Rose Bowl

BOWL BLOG: Rose Bowl live blog

0:38 2nd quarter Reda makes good on his second attempt of the game from 28 yards out. While points are points, the Illini needed a touchdown. 1:26 2nd quarter The Illini faithful give a sarcastic cheer, and then a genuine one on consecutive passes to Jeff Cumberland.

12/30/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
BOWL BLOG: The OJ Simpson van is too big, free bagels and moose hunting

We have been busy with media events all day. I'll try to give everyone the 'inside scoop' of what went down on our second day of Los Angeles adventure from the perspective of a football-illiterate photographer.

Six a.m. came early, but we stumbled to our white, 12-passenger van by 6:30.

12/30/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
<b>Column:</b> Don't expect Illinois to lay down and die; they haven't yet

I ain't rollin' over and dyin', Billy Madison once said. Come Jan. 1, don't expect the Illini to, either. Already 13-point underdogs and written off by likely everyone outside Champaign, the Illini really have a much better chance in this game than everyone seems to think they do.

12/12/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
Illini look for first Rose Bowl win since '64

If the Illini are to win their first Rose Bowl since 1964, they're going to have to knock off Pete Carroll's perennial Pac-10 champions.

Illinois head coach Ron Zook was quick to praise the USC Trojans, calling them one of the best teams in the nation. He voted USC fourth in his most recent top-25 ballot, behind only Ohio State, LSU and Oklahoma.

12/12/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
Big Ten tradition wins out in Rose Bowl

ster was even born the last time the Illini went to the Rose Bowl - and he's a 24-year-old freshman. Defensive back Bo Flowers was not even two months old when the Illini played in the 1984 Rose Bowl against UCLA. But now a whole new generation will have the opportunity to see the Illini play in the "Granddaddy of Them All.

12/12/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
The difference maker

Ron Zook said it best during his press conference following the BCS announcement that sent Illinois, a team that went a combined 4-19 the previous two seasons, to the Rose Bowl.

"What a difference three years makes," the coach said, as his quarterback - his prized recruit from Chicago - sat smelling his rose, and his senior middle linebacker sat a few feet away with his red rose clenched between his teeth.

12/12/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
Beneath the headset

Ron Zook, Illinois If finishing out the regular season 9-3 wasn't enough to buck the moniker of a "recruiting" coach, for Ron Zook, taking his team to the Rose Bowl likely will be. Since his turbulent years at Florida, Zook has had to deal with the stigma of being a great recruiter, but not as good with the X's and O's of the game.

12/12/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
<b>Column:</b> After six long years, Fighting Illini football team is unbelieva-bowl

On Jan. 1, the Fighting Illini will take on USC in the Rose Bowl. Wait, let me say that again. The Illini are going to the Rose Bowl. The Illini are going to the Rose Bowl. I've been a student here since 2002. I gave up hope after the team went 13-45 between then and last season.

12/12/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
Faithful students to caravan across country

The school bus that will be carrying some Illini fans to Pasadena this year was brand new the last time Illinois was in the Rose Bowl.

Jacob Shulkin, senior in Engineering, and Andrew Werner, sophomore in Business, and a group of their friends, are calling themselves the "Rose Bowl Roadies.

12/12/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
<b>Column:</b> We're a basketball school? Don't tell that to Ron Zook

Three years ago, you could've filled Memorial Stadium with the people that wanted to go to Illini basketball games. As fans were perennially being turned away from sold-out Assembly Halls, football was lacking town and campus support. And deservedly so. Since Lou Henson's Flyin' Illini, Illinois basketball has been decidedly more successful, and more entertaining, than almost anything put on the field by John Mackovic, Lou Tepper or Ron Turner.

12/12/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
Nightmare Pasadena trip taints dream season

The 1984 Rose Bowl game was supposed to serve as an exclamation point on the historic season compiled by the Illinois football team. Instead, the events of the day yielded a huge question mark.

What happened?

In one of the ugliest and most lopsided games in the history of the Rose Bowl, UCLA thrashed the Fighting Illini 45-9.

12/12/2007 - 12:00 AM    Post your comment
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