Illinois giveth, and Illinois taketh away. I was big pimpin' you in our B1G 2011 preview, and for half the season, you made me look like a genius. GENIUS, I say, and that's damn hard to do, as my wife will attest. Here's what I said in our 'Potluck' preview about the fighting Illini back in May:

I can see the Illini going 6-0 to start the season, and then they get Ohio State at home. That would be the same Ohio State team that will be fielding Terrelle Pryor and his Merry Band of Tattooed Miscreants for only the second time. It's a home game, and Illinois always plays OSU tough. Get past that hurdle, they get Purdue, a team that they should beat. That's 8-0 kids, and the Zooker is the odds-on favorite for Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Who else saw them going 6-0? No one, and my logic was sound, as Illinois was favored for that OSU game. I HAD THE WORLD BY THE ILLINI BALLS. And how was I rewarded for my faith in the Zooker?

Well, an OSU loss is forgiveable, and although that was a bad loss to Purdue at the time, in retrospect it's not the end of the world. But 6 in a row? C'mon, you almost have to try to be that bad. The coup de grace was a season ending thumping at the hands of Minnesota, and that sealed Zook's fate. And we will all be poorer for that.

So those 6 wins had Illinois ranked in the top 20, moving towards the top 10, but the 6 losses got Ron Zook the boot...

(pause, moment of silence)

...and the beginning of the Tim Beckman era. But like Mark McGwire in front of Congress, we're not here to talk about the past. We're here to talk about the now, and we're here to Fight Hunger!

And UCLA.

After the jump.

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Illinois football has probably been the most enigmatic program in the B1G since 2005, the first season under former coach Ron Zook. It's been on the verge of really, really good, and also on the verge of really, really bad. In 2011, it's been both.

The Zook era came to an end shortly after Illinois lost their regular season finale to Minnesota and finish 6-6, and after a 6-0 start, an 0-6 finish doomed the Zooker--and we are all poorer for it. Zook is cash money in my disembodied heads pieces, and it's going to create a comedy vacuum that I don't think Tim Beckman can fill.

But my loss is Illinois' gain, and that's exactly why I think Beckman is a great hire for Illinois. It's too bad a lot of Illinois folks don't think so.

'Not a home run', says the Sun Times. They surmise that if Beckman can 'win a few games', that Illinois fans will settle for an 'opposite field double off the wall.'

Welcome to the Illinois, coach. I guess Northwestern really is Chicago's B1G team after all.

The Beckman hire reminds me, in a lot of ways, of the Jerry Kill hire at Minnesota last year. For Illinois, there were a lot of sexy, big time names out there that the Illini fans thought they might be able to get, and for good reason.

Illinois is no doormat program, and they can point to a heritage that goes back to the founding of the sport. Although the Land of Lincoln doesn't have the quantity of big time high school recruits that a state like Ohio, Florida, or Texas has, it's not exactly barren, either. And Ron Zook has shown that Illinois can compete with the best the conference has to offer; he just couldn't do it on a consistent basis.

Kevin Sumlin said no, as did Boise State's Chris Peterson. I never even heard Mike Leach's name come up in discussions, and he's now at Washington State. No, athletic director Mike Thomas instead got a solid, fundamental football guy with deep Midwest roots and a track record at turning around a middling program.

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If you perused the sidebar on the left of our page entitled BIG 2011, you may have noticed that all the B1G teams had a hate column posted during their preview week, except one -- Illinois.

In honor of this week's Hat Fight (the battle for the Land of Lincoln Trophy), we here at Off-Tackle Empire would like to rectify that omission.

You see, Illinois' preview week fell on the week prior to Memorial Day weekend.  Buckeye fans will see where this is going -- Jim Tressel resigns, Luke Fickell replaces him, Terrelle Pryor ends up heading to the NFL -- basically, we had larger fish to fry in terms of our coverage.  I, specifically, had been tasked with writing the Friday hate piece on the Illini, but was stuck with crippling writer's block as I pondered a simple question:

How do I muster hate for a football team and fanbase that views each football game as just one week closer to the start of basketball season? In other words, the most apathetic fanbase in the entire Big Ten.

I suppose I could have posted a bunch of photos of Zook water-skiing or striking muscle flexing poses.  I could have chronicled the Illini's consistently impressive performance each season in the Fulmer Cup.  Or pointed and laughed at Illinois' paltry .344 conference winning percentage since 1993 (when Penn State joined the Big Ten), good for 9th place above only Minnesota (.319) and Indiana (.236), and marveled at how the football team of the flagship state university of the largest state by population in the Big Ten managed to be so terrible.

And I was going to write exactly that column on a Thursday night plane flight that week...until I opened up the SkyMall Magazine, and discovered a cornucopia of items that were more interesting, useful, relevant, and effective than Illinois football in the B1G.  For example (all items found below are quite literally available at SkyMall):

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"We've got to play the type of defense you have to play in the Big Ten Conference."

