Illinutgers started as a joke. It grew out of the ironic and self-aware underbelly of college football’s internet.
Illinutgers is an acknowledgement that some semblance of beauty and symmetry exist in annually matching up bottom dweller programs lacking the tenets that allow college football rivalries to flourish— geography, ebb and flows, and shared history. This isn’t a matchup for those who think college football revolves around Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson. Simply stated, this is a matchup few outside of Illinois or Rutgers Twitter know anything about.
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But with Rutgers looking a like competent product under Greg Schiano and the Illini slowly — yes, slowly — crawling toward respectability, this annual matchup might be ready to take the next step.