Illini are fightin’ again in Big Ten

So far this season, USC lost to Stanford, Michigan lost to Appalachian State, Oklahoma lost to Colorado and Louisville lost to just about everybody, but the biggest shocker around the country might be that they are putting the champagne on ice in Champaign, Ill.

Illinois is tied for first place in the Big Ten and is talking conference title.

How crazy is that?

The Illini (5-1, 3-0 in Big Ten play) were 8-38 over the previous four seasons and had won only two conference games during that span, but they are on a five-game winning streak after knocking off No. 5 Wisconsin, 31-26, on Saturday. It was their second consecutive victory over a top-25 team, having knocked then-No. 19 Penn State out of the top 25 a week earlier.

“With a team like us, we haven’t had too much success like this,” running back Rashard Mendenhall said. “[Now] we know we can play with anybody.”

But that said, Illinois might not even be the most surprising among the three teams tied atop the conference standings.

Don’t look now, but the aforementioned Michigan is also undefeated in conference, though the Wolverines (4-2, 2-0) have played one fewer conference game than Illinois and Ohio State (6-0, 3-0).

Who would have predicted that when Michigan was 0-2 after opening with the embarrassing Appalachian State loss and then getting routed by Oregon?

But Michigan has taken that adversity and turned it into a four-game winning streak that has made the Wolverines relevant once again in the Big Ten.

“Every team faces its own adversities,” Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr said. “That is true in every year. The championship team, the teams that win the Big Ten championship, like we are trying to do here, they are going to have adversity. You just need to worry about if you got better and if you can go into the next week and get a win.”

Illinois has been getting plenty of wins.

The Illini are 3-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1990, when they won a share of the conference title. Coach Ron Zook’s resurrection of the program began after he was run out of Florida after three winning seasons, only to surface in Champaign in 2005. He was 4-19 in his first two seasons, 1-15 in conference play, but is headed in the right direction.

“We said in the off-season that if we are going to improve, then we have to step up and stand up,” Zook said. “I said, ‘Are we going to go out there and do the same thing we did last year, or are we going to show people that we have made improvement?’ ”

Butch Bowl

Butch Davis’ latest reclamation project took a step in the right direction at the expense of his old team, which is still fighting to find its way back to elite status.

North Carolina defeated Miami, 33-27, to give Davis his first ACC victory against the program he helped build into a national champion.

Davis, who left Miami after the 2000 season to coach the Cleveland Browns, downplayed the significance of beating his former team.

“Winning the game is the most important thing for this football team,” he said. “My total focus is on the University of North Carolina football team, and I’m just proud of the way our kids performed.”

Soaring Eagles

Thanks to a rash of upsets last week, Boston College cracked the top 10, and it doesn’t look as if the Eagles are leaving any time soon.

Just ask Bowling Green Coach Gregg Brandon, whose team was on the wrong end of a 55-24 thumping against Boston College.

“That might have been the best team, arguably, that we’ve ever played since I’ve been coaching here,” said Brandon, who became coach of the Falcons in 2003.

Quite a compliment considering his team lost, 35-7, last season to an Ohio State team that advanced to the BCS championship game.

Kansas barbecue

Turns out a few cupcakes before the main course might not be such a bad thing.

Kansas had been criticized for playing a soft schedule and was left out of the top-25 rankings because of it, despite winning its first four games.

But after rolling through Central Michigan, Southeast Louisiana, Toledo and Florida International by a combined score of 214-23, the Jayhawks defeated No. 24 Kansas State, 30-24. Last week, Kansas State defeated Texas, which was ranked No. 19 this week before losing Saturday to No. 10 Oklahoma.

It was the first Kansas victory at Kansas State since 1989 and should finally get Kansas into the top 25.

Beamer Ball

Virginia Tech might not need much of an offense with the return game in full swing.

The Hokies had a record-tying 100-yard kickoff-return touchdown by Victor Harris and an 82-yard punt-return score from Eddie Royal in topping No. 22 Clemson, 41-23, Saturday night.

In 21 seasons under Coach Frank Beamer, the Hokies (5-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) have become college football’s gold standard for special teams play. But Virginia Tech had never returned both a kickoff and punt for scores in the same game.

Better to receive

Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree set the NCAA record for touchdown receptions by a freshman with a 32-yard scoring catch against Iowa State. It was his 15th of the season. The Red Raiders receiver overtook the 14 touchdown catches by freshmen Jabar Gaffney (Florida, 2000), Mike Williams (USC, 2002) and Davone Bess (Hawaii, 2005).

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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New rushing leader

Danny Woodhead of Chadron State rushed for 208 yards Saturday in a 21-0 victory over Western New Mexico and became the leading rusher in NCAA history with 7,441 yards. The 5-foot-9, 200-pound running back already holds NCAA records for single-season yards with 2,756 last season and 37 consecutive games with a touchdown. NCAA all-time leading rushers:

*--* Yards Player School Division Years 7,441 Danny Woodhead Chadron State Div. II 2004-07 7,353 R.J. Bowers Grove City Div. III 1997-00 6,985 Germaine Race Pittsburg State Div. II 2003-06 6,958 Brian Shay Emporia State Div. II 1995-98 *--*

* Note: The Division I record is held by Adrian Peterson of Georgia Southern, a Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) school, with 6,559. Ron Dayne of Wisconsin has the Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) record of 6,397.

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Los Angeles Times