Stop! Do I Smell ... Roses???

The last time Illinois played in the Rose Bowl, Sam and Diane were on the throes of a passionate love/hate affair; early adapters were listening to their music on the new-fangled compact disc; nobody had yet heard of Mikail Gorbachev, who’s since been largely forgotten; nobody had yet heard of the Internet, which has not quite been forgotten; and I was a seventh-grader watching Linda DiBennidetto blossom into a young woman.

That was one seriously long-ass time ago.

But here they are again, with a surprising BCS berth to cap off a surprisingly successful season. The Jan. 1, 2008 Rose Bowl will be Illinois’ first trip to Pasadena in 24 years -- or, one would assume, since before any of the current players were born.

No one could have foreseen this a little over three months ago, when Illinois was starting the season with a loss to lightly regarded (relative to now, anyway) Missouri. But this team has clearly improved as the season went on. From a grinding, unconvincing win over Western Michigan, to the upsets of Penn State and Wisconsin, to the destroying of Minnesota, to the unimaginable win over No. 1 Ohio State, this team has set progressively higher standards throughout the season and then went out and surpassed them.

Will it be enough to topple USC in the Trojans’ back yard? That is a tall order. My guess is that the bettors will favor USC by about a touchdown, but the final will be a little worse than that. I say USC 31, Illinois 20, but with a very bright future ahead.