Perception is reality
August 26, 2008 9:15 PM
I drove thru Georgia yesterday, picked up some sports talk radio around Atlanta. 3 hours, nothing but college football, it was beautiful.
Obviously, they are charged about #1 Georgia. Lots of talk about Saturday's Clemson vs Alabama game in the Georgia Dome. Little bit of talk about Ohio St vs USC but otherwise nothing on the Big Ten. Well, when they had Kirk Herbstreit on he gave a brief mention to looking forward to Illinois - Mizzou. But otherwise, essentially nothing on the Big Ten from the locals.
During Big Ten Media Days in July Ron Zook was blunt about the fact that perception is reality, and the Big Ten's national perception the past few years is way down due to the national championship game results. Never mind that the Big Ten was 2-1 in bowls vs the SEC two years ago or Michigan beat Florida last year, what matters is when the best-of-the-best line up.
People in SEC country have some serious Ohio St fatigue and don't want to see them in another championship game.
As for Illinois, the Illini are nowhere on the radar. Illinois won the Big Ten in 2001 and promptly got destroyed by LSU, then stopped winning. Last year Illinois beat a few Big Ten teams and got stomped by a real opponent.
This year the Illini can make serious gains towards its national perception. Starts with Missouri, Illinois must beat a good team outside the Big Ten. Finally, my hope is that Illinois can come out of the Big Ten and face an SEC team in bowl season. Let us see first-hand how well the Illini lineup against a team from the south.
Thread Filed under: Illini Football
