If quarterback Jason Verduzco can put his passes where his mouth is, next Saturday`s Illinois-Michigan game in Champaign will be one for the ages.
”I guarantee you`ll see one hell of a game,” vowed Verduzco in the wake of Saturday`s 41-14 wipeout of Purdue. ”I promise you that. You`re going to see one of the best games you`ve seen in a long time.
”We`re going to be ready for Michigan. I`m looking forward to it. You better grab your tickets.”
Verduzco didn`t guarantee an Illinois victory, but if the Illini (6-3)
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live up to his billing and play the Wolverines tough, they are all but certain to end up playing in the Peach Bowl on New Year`s Day.
Saturday`s impressive victory ”hopefully puts us in a position where we can consider some options,” said Illinois coach John Mackovic. ”But more important than going anywhere is how well we play next week.”
That may be of prime importance to the Peach Bowl, which is on record as saying it would be willing to take a 7-4 Illinois team. ”We could live with 7- 4,” said Peach Bowl representative George Haney before Saturday`s game.
Afterward, when asked if they would extend Illinois a guaranteed bid if it played well but lost to Michigan, he answered, ”It would be hard not to.” Illinois still has to play at Michigan State the next week and conceivably could end the season with a 6-5 record.
Even if it does, there would be some interest among the Freedom, Liberty, Independence and Aloha bowls, all of which sent representatives to Saturday`s game at Purdue.
Freedom Bowl representative Jim Murray said Illinois is ”the only Big 10 team we`re looking at. We need an anchor team.”
He hinted that the Freedom Bowl is another that might be willing to commit to Illinois after the Michigan game even with the possibility of a fifth defeat down the road, but also raised the possibility of waiting for the outcome of the Illinois-Michigan State game.
”We may not select on Sunday,” he said. ”We haven`t decided.”
Independence Bowl representative Dan Newman said, ”We`re not married to the 17th (Nov. 17, the date bowl selections can be announced). We`re willing to wait another week to get the best matchup.”
Mackovic said the team had been polled on where it wanted to go and
”they`re not so concerned about where they play. Our team said, `We want to go play in a good game.` This is a team nobody picked. A lot of people picked Purdue ahead of us.”