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By Sara Normand
The Ultimate College Football Roadtrip or the Halloween celebration at Ohio University in Athens? Tough decision, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Free tickets, paid hotel, and $200 spending money courtesy of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Dad and I were off to Champaign, Illinois, and Memorial Stadium, where fans were still living in the glory of the Fighting Illini’s run to the 2005 NCAA basketball final and of the Chicago White Sox, who claimed their first championship since 1917 on Wednesday. But of Illini football? Not so much. “Every time we have a home game we get beat,” said one fan of the Big Ten’s 2-5 cellar-dwellers, and he was right. The city of Champaign was still trying to recover from the previous week’s game, when No. 11 Penn State drilled Illinois 63-10 at home and legendary Nittany Lions’ coach Joe Paterno’s got his 350th career win. The Illini faced no less of a challenge this week in the ESPN-televised game in which they faced another renowned coach and first-place team in the conference—Barry Alvarez and the Wisconsin Badgers.
Dad and I got to campus on game-day at seven a.m. for the tailgating, which to our surprise, was well up and running. Live bands, DJs and a couple of rides made me feel like I was at an orange circus, and because orange is my favorite color, that was fine by me. The fan support and hype over this last-place team was utterly shocking, but this loyalty is representative of the entire university. After all, the first line of their Alma Mater song is, “We’re loyal to you Illinois.”
52,128 people packed the stands on Dad’s Day looking to give the winningest coach in Badgers history a final taste of The Orange before he retires at the end of the year and give No.15 Wisconsin its second loss of the season. But the best seats in the house belonged to my dad and me—first row, 25-yard-line, right behind the Illini bench. We were even close enough to hear what head coach Ron Zook was yelling about.
At first it seemed as though the outcome was going to be the same as last week for the Illini as the Badgers went up 13-0 quickly. However, Illini junior quarterback Tim Brasic’s 62-yard pass to Jason Davis set up a Melvin Bryant touchdown, and Jason Reda kicked a 23-yard field goal later in the second quarter before Wisconsin led 20-10 at the half, a respectable score for Illinois.
At halftime, the band members and cheerleaders had a special routine that involved their dads dancing alongside them on the field, which was quite a funny scene. Also, Chief Illiniwek came out to mid-field and performed a touching tribute to the Algonquin tribes that once lived in the region, marking the 80th year of this treasured Illinois tradition.
In the second half, a blocked Illini punt and several penalties prevented them from getting any momentum, and Wisconsin took over, never giving up a lead. They have one player to thank for that. Heisman Trophy candidate and Badger running back Brian Calhoun put on a dazzling show, totaling five touchdowns and 197 yards. However, it was somewhat of a moral victory for the Illini, refusing to be embarrassed two weeks in a row. For Illinois, the most impressive was Brasic, who passed for 277 yards and two touchdowns. Oh yeah, he also led the team with 116 rushing yards. Not too shabby, but it was Wisconsin over Illinois 41-24.
While Halloween in Athens is an experience in itself, it couldn’t compete with what really turned out to be the ultimate college football road trip and most especially, the bonding I shared with my best friend—my dad—on, coincidentally, good old Dad’s Day.
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