A lot of people in SEC nation have been saying it.
It wasn’t 9-3 Alabama that might’ve had an trustworthy probability to go all the best way within the College Football Playoff. It wasn’t 9-3 Ole Miss, both.
It was 9-3 South Carolina, which was taking part in lights-out ball — proper up there with Texas and Georgia, for certain — because the common season ended.
When it takes the sphere Tuesday towards the Gamecocks within the Citrus Bowl (2 p.m., Ch. 7), Illinois, additionally 9-3, could have its fingers greater than full. The Gamecocks completed fifteenth within the playoff rankings (14th AP), to the Illini’s twentieth (twenty first AP), however a double-digit level unfold speaks extra clearly to the perceived hole between these groups.
Buzz concerning the Gamecocks grew steadily over their final seven video games. The primary of these was a 27-25 loss at Alabama, when 4 turnovers by the guests — who outgained the Crimson Tide and pushed them round a lot — couldn’t be overcome. After that, nothing however “Ws.” The Gamecocks blew the doorways off Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. They received at playoff-bound Clemson. They went from 3-3 to, “Get a load of us.”
Two of their greatest gamers received’t be in uniform at Tenting World Stadium. Main rusher Raheim Sanders and dominant cross rusher Kyle Kenard, who received the Nagurski Trophy because the nation’s prime defensive participant, have opted out, as did Illinois’ greatest participant, extensive receiver Pat Bryant.
However the greatest star on both group shall be on the market, and that’s Gamecocks quarterback LaNorris Sellers. The SEC freshman of the yr is constructed like a linebacker — he’s 6-3, 242 — however throws and runs so nicely that many already think about him one of many favorites for subsequent season’s Heisman Trophy. Consider Alabama’s Jalen Milroe — or, heck, Justin Fields — solely with much more weight and power behind the shoulder pads.
“I noticed one play towards Clemson the place it was like a cartoon,” Illini security Miles Scott stated. “4 dudes had been on prime of him, and he simply escaped out of it and ran for like 30 years after. So he’s positively an issue. A variety of the quarterbacks we’ve seen are proficient for certain, however LaNorris Sellers is in a distinct class.”
The Gamecocks additionally rank fifteenth within the nation in whole protection. They’re an entire group and definitely much better than any opponent Illinois has crushed.
On that word: Despite the fact that this isn’t a playoff sport — and the playoff leaves little oxygen for anything else — a win could be Illinois’ greatest and greatest in a bowl sport in no fewer than 35 years.
The Illini’s bowl report for the reason that 1989 group beat Virginia proper right here within the Citrus Bowl isn’t a lot to take a look at. It features a Texas Bowl win towards five-loss Baylor in 2010 and a Kraft Combat Starvation win a yr later over a UCLA squad that really went into that sport with seven losses.
The Tim Beckman years produced one bowl look, a 2014 Coronary heart of Dallas loss to Louisiana Tech, a group so harmful it had misplaced to Northwestern State and Outdated Dominion. The Lovie Smith years produced one bowl look, too, a 2019 Redbox loss to California, which had gone from September 21 till November 9 with out successful a single sport.
Bret Bielema’s 2022 Illini completed with eight wins after losing to Mississippi State in the ReliaQuest Bowl. One may argue about whether or not or not the Illini are higher now than they had been then, however a tenth victory would finish any argument in a loud and everlasting means.
“I feel to get to 10 wins is a giant deal in school soccer, regardless of the way it comes about or what performs into it,” Bielema stated. “Any time you will get to that mark — I’ve been in a position to do it [at Wisconsin] as a coach — I feel that units your group aside in school soccer.”
The 1989 group is in that class. Ranked No. 11 in a conflict of two-loss groups towards No. 15 Virginia, a co-champion of the ACC, the Illini rolled 31-21 because the monstrously proficient Jeff George threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns. It was Illinois’ first postseason win for the reason that 1964 Rose Bowl.
This group has had its enjoyable on this journey. They caught a Magic sport. They visited Common Studios. They inhaled untold kilos of steak at Fogo de Chão. It’s all nicely deserved.
However there’s a sport to play, a really robust one. Will it’s a cheerful New Yr’s Eve? That might be one thing.
