Illini happy with low-key bowl

This trip helped wipe away two frustrating seasons after the school's first Rose Bowl appearance in 24 seasons. McGee played quarterback in the fourth quarter of the Rose Bowl, well after the game was already decided in Southern Cal's favor. Then Illinois won just eight games during the next two years, forcing an overhaul of the coaching staff underneath coach Ron Zook.

"If we wouldn't have pulled (a bowl berth) out this year, it would have been really bad," McGee said. "It would have been terrible. Being here now, it's pushed those couple of years into the past."

Supinie