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CHAMPAIGN – Every accepted challenge carries with it risks. There are no sure things. As we've discovered along the way, some high-percentage gambles reach up and bite you.

For the Illini, the St. Louis venture has worked in basketball. Since 1980, Missouri has taken it on the chin in 20 of 29 contests, making it a worthwhile and uplifting venture for the UI. At one point, Mizzou coach Norm Stewart, who carried considerable influence on the Columbia campus, sought to cancel the series. He was overruled. The traditional pre-Christmas game had become THAT BIG.

So it seemed logical, with the Illini striving to make hay in the St. Louis market, to embark on a football series. As that winds down Saturday, we look back and find the benefits – great early-season exposure, a $1 million-plus guarantee, an easy late-summer trip for UI fans with weather no factor in the dome – outweighed by negatives stemming from the Illini's inability to compete favorably with a supposedly comparable rival.

Twice, as critics point out, 5-7 UI teams in 2002 and 2008 fell short of a bowl bid when, if they had played (and defeated) a patsy, they would have qualified at 6-6. And last year's fifth straight UI loss in the Edward Jones Dome was so decisive (37-9) that the team appeared dazed in a 1-6 start.

So Ron Guenther, needing a seventh home game to satisfy backers in Memorial Stadium's premium seats, called it off ... and Missouri, also eager for more home games, was agreeable because the Tigers already have a neutral-site contest against Kansas.

What we now look back on is a good idea gone bad. And the Illini apparently are taking the position that if you can't beat somebody, and you have the option, don't play them.

What's the rush?

All this fuss over the depleted Illini secondary – losing Supo Sanni and Terry Hawthorne on consecutive days – overlooks the fact that, if Blaine Gabbert's passes are going to be neutralized, it begins with the pass rush.

In the recent past, this aspect has been as much to blame as erratic defensive backfield play. Referring to new coordinator Vic Koenning, middle linebacker Martez Wilson says:

"We have a new defensive system that allows us to attack. Coach will definitely be sending me in the blitz package. Our schemes will allow me to get to the quarterback. Previously, I came off the edge, but now it's more of a vertical rush."

Wilson said his neck "feels great" from surgery that followed his nine-tackle opener against Missouri last year. Exceptionally fast for his size (6-4, 250), he seems more serious than the highly touted freshman who found himself in a reserve role on the 2007 Rose Bowl team. He has had only one season as a starter. Saturday's game marks the one-year anniversary of his injury.

"I stay humble, but I have big goals because I have big dreams," Wilson said. "We want to start 1-0, not 0-1. My season goals are 100 tackles, a sack per game, two or three interceptions and four forced fumbles.

"For the team, it is all about coming together. This year we are all our brother's keeper. We help each other. We're dark horses, so they better expect the unexpected. If we compete like we did in 2007, we can have a great season."

It is, of course, all talk today. Saturday will be "put up or shut up." Will Wilson begin to reach his potential? Will ends Michael Buchanan and Clay Nurse be able to penetrate? Will Koenning's schemes reverse a trend that saw Illinois give up 362 points in a 3-9 season?

"In 2007, we lost to Missouri but we competed hard (a 40-34 loss) after Juice Williams got hurt," Wilson said. "If we compete like that, we can have a great season. The last two were more like blowouts. We can't let that happen."

A perfect fit

Illinois could hardly have come out better in the Big Ten's 2011 divisional alignment. Count the ways:

– Landing in the same sextet with nearby Purdue and Indiana is a positive, which wouldn't have happened in a geographical east-west arrangement.

– Northwestern becomes the permanent cross-division rival, another positive. Illinois may not be able to beat the Wildcats, who have won six of the last seven meetings, but the UI is at no disadvantage from a recruiting standpoint. I mean, isn't NU-Evanston better than drawing NU-Lincoln (as Penn State did) as the permanent rival from the other division?

– Instead of opening next year's Big Ten schedule against Ohio State and Penn State, which was announced prior to Nebraska joining, the Illini will open against Northwestern and Indiana. Furthermore, the Illini won't have to play strong Nebraska and Iowa teams in the next two years, and their only road games in the first eight next year are at Indiana and Purdue.

– Ohio State certainly will be favored in the continuation of the Illibuck series, but this matchup carries great significance for UI fans dating back through the Woody Hayes era, and Illinois frequently has played its best game against the Buckeyes. In the last 25 games, dating to the UI's perfect Big Ten run in 1983, OSU has a modest 14-11 edge in the series. Ten of the 11 Illini wins came against OSU teams ranked in the Top 25, including the 2007 triumph against the nation's top-ranked team.

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