Asmussen: Bowl problems for Illini
MINNEAPOLIS — Could it happen? Could a team that opened the season 6-0 not reach a bowl game?
Absolutely.
The Illinois football team made history Saturday. In a bad way. In Ron Zook's possible Illinois finale, the team dropped its sixth consecutive game.
Straight into bowl limbo. Or worse.
There are 70 bowl slots that need to be filled, including eight that go to Big Ten schools. That number jumps to nine for Jim Delany's favorite league if it lands a second BCS berth. And it should, with Michigan moving to 10-2 in one of the feel-good stories of the season. The Sugar, which will lose its usual SEC host to the national title game, appears to be a likely destination for the Wolverines.
The winner of Saturday's Wisconsin-Michigan State rematch in the Big Ten title game will represent the conference in the Rose Bowl. The loser drops down the conference's bowl pecking order a slot or two, possibly to the Outback.
That leaves the Big Ten with six other bowl slots to fill, in order: Capital One, Insight, Gator, Meineke Car Care of Texas, TicketCity and Little Caesars.
After Purdue's win Saturday against Indiana, the Big Ten has 10 bowl-eligible schools.
Going into Saturday's night games, there were 69 bowl-eligible teams with a chance for seven more in the next eight days. Two of the bowl-eligible teams are 6-6 schools in non-BCS leagues.
The question is how would the Big Ten's bowl partners treat Illinois. With the unprecedented six losses after six wins, the Illini won't be an easy team to invite.
First-year Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas is trying to find a landing spot for his team. He said Saturday that he spent most of his time in Cancun working the phones with bowl executives, both those tied to the Big Ten and those who aren't.
Little Caesars executive director Ken Hoffman, reached late Saturday, said: "Illinois is a Big Ten team. Any Big Ten team is attractive."
There has been talk about Penn State opting out of a bowl because of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. But multiple bowl officials have said they expect the Nittany Lions to be part of the Big Ten lineup.
Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State, Iowa and Ohio State all will be picked before Illinois. What happens with the final three for the two remaining Big Ten spots?
The TicketCity Bowl had Northwestern in its inaugural game, so the Wildcats are out. Purdue has won its way into the bowl, owns a win against Illinois and beat Ohio State. The Boilermakers make sense in Dallas.
That would leave the Little Caesars with Northwestern or Illinois as options. Hoffman said the selection committee hasn't met to decide on its team.
The Illinois players didn't sound like they were sure about a bowl. Not after a 27-7 loss that saw the offense gain 160 yards, most after the outcome was no longer in doubt.
"Right now, we don't even know," senior receiver A.J. Jenkins said. "It's kind of frustrating."
"That bowl game isn't guaranteed," Illinois cornerback Tavon Wilson said. "I just wanted to end on a positive note. Obviously, it didn't work out that way. We just hope and pray that we get into a bowl game."
The bowl wasn't the only thing on the minds of the Illinois players. They expressed concern about the future of their coaches.
"I support Coach Zook," quarterback Reilly O'Toole said. "I love him. He's one of the main reasons I came here. I love the whole coaching staff."
"I just know whoever picks up Coach (Paul) Petrino is going to be very lucky," Jenkins said. "He's a great coach. I wouldn't trade him for the world. He's changed my career around."
"I love my coaches," Illinois bandit Michael Buchanan said. "I'm still very confident in the system we have in and the players that we have. I think we have a lot to build on."
"I want all the coaches here for next year," Wilson said.
It will be an anxious time for the Illinois players. They don't want a new staff.
"It is overwhelming to think about," Scheelhaase said. "These are guys you have come to know, come to love."
"We have no idea what's going on," Illinois defensive end Whitney Mercilus said. "We just hear the buzz. Whatever happens in the future is whatever happens. It's not our decision."
"The more you think about it, the more anxious you get," Illinois linebacker Jonathan Brown said. "I try not to think about it."
Zook said he doesn't know what will happen today. The players have the day off other than those who need medical treatment. Zook has his weekly teleconference scheduled for 3 p.m.
"There's nothing really I can say," Zook said. "I have not talked to Mike (Thomas). The things that have gotten back to me is that when the season is over, he would evaluate it. I'm sure that's what he's doing right now. And I'm sure that when he feels that the time's right, he'll talk to me."
Does Zook think he has done enough to continue?
"It doesn't matter what I think," Zook said. "It's up to what they think. I think this program is on very, very solid footing, and I think there's a pretty good team coming back."
