Illinois football survives another week of chaos with more to come

Like their jerseys and helmets, the Illinois football team jumped into the way back machine and put on a defensive clinic against the Wolverines.

It was old-school Big Ten football at its finest. Speaking of impressive, Indiana now sits on top of the Big Ten. It's a stretch to say that even a handful of people had that on their bingo cards halfway through the season. But here we are.

Let's state the obvious: Illini needed to handle their business and be impressive at home against Michigan. Mission accomplished.

I hate to say it, but part of the College Football Playoff system is a glamour contest of sorts. Rankings are more than winning. It's the opponents and how you beat the opponents, right? So, that brings us to Saturday's matchup with Oregon.

The best team in the land versus an up-and-coming Big Ten opponent. To me, just keeping the score close is a big victory for the Illini. Yes, winning is always nice and, from what I saw against Ohio State, the speed of Oregon can make them vulnerable against the smashmouth style of the Illinois defense.

Therefore, can the Illini slow down Oregon just enough to keep the Ducks from running up the score, and can the Illinois offense put up enough points to make things interesting? That is what I'll be looking for. But win or lose, this will be an important learning experience for the boys in Orange and Blue and, I would think, as long as it's not a blowout, their current FBS rank shouldn't be impacted that much. Then again, this is college football.

Altogether, sitting comfortably in the top five of the Big 10 has to feel good at this point of the season. After Saturday, the Illini will face three teams with a combined record of 12-9, and they finish the season against the struggling Northwestern Wildcats. The schedule is favorable for Illinois to make a run at a Big Ten championship appearance. Where Indiana goes, so goes the Big Ten right now. What a crazy college football world we currently live in.