly visible bell cow of that renewed vigor.
The centerpiece is a north-bound QB from Starkville, Mississippi, named Luke Altmyer. He must have gotten the wrong boarding pass in Memphis. If Altmyer and fellow foo fighters can continue to prevail, he may eventually be coming to a Heisman Trophy conversation near you.
Altmyer did two seasons at Ole Miss before transferring to Illinois. He showed an admirable capacity for independent thought as a high school senior when he passed on hometown Mississippi State, where his father — Chad Altmyer — had been team orthopedic surgeon for 20 years.
YEAR ONE AT ILLINOIS (2023) was a familiarization campaign. In nine starts Altmyer finished 4-5. Since then, he's 13-3, including warm-weather wins this season over Western Illinois, Duke and Western Michigan by a combined 135-22.
Cignetti's Hoosiers — fresh off their transfer-laden CFP team of 2024 — are properly formidable. They will attempt to seize on both home Memorial Stadium and the Illini's No. 1 point of spottiness — an offensive line that can underwhelm at the snap of a football.
Altmyer offered a positive take on his unpredictable O-line, telling media; “I think one thing we've shown so far is that we're identifying mistakes and weaknesses. At this point of a season, that's a positive.”
A WIN ON SATURDAY WOULD BE a further positive. Showcase dates for Bielema's bunch will then come in a wave including No. 25 USC on Sept. 27 and No. 1 Ohio State two weeks later — both at Gies Memorial Stadium.
Bielema is the reborn prophet from Prophetstown (Ill.) and Altmyer is the orange moonlight guide.
And then there's that teeming Illini underground, just dyin' to generate some new keystroke fire.
STREET-BEATIN':
Three weeks ago it may have been Halas Hall blasphemy, but Ryan Poles and the Bears may never again have as advantageous a window to move Caleb Williams. Great young athlete not close to getting it done in a bad culture cast against the growing backdrop of alpha QBs going down. Politely, a trade would be called “bold and daring”; the Williams-Ben Johnson disconnect is scary. …
Chicago Sports Network, that irrelevant slab of White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks programming, announced that Mike McCarthy is new president and CEO. The seasoned traveler will replace Jason Coyle, who'll transition to advisor to the board of directors. CHSN can bring in the ghost of Roone Arledge, but until its Deadwood Trio starts to flash game-time credibilities, they're chasing the wind. …
A “celebration of life” for the late thoroughbred jockey agent Tom Morgan turned into a mini-Arlington Park reunion. Among the shedrow of attendees: Eddie Olczyk, Chris Block, retired Cook County Judge Joe Casciato, Randy Meier, Eddie Arroyo, Dee Poulos (and sister Lady Di), Gary Duch, the inimitable Peter Galassi, Julio Felix and jockey-turned-casino sage Vince Amato. …
That upcoming Illinois-Indiana football game failed to set pulses racing at either ESPN or Fox. Kirk Herbstreit will settle the “Game Day” crew at No. 4 Miami for its match vs. Florida Saturday. Urban Meyer returns to the scene of his magical unbeaten 2004 season when Fox's “Big Noon Kickoff” drifts in at No. 16 Utah for its battle of the undefeated against No. 17 Texas Tech …
Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.