Interesting article. I guess I've finally received an answer to my post from last week to the article "Wisconsin 28, UI 17: Just the facts". The Illini are *not* guaranteed a bowl bid. If the coaches thought this going into this game, how could've the Illini possibly turned in such a lackluster performance?
Illinois doesn't deserve any bowl and it would be a travesty if they were taken "just because they're a Big Ten team". I am flabbergasted by the player's outpouring of love for Zook and the other coaches. If they loved them so much, why didn't they play for them. Most of the team must have stayed on the plane and didn't make it to the football field as 2-9 Minnesota embarrassed and steamrolled Illinois. You don't play half heartedly and lose 6 games in a row if you love, respect and care about your coaches. Or want to preserve their jobs. It was crystal clear and obvious Illinois players for the most part DON'T CARE about their coaches.
The players love the coaches because the players feel they are in charge and they are, just think about Zook's demeanor the past 4 games going through the motions without any emotion. Zook realizes that starting with Florida and continuing on to the Illini he has been promoted beyond his professional competency. Zook has allowed the tail to wag the dog. Winning 25% of a conference schedule does not and should not be rewarded and I agree with you regarding the "just because they're a Big Ten team" maybe the solution from the NCAA should be (1) Fewer Bowl games and (2) over all record of a minimum 7-5 with an above .500 conference record to be bowl eligable.
Can Ilinois afford to sack Zook? A two year buyout will cost $1.3 Million a year. Then there are the Assistants with multi-year contracts. What is the tab for cutting them loose? What will Illinois have to pay to attract a top level replacement? The economic reality is that firing Zook does not make economic sense no matter how loud the fandom shrieks. It is a strong argument for the stability that Loren Tate pointed out is the core of Wisconsin's success.
Coachs don't play ball. They are not on the field. The players are on the field. The difference between the two halves of the season can be summed up in two words: turnovers and penalties. Those resulted from failure to execute not from coaching failures.
The "Coaches don't play" is a really weak and tired excuse. As others have pointed out, for a team that knew that its head coach's job was on the line and that they probably also needed to win to insure a bowl bid, that was one truly uninspired performance. Did Coach Kill have better players on the field? I don't think so and yet the Gophers came out fired up and didn't just beat but humiliated the Illini.
You feel that coaching had no part in that performance?
A good program needs more than just consistency. Is relatively easy to be consistently bad.
As for the money, paying out the buy outs may well end up being the better financial course. It's expensive too if no one fills the seats in Memorial Stadium.
I'm happy to hear that the defensive coordinator Vic Koenning has been named the interim coach. He has done a fine job with the defense. It's too bad that the rest of the team hasn't improved as much.
In my life time, Illnois football has only had and I'm not for sure maybe 10 winning season and I'm 55yrs old. You people act like these kids are making money, they get beat up every week, go to class, have no money, and the fans want to dog them out because a young man did'nt make them happy! This is why you can't get the good players from Illinois, who wants to go though all of that? No matter what coaches they have, they still won't get the blue chippers from in state. I live in SEC & ACC territory the fans down here don't criticize they players or coaches they way Illini fans do. I remember the way the fans treated Lou Henson, wanted him to be like Bobby Knight, they forgot about the "SLUSH FUND"! Name the Assembly Hall basketball court after Lou Henson! And let the "Chief" die, he out lived his time! Atlanta GA.
Week after week, for six weeks, we've read comments from the Illini about how much they love their coaches. If those are genuine comments, then, why have the Illini continued to play so poorly? To lose a game because the other team is more talented is one thing. But, during this long six week trail of tears, the team has appeared uninspired, listless, unfocused and uncaring. the players say the right things, before and after each game, yet, it's almost as though another group actually takes the field.
As a long-time alum, I've suffered through the days of Valek, Tepper, et.al. , but I don't think I've ever seen a UofI team as unmotivated as this one.
I think there are better teams out there that deserve a chance to play in a bowl. If Illinois goes, it will be more for financial reasons then how the team has played. I also think this team is very lucky to be 6 - 6. With the loss of talented players from last year, they are only at that number of wins because they played so many games at home, and had a fairly weak early schedule.
As for Coach Zook, since 2005, this team has only 2 winning seasons (counting last year's bowl season) against 4 losing seasons and then this year's debacle. It's time to find someone else to coach this team.
What is the AD Thomas waiting for? It would seem at this point Illinois should not be chosen for a bowl game and probably won't. Already 1 coach Urban Meyer seems headed for Ohio State. How many other coaching prospects are going to take jobs before Illinois get started? Time is a factor at this time of the year to get the best prospects both coaching and players.
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