Coming off a paltry 7-6 season with only two conference wins, Illinois athletic direct Mike Thomas is taking his first steps in generating fan support by lowering ticket prices for the upcoming season. Season tickets for sideline tickets are being reduced from $40 per game to roughly $32.86 per game. Individual conference game tickets are priced at $50 per game and non-conference games will sell for $25 per game. With a not so stellar home slate consisting of Western...
In Westwood, there is a new sheriff in town with UCLA Bruins head coach Jim L. Mora taking the reins of a once proud program. Mora stepped into the coaching spotlight when former head coach Rick Neuheisel was relieved of his duties after a four year stint with a paltry 21-28 overall record. Mora’s first act of change, dismissing three players for failing to meet the “standards that we expect every student-athlete to adhere to”. Redshirt sophomore defensive end...
Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly had an unprecedented 2011 campaign sweeping the trophy ranks going 4-4 in which he was named a finalist. The 6’3, 237 pound junior took home four of the nation’s top accolades for his superb individual efforts on-and-off the field. Last night, he completed the trophy sweep when he was honored with the Bronko Nagurski Trophy awarded to the nation’s top college defensive player. Kuechly beat out Penn State’s Devon Still, LSU’s Morris Claiborne, Alabama’s...
The Rotary Club of Houston announced the 12 semifinalists for the 42nd annual Rotary Lombardi Award (RLA) awarded to the best college football lineman or linebacker. There are eight defensive players and four offensive players who made this year’s cut. The RLA will be awarded on December 7, 2011 at the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas. Last year’s winner was Auburn’s Nick Fairley. Though there are no Auburn players on the list this year, the SEC does lead with...
Joe Paterno reached a historical milestone this evening by defeating Northwestern for his 408th career win tying the late legendary Grambling coach Eddie Robinson for total career victories. Penn State’s 34-24 win was in true Joe Paterno fashion who drew up a well balanced attack on offense and a suffocating run-stopping defense. The offense amassed 389 total yards with 192 yards in the air and 197 yards on the ground. Meanwhile, the defense stopped the Northwestern’s ground game holding both...
How is Ron Zook rewarded for turning in a 7-6 season and a Texas Bowl victory over Baylor…a $250,000.00 raise. Zook, who has been under the helm at Illinois since 2005 has compiled a paltry 28-45 overall record. In return, the University of Illinois wants to thank him by bumping his compensation package, upon board approval, in excess of $1.75 million dollars. After a 3-9 campaign in 2009, the Illini nation was sure Zook would be replaced. Instead, the...
Looking back before last season, the Big 10 failed miserably come post-season play. However, this season the Big 10 is looking very strong despite struggles from yester-year. On Tuesday, Iowa took down #12 Missouri 27-24 in the Insight Bowl and on Wednesday Illinois, surprising to some, dominated Baylor 38-14 in the Texas Bowl. The conference is starting to show that it is finally out of its slump and returning back to elite status. To the true fan, this turn-around...
Because watching Illinois and Northwestern play at historical Wrigley Field isn’t interesting enough, it looks like the powers-that-be are adding an additional twist to the game by utilizing only one end zone. Since a football field really isn’t designed to fit inside a baseball field, there is some safety concerns at Wrigley’s east end zone. The end zone in question is only feet away from the heavily padded right field wall which presents a potential hazard for players. Being this...
