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Illinois stumbled, bumbled and lost 23-20 at Indiana in Game 2 of last season. It’s not like it was surprising at the time; it was the Illini doing Illini things, an old story.
But then everything changed and, six wonderful Saturdays later, the Illini were 7-1, their defense was leading the nation in too many statistical categories to keep track of, running back Chase Brown was in the Heisman Trophy conversation and — anyone paying attention felt it — something real and potentially lasting was being built by second-year coach Bret Bielema.