Illinois plays Michigan (#2) at home tonight
Tip-Off: 7 PM
TV: FS1
If there’s one thing that could make this season salvageable in any way (besides recruiting), it would be to topple Michigan at home tonight.
Here’s the thing about playing a team with a fan/alumni base who non-ironically refers to themselves as the “Harvard of the Midwest” or the “Leaders and the Best”: no matter how bad we are, a victory over them feels intangibly sweeter than any other. In a season devoid of bright spots, this could be a defining bright spot.
Plus it feels similar to when we took down Indiana (#1) in 2013. The line for that game, per Derek Piper, was Illinois +7. The Illini are 9-point underdogs tonight. Lest we forget:
Just saying.
Listen to The Champaign Room‘s preview podcast here.
No matter what happens tonight, we’ll always have this picture:

Golden Corral is coming
Champaign-Urbana (and specifically C-U’s internet community) has been obsessed with getting a Golden Corral for a while, with questions about it dominating Tom’s Mailbag at The News-Gazette for what feels like millennia. It’s been a pretty strange
Today, however, is a new dawn for the Champaign-Urbana buffet game.
Congrats, buffet lovers (I never thought I would type that sentence). At long last, your fight has paid off.
(Ben Zigterman / The News-Gazette)
You should volunteer at Allerton Park
Someone mercifull put a stop to the shrieking Northwestern fan
(Teddy Greenstein / Chicago Tribune)
Too little, too late for Illini fans.
Listen to this shit. It
Manzella’s got hit by a car
The chicken parmesan is still delicious, though. Happy to see that no one was hurt.
(Mary Schenk / News-Gazette)
The Khans are the lead investor in new pro wrestling league, All Elite Wrestling
C-U resident, Flex-n-Gate founder and Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan, and his son
Tight, I guess?
(Patrick Singer / Smile Politely)