Zook promises better days ahead...

Or does he?

"I don't think there's any question we'll be a better football team next year," Zook said. "Everyone wants to know: What does that mean?

"I said the second year we'd be a better team than the first and we were, but the record was the same (2-9 in '05, 2-10 in '06). So we will be a better team.

God, it's hard to take anything this moRon says seriously. But let's dissect. He promises the team will be better but he hedges by saying that improvement is not necessarily see in W-L record. You see his 2-10 team in 2006 was "better" than the 2-9 team from 2005. So a 9-4 team in 2008 could conceivably be better than a 9-4 team in 2007.

"Players will be better as juniors and seniors than they were as freshmen and sophomores. That's the way it is as they get experience."

Translation: Zook wouldn't be disappointed by another 9-3 record next season, because it could mean another BCS bowl berth. But it should be a better 9-3.

The thing is that Zook is enamored of his own recruits. You see he had seniors this year, but they weren't his seniors. He thinks that "his" recruits are simply going to yield better results. I'm not so sure. The best player on the Illini this year was Rashard Mendenhall who had committed to Illinois before Ron Turner was fired. And Mendenhall is likely to be playing Sundays next year. There's no doubt that Zook has shown an ability to bring in guys with lots of stars next to their names on the scouting web sites but we'll see how that translates into wins and losses. It's one thing to have diamonds in the rough and quite another to cut those diamonds into precious stones.

For the record I don't think Illinois will repeat a 9 win season next year.

We'll see who is right, me or the Zooker.