- Ron Zook

I. Case History/Opening Statement

A. Case History

Ron Zook is nothing if not resilient.  After a 5-7 season in 2008 and a 3-9 season in 2009, Zook miraculously managed to keep his job at Illinois, but not without being ordered to overhaul his entire coaching staff.  A grateful Zook obliged, bringing in offensive coordinator Paul Petrino, quarterbacks coach Jeff Brohm and defensive coordinator Vic Koenning from Arkansas, FIU, and Kansas State respectively.  Anytime you mess with the chemistry of a tightly-knit coaching staff you run the risk of disaster, but somehow, someway, the gamble paid off for the Illini in 2010.  To be sure, a 7-6 season isn't a cause for celebration in Champaign-Urbana, but it's a solid step in the right direction for a team that looked and played as decently as it has since a 9-4 Rose Bowl campaign in 2007.

Sure, there were impressive wins (Penn State, Northwestern), and humbling losses (Minnesota, Fresno State), but the spirit of the 2010 Illini can't be expressed in such simple metrics.  This was a team that maintained the offensive production of the Juice Williams/Arrelious Benn era, while fielding a legitimately-threatening defense.  Even more impressive is the fact that they did it without a palpable passing attack or pass rush.

As I wrote in the Illinois Cocktail Party Preview in May, the Illini really know how to get it done on the ground, with Top 5 rushing attacks in the B1G since 2006.  Not so much in the air.  Illinois has ranked in the bottom 2 in conference for passing yards four out of the last five seasons.

Gone are Mikel Leshoure, Corey Liuget, Clay Nurse, Martez Wilson, Nate Bussey, Jarred Fayson, and Eddie McGee, but there's reason to believe that maybe, just maybe, the 2011 Illini have got what it takes to shake things up a bit in the Leaders Division.

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After the mess of 2000, it made sense that someone would rise up and grab the league in 2001. We just didn't think it would be the Illini. With an incredibly powerful offense, and a just good enough defense, Illinois stormed through the non-conference, and only dropped a game at MIchigan. At 10-1 (7-1), this was the best that Champaign had produced since 1983.

Unfortunately, the bowl result would be reminiscent of 1983 as well. With the Rose Bowl hosting the National Title game, Illinois was an available team. This would be the first year since 1945 that the Big Ten would not send a team to Pasadena. Illinois was selected to face SEC Champion LSU. In the Sugar Bowl. Facing a virtual home crowd, the Illini got behind early and could never quite get back into the game, falling 47-34.

And though they weren't a conference member yet...

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Some teams get lost. This is one that shouldn't have.

Illinois made a bit of noise the year before. Mike White led the Illini to the Liberty Bowl, where they lost to Alabama in the last game Bear Bryant coached. The next year was special.

After a loss at Missouri to start the season (because Illinois should never play Mizzou in football), Illinois knocked off Stanford. They then won the league. But that doesn't say enough. Illinois hosted #4 Iowa and beat them 33-0. Two weeks later, they beat #6 Ohio State. Two weeks after that, they beat #8 Michigan. By the time the season was done, Illinois was 10-1 (9-0) and #4 in the country. As of today, this is the only Big Ten team to ever win 9 conference games (we'll see if that changes this year).

So why does this team not get recognized among the best? The Rose Bowl. Illinois traveled to Pasadena, where they met a 6-4-1 UCLA squad that was deservedly unranked. Illinois lost 45-9. It was uglier than that. 

Illinois. You put me in a happy state. Why? Because just like a potluck, you never know what you'll bring to the table.

There will be years, seemingly coming out from nowhere, where you'll pop with 10 wins and a league title. There will be seasons of follow up where you drop to near nothing. As I said in last year's Opening Statement, Illinois is the only team in college football to go to 2 BCS Bowls and have 5 seasons with 3 or fewer wins in the last ten years.

Even within a season, it's to be expected that you'll have an unexpected result. In your Rose Bowl run of 2007, there was still the baffling loss to a non-bowl Iowa. The following year, losing-record Illinois punked 9-win Iowa. You just never know what you're getting if someone brings you a plate of orange and blue. Enough with that. Let's eat.

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There was a comment earlier this week that, at OTE, we just walk around saying "LOL Ron Zook LOL," essentially saying we don't take a more nuanced look at Zook and the Illinois program. Some truth to it, I would agree, but the Illini have the tendency to be a pretty easy team to figure out. Take a look at the last few years - 

2007 - Rose Bowl! Rejoice! Young Quarterback!

2008 - High expectations, playmakers...Tremendous disappointment, lack of in-game management, misuse of Juice Williams, no bowl game.

2009 - QB Carousel, Zook takes his place on the hot seat, 3-9 record that prompted this comment from a reader when I gave Zook a "D" grade:

I just can’t understand the Zooker getting a passing grade. He was even a failure at his trademark recruiting this year. His team regressed in every possible aspect of the game. If there was ever a coaching job that deserved an F grade this was it.

2010 - Low low low expectations (the OTE staff's picks, averaged out, would have predicted 4-8), but thanks to a simpler offensive philosophy and some great defensive performances, the Illini picked up a winning season and a (gasp) bowl win.

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