
History: Spawned by the Morrill Land Grant College Act of 1862, the school was founded in 1867. The school was originally called Illinois Industrial University and their first president dreamed of creating the "West Point for the working world.". Classes began in the spring of 1868 with two teachers and a small number of students. As with most land grant colleges of the time the actual mission of the university was a hotly debated item between those interested in providing a classic liberal arts education and those seeking a trade focused school. Eventually that battle was decided in favor of the holistic liberal arts curricula, and the school was renamed as the University of Illinois in 1885. In 1982 the name was again formally changed to The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, indicating the flagship status within the University of Illinois system.

Illinois is one of the few educational institutions to own an airport. Willard Airport is an integral part of their Institue of Aviation and they also recieve and launch commercial flights from American Airlines.

From 1926–2007 Illinois also used the Fighting Illini moniker in reference to the Native American Indians that used to live in the area and had a mascot named Chief Illiniwek. In the 1980s this sparked significant controversy, with critics calling it a racist stereotype and a symbol of the oppression to Native Americans. Supporters claimed that it was inoffensive and a source of pride and reverence. The University remains deeply divided on this issue.

The NCAA is inconsistent in their application of this particular flavor of political correctness. I don’t understand how schools like Florida State and North Dakota can keep their Native American nicknames and mascots with the approval of the specific tribe, but Illinois was unable to keep their “made up word” nickname. Who exactly was Illinois supposed to ask for permission?


Fight Song: The official Illinois fight song is called Oskee Wow Wow. The song was written by two Illinois students (Howard Green and Harold Hill) in 1911 – but only after they decided the official school song (Illinois Loyalty) was not very good for getting the crowd fired up during a game.
It is the only fight song I know of that refers to specific people like Teddy Roosevelt and three guys named Roberts, Artie Hall and Heavy.
Old Princeton yells her tiger, Wisconsin her Varsity.
And they give the same old "Rah-rah-rah! at each university.
But the yell that always thrills me, and fills my heart with joy
is the good old Oskee-Wow-Wow that they yell at Illinois.
Oskee-Wow-Wow, Illinois! Our eyes are all on you.
Oskee-Wow-Wow, Illinois! Wave your orange and your blue (rah, rah!).
When the team trots out before you, every man stand up and yell.
Back the team to gain a victory. Oskee-Wow-Wow, Illinois!
(There is also a second verse, which is rarely sung)
Teddy Roosevelt may be famous, and his name you often hear.
But it's heroes on the football field each college man holds dear.
We think with pride of Roberts, Artie Hall and Heavy, too.
Oskee-Wow-Wow for the wearers of the Orange and the Blue!

According to the USNWR, Illinois ranks as the 4th (or 5th) best school in the Big Ten Conference. Only Northwestern (#12), Michigan (#29) and Wisconsin (#45) rank higher.

From an individual star football player perspective, it is hard to present better names at the top of the list. The Fighting Illini program has produced three of the greatest football players in the history of the game: Red Grange, Ray Nitschke, and Dick Butkus. For those of you that watch the Big Ten Network, current analyst Howard Griffith also wore the orange and blue.
Like many B10 teams, Illinois plays in several annual "trophy games". My favorite is the ever important IlliBuck trophy game with Ohio State. The Illibuck is the second oldest trophy passed between Big Ten Football programs (yep, the Little Brown Jug is the oldest). Originally the "trophy" was a live turtle picked for its long life expectancy as a symbol of the long life of the rivalry. Since the original turtle died, there have been nine wooden replica Illibucks carved with the scores from games on its back.

They also play Purdue for the Purdue Cannon and Northwestern for the Land of Lincoln Trophy (which was originally called the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk).
Athletics: Illinois is a charter member of the Big Ten. The university offers a surprisingly low number of varsity sports. There are only 10 men’s and 11 women’s sports teams. To make things a little more odd, they actually classify cheerleading as both a men’s and women’s varsity sport. I really don't care, but my friend T9 is pretty adamant that cheerleading is not a sport.

Most people think of Illinois as a basketball school. They have won 17 Big Ten titles and been to five Final Fours. Sadly, their basketball success seems to always end in ruin as they hold the record for playing in the most NCAA tournament games without a winning a championship. Most will recall the 2005 Illinois basketball team that went undefeated until the last game of the regular season (where they lost to Ohio State) and then lost again in the NCAA Finals game to North Carolina. Also, not many Michigan fans can forget how the Illini lost in the 1989 Final Four Semis – after they had beaten us twice in the regular season.
Famous Alumni: Famous former Illinois athletes include NBA stars Derek Harper, Eddie Johnson, Nick Anderson and Kendall Gill. Baseball Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau. NFL top pick Jeff George and Pro Bowler Simeon Rice.

It is safe to say that without this school our blog (all blogs for that matter) would not be possible: They produced the developer of the first graphical web browser Mosaic (Marc Andreessen) and the co-founders of YouTube (Jawed Karim & Steve Chen).
For those of you are keeping score… Illinois has zero presidents and five NASA astronauts.
The Game: After last week, I don't think our defense could stop the Ann Arbor Pioneer Junior Varsity offense.
At the start of the season, I had this game marked with a "W". Illinois was going to be bad and we were going to be better. Our last three games have caused me to rethink that prediction. Illinois has been improving all season long, they rolled Penn State in Happy Valley, and they have scored over 40 points in their last two games. This season, Illinois has 3 losses (Missouri, Ohio State, and Michigan State). All in all, they are not bad.
I have zero expectations. Nothing I have seen over the last month would lead me to believe we can beat a competent college football team.
Michigan 24
Illinois 49
On the bright side, I have already selected the healing pic.

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