I recall that 1982 season well. I remember being at Memorial Stadium the previous year with Hohensee throwing the TD to TE Jay Caroll to beat Ohio State the year before and there was a lot of momentum going into the season.
I went to the Washington State game at the Metrodome with three others from our all small town and we won, but we all thought the Metrodome was not so great and felt very strange. I remember seeing some of the road win at Purdue on TV as well and was sort of excited.
I went to the Illinois game with my dad, and we were sitting up in the corner of the upper deck past the right foul "pole" area and it was a very odd night. The crowd was thick and again t seemed like a very plastic and sort of "off" environment to me despite the early lead and active crowd.
The wheels came off and Illinois stormed back. I think this was one of the crooked Mike White Illinois teams that went to a Rose Bowl, though. After losing 24-42 ?, and blowing a big early lead, the team went into a huge slide, leading to Lou Holtz. I do not think I went to another game until Glen Mason was hired in 1997, although I did work a lot of Saturdays in those years, so it was hard to get to the games. I had high hopes for Wacker, but that did not materialize.
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