The Illini vs. the Huskers...
The ‘Good’: SOMEone is going to get a win!
The Bad: Both programs are not even close to where they want to be.
Illini and Husker fan bases now share a common misery. But they took different paths on getting there.
We all know the great tradition and National Championship legacy of the Big Red. All that power and standing and prestige has disappeared into thin air in the last 25 years. And the Husker fan is still having a really hard time dealing with that. It’s tough to fall so far off a really high perch.
And the Illini fan base. Wanting so much to taste that kind of power and standing and success that the Huskers had. And the Illini not having those things for so long.
The Huskers have tried different coaches and approaches and nothing yet has worked. The same can be said for the Illini.
I’m no fan of the old style National legacy football powers that we all know... from USC to the SEC. But one has to admire the fact that so many of those legacy powers got up on their real high perch – and have stayed there for decades, Yes, they may have had a down year or two along the way. But the So Cals and the Michigans and the Bamas and Oklahoma and the like have found a way to get up there and stay there. Sure, they get great players every season. But why? Because they get young men who desire to play there and taste sweet success because they know they’ll have it.
Some of the near-Illinois Univ’s are currently having – or recently have had – good to great success on the field... Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Michgan. So close to Champaign and yet so far...
So while we wait for the day when the Illini footballers are thought of in the same light as these other names... be kind to each other – and to Husker fans. We share more than we’d like to right now.