The Illini always seem to trip up against Penn St. as they climb in the top 25 rankings. more ›

Purdue 20, Northwestern 17: Poor special teams play sabotaged NU's chance to match its best start in 48 years. The Wildcats actually were ahead 17-13 in the fourth quarter when Purdue defensive tackle Kawann Short blocked Stefan Demos' 41-yard field-goal attempt. The Boilermakers then drove 68 yards for the final score, with fullback Dan Dierking scoring on a 7-yard run with 3:54 remaining. NU quarterback Dan Persa passed for 305 yards in the loss. more ›

The Illini overcame a second half eight-point deficit to rally past Penn State 54-53 to remain undefeated (4-0) in Big 10 play this season. Penn State led by five points at the half and used a mid-second half run to open the lead up to eight. But the Illini fought back, chipping away at the lead and outscoring Penn State 9-3 over the last six minutes of the game, aided by Penn State's cold shooting (they didn't score in the game's last three minutes). Demetri McCamey led all scorers with 25 points for Illinois and Mike Tisdale pulled down a double-double (16 points, 13 rebounds). more ›

The Big Ten Men's Basketball Conference Tournament rolls into town on Thursday for what will be the last one hosted in Chicago until at least 2012. On Thursday, the tournament will kick off its seventh run at the United Center. Our friends in Indianapolis, not satisfied with their Super Bowl trophy earned by beating the Chicago Bears, have also outbid Chicago to host the annual Big Ten tournament from 2008 through 2012. The tournament kicks... more ›

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was a part of a recent study on the racial and social equity of the top 50 public universities in the U.S. The good news: U of I is one of the top public universities in the US. The bad news: it got an overall grade of F; the school does not fairly represent the population it serves. U of I joins the ranks of Penn State, the University of Mississippi and 5 other schools who received F’s. The important conclusion of this study is that “students in the entering and graduating classes at these schools look less and less like the state populations those universities were created to serve.” According to the study, in 2003 public universities gave $257 million in grants to students whose families earned more than $100,000 per year. Grants to families earning 100k+? That’s craziness. more ›

Kevin O'Neil, CTA Tattler more ›

The college football season kicks off this weekend, and Chicagoist can't wait! This is Big Ten country, so we thought we'd take a look at the conference and make our predictions. While the Big Ten is shaping up to be a major football powerhouse this season, the two Illinois schools don't figure to draw much attention. Illinois went 3-8 (1-7 conf.) last year, costing Ron Turner his job. Ron Zook, who lost his job... more ›