Line is out, USC -13.5

Illinois will cover, methinks, but I'm waiting for the 14.

Illinois > Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, Auburn, Miss State, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Ole Miss

Illinois = Georgia

Illinois < LSU, Florida

Georgia has won 6 in a row (after loss to UT):

Vanderbilt
Florida
Troy
Auburn
Kentucky
Georgia Tech


Illinois has won 4 in a row (after losses to Iowa and Michigan):

Ball State
Minnesota
Ohio State
Northwestern

you got it. i can transfer on stars.

Georgia would destroy Illinois.
They are on a par with Auburn, UT, UK, maybe Arkansas

Georgia is overrated IMO. Illinois would stay with Georgia, for sure. I come to this conclusion by watching both teams many times this year.

of course I think LSU and Florida are better than Illinois

Illinois played better over their last 4 than any of the SEC though---you know, since Juice found a passing game as well

I thought the Arkansas comment was way out of line and responded


I respect UGA immensely. Ironically enough, there was a thread on insideillini after Illinois crushed N'western in the last game talking about a potential Outback or Capital One game verse Georgia. The Illini fanbase really wanted that game and were confident(over) about beating Georgia. The gap between those two teams is small. I expect both to be preseason top10 the next 2 seasons.

I've been saying this for a while. FWIW Georgia has never cracked the top 10 in the Sagarin predictor all season.

Also this is wrong. Not only is the Pac 10 >> Big 10, but USC had away games against the #2, #3, #6 and #8 teams in its conference, while Illinois had away games against the #1, #8, #9 and #11 teams in theirs.

you really give an edge to illini oline? i can't judge them since i havent seen anyhting outside of the tOSU game but USC, when healthy, has a scary-dominant offensive line.

i also again claim ignorance about the illini but Sedrick Ellis usually pushes the edge USCs way. the man is a monster.

This game is a joke. USC -13.5 is free money.

We got killed by injuries this year and they won't even give us a real team in the rose bowl. It will make winning it all next year that much more satisfying.

Sorry Troll, unless you want to give me something better than market value, I have no interest in betting USC. I had it capped at USC -12 before the line came out so I'd be on Illinois if anything given the current line.

You can have +13.5 at +100, which is above market value. I don't bet more than $100 on any game, but if you want that bet here, PM me.

seriously, ppl who are going for usc need to check their noggin...ill = free money $$$

I'm generally pretty down on the Big11/BE/ACC/Big12 vs. the PAC10/SEC, but there's no way anyone can seriously call USC's win vs. ASU bigger than Ill vs. OSU. ASU is an average PAC10 program that had a great year.

However, if the next best argument you have is a moral victory vs. Mizz, yikes! No excuses for losing home games, even with a 5th string QB. Also, the loss vs. Iowa was so ugly.

Still, USC is just not as explosive on O as they used to be. Sarkisian <<< Chow, and Booty <<< every previous QB Carroll has had. I'd probably take the points here, even though USC wins.

Um, going to pasadena ldo. 14 points? loooooooool

I just got back from camping out to get tickets - had a blast.

It was freezing cold, but tents helped and Coach Zook and Juice/Tez/a few others brought us donuts in the morning.

Overall I was outside for 10 hours in below freezing weather and haven't slept in like 20 hours, but it was worth it even though I really didn't need to camp out. Kudos to Coach Zook for showing his fans some appreciation and the thumbs-up he gave me as I flashed my 1984 Rose Bowl Jersey with the roses on the sleeves.


I am sooooo looking forward to this long roadtrip out to Cali. I don't care about the outcome of the game but anyone who thinks we don't have a shot, please look at the Ohio St. game OK THANKS.... Go Illini baby.

MIzzou was neutral site with about 65% Mizzou fans.

And man, with a view that harsh, how much are you down on USC for the Stanford game?

Nice work. I hope we travel well. I put my order in on the web and then went to bed in my nice warm house :P Flight, hotel, rental car all booked!

That said, I don't really expect to win this game. I like our team, but why do we always have to play away games? (Sugar bowl vs LSU sucked).

I never do sports betting, but I would like to do it for this game. The line right now means basically that USC is 13.5(or whatever the line is right now) points better than U of I? So are their people taking bets that U of I will lose by less than 13.5 points?

how much did you get tickets for there? my buddies sister works for stubhub so we were gettin tickets through her and the price we're gettin it is $325. so how much am i overpaying because they were too lazy to get off their ass and sit in line?

135. For certain sections i dont remember them off hand. I believe it was 1 ticket per season ticket holder. My buddy just paid $25 extra dollars for someone to get them for him. No one got the tickets yet just vouchers i believe (but you just exchange them). I am trying to convince him to sell them on Ebay and buy a Xbox360 for the room (we already have 3 wiis and a ps3 lol).

There is no doubt that the Illini will travel well

that and the tv ratings is why Illinois got picked


Illinois could fill a 50k allotment for the Rose Bowl

Because we're clearly talking about that in this thread. You're defensive before anything is even said.

135 (plus $5 fees) for online purchases through the U of I as well. I'm a season ticket holder and (minor) donator, so I can purchase 4. At this point I basically am in line via the points system that they use to award tickets, which is bases on years with season tickets and $$$$ donated. I think I was around #580 this summer, so I don't anticipate any problems.

I bought 4 tickets hoping to ebay two of them for profit...but now it sounds like 2 friends want to go. Works for me!

Hoping idiot SC fans continue to pile on that line. I'd really like it to be 14. But considering the number of people here who've said that, methinks this line'll stick at 13. I usually go to the Rose Bowl every year, but after watching SC throttle Michigan last year I wasn't too keen on going this year. Having 2TDs and a +400 bet on Illinois will make it worth it. SO GROW LINE GROW!!!