Given the recent history with Illinois, I was absolutely stunned to stumble across the following stat as a lead-in to Urban’s first game against Illinois in 2012: prior to 2012, Illinois had won 7 of the previous 11 games played in Columbus!

I realize there are off years in this long-time rivalry, i.e., there are years in which Ohio State does not play Illinois, but still that is an incredible rate of success for the Illini at the Shoe (and that 7 in 11 stat dated all the way back to Coop’s first year of coaching).

Does anyone remember Illinois being such a consistent thorn in the side of the Buckeyes?  I of course remember the nightmarish Juice Williams game but am blanking out on why Illinois had so much success in the Shoe.  It’s not as if they had consistently good teams in that time period.

Since Urban’s arrival, Ohio State has won by at least 30 points in each of the games played at Columbus.