We Love No Other

We've reached the end! The complete history of Illini football from 1991 to present - with a first bonus episode covering the decade of the 80's - is now complete. In this final episode, Martin O'Donnell and I discuss the last four years of Illini football. Here's everything you needed to know about 2019 through 2022. Presenting sponsor for this podcast series: U of I Community Credit Union .

In the second-to-last episode of this series, Jonny from The BoardRoom (our basketball podcast) joins me to discuss 2015 through 2018. We start with the Bill Cubit interim year and end with the third year of the Lovie regime. Not the best era of Illini football, but there was still a lot to talk about. This Illini Football history class series is being presented by UofI Community Credit Union . 

Former Illini Football SID Derek Neal joins me for 3+ hours (yes, this episode is 3 hours and 5 minutes) of talk about Illini Football from 2011 to 2014. It starts with the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl season and ends with the Zaxby's Heart Of Dallas Bowl. Well, this episode actually ends in the spring and summer of 2015 with the Beckman investigation. We basically take it right up to the start of the...

Last week took us down. This week takes us back up. 2007~2010 was a great time to be an Illini football fan. As a freshman on campus in 2007, @BobZuppke got to see a Rose Bowl his freshman year and a Texas Bowl his senior year. So this episode is Bob & I talking about some good seasons. Well, and a frustrating season in 2008. Ok, yes, and a maddening season in 2009. But it's still bookended wi...

We went a different direction with this one. These four seasons saw eight total wins - only two of them Big Ten wins - so a game-by-game breakdown of each season would be too depressing. So Nathan and I talk some about the seasons but more about the journey of the Illini football fan through such low points. Also discussed: how to survive academic probation. A big thanks to the sponsor for this su...

The last episode: 10 wins and a tie (over four seasons). The next episode: 8 wins in four years. This episode? 28 wins. Erik (The Stats!) joins me to talk Illini football from 1999 to 2002. This summer podcast series is being brought to you by U of I Community Credit Union .

Next up: 1995~1998. And I'm gonna warn you right now - that means we'll discuss 10 total wins and one tie across four seasons. But that's the fun of a series like this, right? Craig is my guest for (he was a freshman in 1996), so he remembers a lot about these difficult seasons. They were eventually building to something . We just won't get to that until next week. Once again a big thank you to th...

Next up in this summer podcast series (published every Wednesday): 1991~1994. I was a freshman in 1991, and my guest, Detlef, was a sophomore, so this episode is filled with memories from the student section. A big thank you to the sponsor for this podcast series, UofI Community Credit Union . If you'd like to see the credit card with the orange Block I that was referenced in this episode, go to t...

We're back! Last summer it was the complete history of Illini Basketball, 1980 to present. This summer, over the next nine weeks, we'll be going through the complete Illini Football history, 1980 to present. We will begin our deep exploration of each season starting next week with 1991~1994 (which starts with my freshman year at Illinois). For this episode, Loren Tate joins me to go through the en...

Interviews from the first three days at the NCAA Golf Championships in Scottsdale including Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Jackson Buchanan, and Head Coach Mike Small. Plus some of my thoughts on the trip so far. 

Here's another "bonus" episode - a five minute chat with head coach Mike Small after the second round at the NCAA's where the Illini surged into the lead.

This is a very short bonus episode. It's my quick thoughts after the first round of the NCAA Golf Championship followed by a quick interview with Illini coach Mike Small and another quick interview with senior Tommy Kuhl. 

Kevin had a few months off. What to do? Follow his favorite band on tour? Backpack through Europe? He chose to spend his winter following Illini basketball around the country. In this episode, we talk about his travels. 

Andy Johnson of The Fried Egg joins me to discuss Mike Small's golf program. And we can't help but talk a little Illini football and a lot of Illini basketball. 

Coach Bielema and I went to dinner last night and talked football (and life). This is that conversation. 

Carmen and I attended the open practice and then immediately sat down to record our thoughts. 

Tyler (Walkon) and I discuss the 2023 Illini season while Tyler watches UCLA-Gonzaga in the background and I pretend like the Tournament ended last Thursday. 

I chat with ESPN's John Gasaway about the Big Ten race entering the stretch run. And we might talk a little bit about dream scenarios for our Illini. 

Illini basketball has reached the 20 game mark at 14-6. So Tyler and I discuss what's happened so far and what's to come. 

Warning: long pod. I had a 7.5 hour drive from Champaign to Lincoln today, so I took 2.5 of those hours and talked to myself. You sent in questions, I answered them while driving down the highway. Yes, it's seriously 2.5 hours long. 

I'm always honest in these, right? Well, this is how I felt immediately after this loss. 

@BobZuppke and I discuss the thing we've all been discussing this season. The line between "in no way could I ever be angry about an 8-4 football season" vs. "oh man we were inches from 10-2 or 11-1." And then, an hour in, with a simple question from Bob, we land on a stat that dwarfs everything. 

My mood is 10 times better than I thought it would be. 8-4 Illini football is the stuff of dreams for me, and I'm so content inside that dream. Here's my thoughts from the field right after the game. 

This one is less than eight minutes long. I finally found a place out of the wind and recorded some thoughts. 

I'm only posting this because I've posted a From The Stands after every game since 2010. So I feel obligated. But this is just 26 minutes of a devastated guy processing emotions and making everything all about how bad he feels. I already hate every second of it. But I promised to make these as raw as possible, and this is me being raw immediately after the game. This one HURTS.