Saturday marked the return of college football. Since it was a long weekend, I had the opportunity to witness the Illini take on the Eastern Illinois Panthers. The Illini looked improved from last season, when they struggled to beat similarly talented teams. The offense put up 42 points, which I pretty much excepted and the Illini running game racked up almost 300 yards. Isiah "Juice" Williams played a few drives and did ok, although he did fumble on one scramble. The defense still looks suspect. The secondary gave up a number of big plays to Panther wide-outs. Next week I expect a very tough challenge for the Illini. Yes, we beat Rutgers last year, but they did manage to go to a bowl game and they'll be at home. I do favor Rutgets to win, but this is definitely a winnable game for the Illini. And I'm heading back to Champaign in 7 days for corporate recruiting. I'm hoping to make it back for the Indiana and Ohio games in October too. We'll see how that works out.