It's an Illinois weekend for PSU and the Eagles

It's funny how things link up in sports sometimes - for example, have you ever noticed that when the Yankees are playing the White Sox, the Mets often are playing the Cubs at the same time. I can remember more than a few times that the 76ers and Flyers played in the same road arena the same weekend.

Well, this weekend, both Penn State and the Eagles are under the prime-time lights, playing wary favorites against dangerous underdogs from Illinois. The Nittany Lions host the University of Illinois Saturday at 8 pm on ABC, while the Eagles visit the Bears at Soldier Field at 8:15 pm on NBC. (Meanwhile, Philadelphia and Chicago fans also will be following a little baseball this weekend too - good times, good times.)

Illinois generally isn't considered one of Penn State's bigger in-conference rivals, although the Illini were the opponent in the greatest regular season game I've ever seen, Penn State's amazing 35-31 comeback win, concluding with a 96-yard drive into howling wind, at Champaign, IL, in 1994. (Thank you, Brian Milne.)

But the Illini have really picked things up under coach Ron Zook, who brought his recruiting prowess with him from Florida and has really ramped up the athleticism at Illinois. In Zook's first year, his team looked Syracuse-bad in getting lit up at home against Penn State, also on national prime-time TV, but then the Illini put a scare into Penn State in 2006, nearly pulling an upset at Beaver Stadium on the basis of a stellar defensive performance. Last year, Illinois didn't settle for a scare, upending Penn State at Memorial Stadium thanks to the big-play performance of wide receiver Arrelious Benn and a typically erratic day from PSU quarterback Anthony Morelli. The Illini got all the way to the Rose Bowl.

Things are looking good for Penn State. They've scored a school record 211 points over their first four games, showing an offense with diversity and skill to rival the 1994 group, only this year's group has two quarterbacks who can deliver the goods, Daryll Clark and Pat Devlin. Penn State's offense is so deep, it reminds me of the days when I was pretty sure Penn State's 2nd string could field a separate team and qualify for a bowl, if not finish in the Top 25.

In addition, suspended defensive linemen Maurice Evans and Abe Koroma were back at practice this week. I've heard no word yet on whether they will play, but I have to think re-admittance to practice means that will happen soon, if not this week. In the meantime, players like Aaron Maybin (6 sacks, to lead the Big Ten) and Josh Gaines have really stepped up.

And finally, last night's 27-21 upset by Oregon State over No. 1 USC makes PSU's 45-14 win over that same Oregon State squad a lot more impressive, doesn't it? Penn State moved the ball and scored at will on Oregon State, which just a few weeks later had USC shut out until just before halftime. Maybe it's more that Penn State is really good than that their non-conference schedule was weak.

Looking at this week's game, Illinois is 2-1 but has struggled a bit, losing 52-42 to Missouri (no shame in losing to the Tigers, but that's a lot of points to give up) and barely beating Louisiana-Lafayette, 20-17. The talk is that QB Juice Williams' passing has improved, but the Illlini have not yet adequately replaced tailback Rashard Mendenhall, now of the Steelers, and don't seem as good as last year. I think Penn State finally faces some adversity, but prevails 31-21.

For the Eagles, last week's 15-6 win over the Steelers was a reassuring response to the 41-37 loss in Dallas, which made it appear as if the Birds had little defense to count on. Nine sacks of Ben Roethlisberger later, not to mention much better coverage by the secondary, and that seems to have been a one-week thing. Also, the Eagles rank number one in the league in run defense.

So what are the Bears, with Kyle Orton at QB and a pretty average running game, going to do against the Eagles? Not score a lot, I suspect. Unfortunately, the Eagles' injury list includes Donovan McNabb, expected to play, Brian Westbrook, Kevin Curtis and Shawn Andrews. I look for another low scoring game, let's say Eagles 20, Bears 10.