SEC vs. Big10! Now, that's more like it, even if it's not exactly the elite of either conference. Still, it's better than anything else we've seen since Saturday night's LSU-Houston game.
To be specific, Nashville's Music City Bowl featured the Illinois Fighting Illini of the Big10 against the Tennessee Volunteers of the SEC. Both teams are 8-4 and neither is ranked. I picked Tennessee as a 5½-point favorite because of my SEC bias/cognitive blind spot, even though the Vols dropped to 3-point favorites by game time.
Playing in Nashville was practically a home game for Tennessee, and they scored the first touchdown. But the momentum didn't last, as Illinois scored a TD of their own, and then kicked a FG and scoop 'n' scored a fumble to take a 17-7 lead early in the third. The teams exchanged TDs, and then a Tennessee TD for an Illinois FG in the fourth, before the Vols returned a punt for a 94-yard TD to take a one-point lead. But on their final possession of the game, Illinois took the ball 64 yards down the field for a walk-off FG and a 30-28 win.
I lost my pick, but what really hurts is the SEC is now 1-4 so far in interconference games in this year's bowls, 2-5 if you include Alabama's 34-24 takedown of Oklahoma. Vanderbilt and Texas play tomorrow, but you know you're already in sorry shape if you're looking for redemption from the Commodores and the Longhorns.
Last game of the day has already started. Let's see if I can wash that awful Illini taste out of my mouth with a win in the Alamo Bowl.
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