Northern Illinois alumni issue challenge to Illinois

Winning has a funny way of making fans, players and coaches more confident in the abilities of the team. It appears that for a group of Northern Illinois alumni a win over Northwestern means it’s time to claim the mantel as the best team in the state of Illinois.

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See, some enterprising alumni took out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, calling out the Illinois Fighting Illini as the next victim in the state of Illinois.

Last weekend NIU went in to Evanston and beat Northwestern 23-15, and did it without the graduated Jordan Lynch on their side.

Given the fact that it is only a few weeks in to the season, it’s hard to tell just how impressive that victory will be, but taking down one of the two Big Ten teams in the state of Illinois is a big deal for the MAC school in the state.

Clearly fans have confidence, and they should, given performances over the past three years. Northern Illinois is 26-4 since the start of the 2012 season. That’s the best record in the state by a long mile, and it includes a win over fellow Big Ten team, Iowa, too.

One has to admire the hubris of the NIU alumni, but don’t hold your breathe for the Illini to set up a game with your school anytime soon. There’s little to gain and a lot to lose for Illinois in setting up this matchup.

Take a loss and you set the program’s recruiting in the state of Illinois even further back, win and it doesn’t register on the radar much because a Big Ten team is supposed to beat a MAC team (looking at you Purdue).