Saturday, October 23, 2010

Coming Home

The Illini football team will play their third Homecoming game in a row today. They spoiled the day at Penn State, but after a very tough 30 minutes at Michigan State, the home team took control for the type of Homecoming Spartan alumni expected.

Today the Illini welcome their own alumni for Homecoming weekend in Champaign. The Hoosiers are in town to challenge Coach Zook's team.

This has been a challenging game for the Illini in recent years. And Indiana's offense has the potential to take off. Their passing game has been impressive against weaker defenses. The Illini defense has improved significantly over last season, but Indiana will test the secondary, which is the most vulnerable piece of Vic Koenning's unit.

But, as seen in the past couple weeks, Indiana's defense can be porous. If Mikel LeShoure, Jason Ford and Nathan Scheelhaase get the Illini running game going, they can take control. And that would make coming home much more fun.

Coming home...Memorial Stadium does feel like a touch of home for Illini alums and fans. A stately stadium, the horseshoe seats in the south endzone, the bright orange I on the 50-yard-line, cheers of I-L-L I-N-I ringing through the air, shallow steps that lead to any seat in the stadium, the Block I and the marching Illini feel familiar to any alum who had student season tickets. Yes, there have been (relatively recent) changes with the student section and block I in the north end zone and the press box high on the west side of the field, but it's still home.

So, boys, let's see you take on Indiana with confidence, run them out past the South Farms, and treat Illini Nation to a victorious Homecoming.

Go Illini!

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# posted by Alma Mater : 8:55 AM


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