i've been impressed with illinois this year, although i still hate them seeing as Northwestern was their rival. good thing that northwestern never lost to the illini while i was a student there.
the whole thing with OSU not being able to compete with LSU seems fair to me. i wasn't impressed by OSU's performance in any of their games that i watched this year, but have always been impressed with the way LSU plays football. the SEC is the toughest conference in college football, and to win the championship means a lot.