Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular and Big Sports Radio

January 22, 2025

This week we saw:

• Ohio State extended the B1G’s streak of national championships to two. That’s not incredible, but after decades of SEC dominance, this may signal a power change in college football.
• The Illini football program finished #16 in the AP Poll. This was the 14^th time the Illini were ranked at season’s end. Can they maintain that ranking?
• The Illini men’s basketball program suffered a narrow loss at Michigan State. Illini fans and even media members across the country noticed the way Kasparas Jakucionis was fouled out in 9 minutes. He was 4^th Illini to do so since 2000 and the only guard to pull it off.

Let’s take a deeper dive into a few subjects…

Heat Check #1 – The Illini’s Historic Loss Against Michigan State

The Illini had another unique visit to Breslin and lost by a razor-thin margin to the Spartans. It’s always crazy when the Illini deal with the Spartans on the road. Something must be in the water up there. Let’s review some of the context around recent Illini losses at Michigan State.

• In 2021, Ayo Dosunmu gets assaulted in the lane, breaks his nose on a play that B1G refs didn’t even call a foul, despite no attempt at playing the ball.
• In 2024, Coleman Hawkins gets a technical foul for saying “Boom!” to the crowd.
• A few days ago, we saw Jakucionis fouled out and Tom Izzo is permitted to make calls for the B1G refs.

The Illini won over a segment of college basketball fans & media who tuned in to see two tough B1G teams battle for a victory. Sadly, for most fans, the B1G refs denied national television viewers on CBS the opportunity to watch a potential lottery pick play basketball and to see which team would win a hard-fought battle.

Moral victories don’t mean much. The Illini have another loss in B1G play and they will have to elevate their level of performance to stay in striking distance of the Spartans who lead the B1G race. Many fans have circled Saturday February 15th on their calendar. That night at 7 pm the Spartans will come into the State Farm Center and fans across the country on Fox will see a classic battle.

Let’s hope both teams aren’t robbed of the chance to prove who’s better - hopefully the B1G officials will see fit to allow the players on the floor on February 15th to decide the outcome.

Hail Mary #1 – Ryan Day Strikes Back

I have been a guy who’s been saying Ryan Day is one of Ohio State’s biggest obstacles to reaching their full potential. Few get to be the head coach at Ohio State University. Even fewer coaches are chosen to be at the helm of arguably the best college football program in the country for their first head coaching job.

Now everything has changed. Ryan Day led his team to the promised land - a national title. Albeit, for Ohio State, the promised land is a national title after defeating Michigan. A national title notwithstanding, some fans can’t have everything. They’ll just have to settle for the national title alone for this season.

Now that Ryan Day has won his national title, he has earned the right to tell his critics to shut up. I don’t know Coach Day, but most folks indicate he’s a pretty good guy. I doubt he’d ever say anything like that.

Instead, he can just post one of the many images of him holding the national championship trophy. Not many coaches, regardless of their beginnings, ever get to lift that trophy up in the air. Ryan Day’s name is on that list. No one can ever take that away.

Hail Mary #2 – The Illini Finish #16 in the Final AP & Coaches Polls

Bret Bielema has done wonders for the Illini football program. If he has any doubters left, they must be amongst the most stubborn people in the country.

Do not underestimate the value of the Fighting Illini finishing the season at #16 in the AP & Coaches Polls. Many fans don’t consider the enormous value of being ranked at the end of the season. Illini fans can be proud of this ranking, but more importantly, the national media now notices the Illini on the nation stage.

We’ve even seen some media members put the Illini as high as #10 for next season. This is the type of notoriety that captures the attention of recruits and parents of recruits across the country. This type of street credibility is new for the Illini football program. It is normal for Bret Bielema. He won a lot of games at Wisconsin.

It looks like he has laid the foundation for winning a lot of games at Illinois.

Hail Mary #3 – NIL Has Evened the Battlefield

We have seen Indiana rise from arguably the worst P5 football program to competing in the College Football Playoff. Think about that. Did anyone ever think they’d say, “Indiana played in the CFP.” No one outside of Curt Cignetti believed that could happen.

We even see Illinois and South Carolina are looked at as two up and coming programs. What the heck is going on? Next thing you know, people are going to try to tell me Vanderbilt will beat Alabama. What, that just happened?

NIL is a huge asset. Now, athletic departments seek out individuals and corporations that don’t mind legal donations to support their school. This is so different than getting someone to slip cash that might be noticed as missing in an audit into a shoe box to give to a recruit/player. There's an all-new, all-big, big boys table for big donors to sit at.

When you couple that with a transfer portal that allows players to transfer and play immediately, the NIL dollars have helped to even the playing field. How long will it last? That is hard to tell.

Nowadays, coaches must be money managers, fund raisers, recruiters, roster builders and, oh yeah, football coaches. The same is true for basketball coaches. It’s easy to see why the old guard is leaving and newer coaches are rising.

The landscape is getting more competitive than ever before. NIL and how it empowers the transfer portal have revolutionized the sport. The ones who figure out how to maximize their results have a chance to move up in the football and basketball pecking order.

Let the games begin!

It should be fun.