Illinois needs win over Northwestern to become bowl eligible
CHICAGO (CBS) – It's the final week of college football's regular season and the Illini will be fighting for more than just big hat when they host Northwestern this week.
The 5-6 Illini need the win to go to back-to-back bowl games for the first time in a dozen years.
Head coach Brett Beilema's team is coming off a heartbreaking loss to Iowa last Saturday which could have made this upcoming game for the division title.
The Illini will be looking for a third-straight win over the Wildcats for the first time since 1990.
Meanwhile, Northwestern is already bowl eligible and looking to end the season with a three-game winning streak, and of course to get that hat back.
"It's an opportunity for us to finish off the regular season the way that we set out to," said Northwestern coach David Braun. "To be really proud of the way that we're playing at the end of the season and this team has found ways to consistently improve over the course of the season. We need to do that again this week, to be our best. There's incredible motivation for us to bring that trophy back to Evanston."
Beilema said, "To play in a rivalry game, to know what we've done the last two years and the streak that they had before that, every game is what it is. To have a hat trophy game is kind of a cool thing. I think that's what's really appealing to the Big Ten."
The winner of the game will get the Land of Lincoln Trophy – a bronze stovepipe hat awarded to the winner of the Northwestern-Illinois game.
The game is at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.