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CHAMPAIGN – Don't know why, and it isn't 100 percent true, but two things likely to happen in any Illini football season are (1) they'll play their best against Ohio State and (2) they'll leave the Northwestern game wondering what happened.

Going back 24 games, Illinois has won 11 and lost 13 vs. Ohio State, while winning 11 and losing 13 to Northwestern. Identical! Your brain will ache if you try to figure it out.

So this week, the Illini travel to the site of their most triumphant gridiron moments. The Horseshoe! Home of Woody Hayes. A raging crowd of 106,000. Illinois has won seven times in the last 10 trips and, considering Ohio State's historical advantages – resources, talent and emphasis – there is nothing in recent UI sports to match this run in Columbus.

When the Illini tennis team won the NCAA crown, it was not unexpected. When the 2005 cagers reached the Final Four, they were ranked No. 1. Those teams didn't overachieve. The talent was there.

As Ohio State's record indicates – 30 Big Ten titles and 15 runners-up in 75 seasons since 1934 – Illinois seldom takes the field with talent equal to the Buckeyes. But emotion and strategies come into play and, in a striking number of occasions, events happened recently in this series to put the visitors over the hump. These are events that never seem to happen in the Missouri series, that infrequently occur in the last half-century against Michigan.

Following are the UI's lucky seven.

1988: UI 31, OSU 12 – Illinois hadn't won in Columbus since 1967 when, in 1988, John Mackovic's club caught the Buckeyes in their only sub-.500 season in the last 42 years. Ohio State led 12-10 in the fourth quarter even as Buckeye Pat O'Morrow missed three field goals, whereupon Jeff George and Howard Griffith brought the visitors charging back. But the big play was a fumbled Buckeye punt that Pat Donnelly recovered in the end zone for an Illini TD.

1990: UI 31, OSU 20 – Jason Verduzco fired two TD passes, but the shocker came in the fourth quarter after Illinois crept ahead 24-20. Mel Agee blocked a punt, Mike Poloskey picked it up and flipped it (arguably an illegal forward lateral) to Quinton Parker, who raced into the end zone.

1992: UI 18, OSU 16 – Jeff Kinney got the best of rival quarterback Kirk Herbstreit when Chris Richardson booted a game-winning field goal after the Buckeyes missed. But the play that inspired a fifth consecutive defeat of Ohio State came early when Illini Jeff Arneson created a Buckeye fumble and raced 96 yards to score.

1994: UI 24, OSU 10 – Linebacker Dana Howard sent UI coach Lou Tepper up a tree by predicting an Illini victory, and pulled it off with 14 tackles and an interception at the UI 5-yard line that turned into a 55-yard turnaround when he lateraled to the speedier Antwoine Patton. Amazing, isn't it, how often journeyman UI safeties came up big in these games ... Donnelly, Mark Kelly (MVP in 1988), Parker, Arneson and Patton.

1999: UI 46, OSU 20 – Kurt Kittner passed Ohio State dizzy, the Illini scoring twice in the final minute of halftime when Antoineo Harris stripped the ball from Ken-Yon Rambo at the 1-yard line on a kickoff. The Illini scored half their points in that uproarious second quarter.

2001: UI 34, OSU 22 – Illinois trailed 22-21 in the fourth quarter when Dwayne Smith blocked a Buckeye punt and Jamaal Clark took it over for the touchdown. To cap it off, linebacker Ty Myers intercepted an Ohio State pass and ran it in.

2007: UI 28, OSU 21 – Ohio observers complain, as it showed in TV reviews, that Daniel Dufrene's fumble at the end of his early 80-yard run should have been a touchback. But they don't have an explanation for Juice Williams' four TD passes, three UI interceptions and the UI's best-ever non-scoring drive that ate up the last eight minutes. Ohio State entered the game as No. 1 and hadn't lost in 29 regular season games.

Opportunity knocks

Laterals, interceptions, blocked kicks, officiating oversights, fumble recoveries, Illini field goals after the Buckeyes missed ... the Illini were opportunistic on those special occasions and prevailed. Not that these featured plays are altogether unusual, but Illinois benefited in this series in ways that haven't happened in competition with other teams.

What about Saturday?

We are reminded that Ohio State gained revenge in 2008 by a clearcut 30-20 margin even as Illinois led in first downs 25-16. There is something about Ohio State's style that often allows Illinois to hang close enough to make the fourth quarter interesting. Ohio critics of Jim Tressel and, before him, John Cooper, call it a tendency toward conservatism. The outcries escalated in the opening 31-27 win against Navy (which lost 27-14 to Pitt on Saturday) and the 18-15 loss to Southern Cal. Critics held their tongues after Saturday's 38-0 shutout of Toledo in Cleveland. Terrelle Pryor, who attempted 10 passes at Illinois last November (no wonder Tressel is called conservative), not only broke loose with 17 completions for 262 yards Saturday but ran for another 110.

"Toledo likes to spread and run a hurry-up offense with quick throws," Tressel said Tuesday, "but we were able to handle their tempo by taking charge early, and we controlled the ball so that our defense was only on the field for 23 minutes. We got ahead and never looked back."

Comparisons have been made between Pryor and the UI's Williams since both are considered runners first. Said UI coach Ron Zook of Pryor:

"To imitate him in practice, we'd need an offensive lineman with the speed of Justin Green (UI halfback). He'll get his yards. We just have to give up as few as possible. If you're a competitor, you love to compete against the best."

Remind me, when Northwestern comes calling Nov. 14, to mention that, if you're a competitor, you compete against everybody.

Loren Tate writes for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at ltate@news-gazette.com.