On October 9th of this year, the Illinois Illini stood at 6-0, and everyone thought, "Well, boy howdy were we wrong about Ron Zook. What a fine coach he is, and a shoo-in for future huzzahs and laurels!" Oh, my how wrong we were.
Since that peak, Illinois has plummeted back to the mean, performing a perfect erasure of literally every good thing they accomplished with their fast start by losing their last six. Today's horrorshow featured Nathan Scheelhaase passing for 14 yards and running for -25 against the 93rd ranked defense in the NCAA, and allowing the struggling two win Gophers to score 27 points in a stunning capper to the season. (Backup QB Reilly O'Toole finished the game, presumably after being pulled off the vaudeville circuit to sub in for the struggling Scheelhaase.)
This is the first time this has happened in the recorded history of FBS college football. Ron Zook football's maddening inconsistency isn't just a matter of popular myth anymore. It is now part of the college football fossil record.