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Champ down. . .can Illini get up?

By Herb Gould
Special to ESPN.com

Wednesday, September 25, 2002

Big Ten championships ought to carry this warning: Past performance is not an indicator of future results. For the second straight season, it looks like a conference champion is headed for a rough season despite returning a strong nucleus from its title team. Last year, it was Northwestern that melted down, going from 6-2 in 2000, when it shared league honors, to 2-6 in 2001, when it shared the basement. This year, it's Illinois that appears to be headed south. The Illini returned 14 star ...

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