So, this is what a big game feels like?

So, this is what a big game feels like?

There hasn’t been one of those for Illini football since that fateful day in the Bay when the Cal Bears (!) put a beating on a Brandon Peters-led Illini squad.

Games like this are why you hire Bret Bielema over the “hot assistant” or the Group of Five coach with the obscure philosophy du jour.

Games like this are why you build your roster in the trenches.

Games like this are why you hire Barry Lunney Jr. to orchestrate the offense and don’t just sit back and let Tony Petersen do…whatever he was trying to accomplish.

Games like this are why you build a location-agnostic scheme set built on power running and a high-end secondary.

But most importantly, games…