Robert Rosenthal loves Illinois Football. He’s been covering it as a fan, analyst, and professional blogger for several years, and it is actually his main job now. He follows and writes about Illinois sports to make a living.

I know he’s not just being a homer when he says the following:

…when you see Bret Bielema tweet “the best is yet to come” all the time, I need you to know that he really believes that. It’s not some hopeful thing. He won three consecutive Big Ten titles at Wisconsin in 2010, 2011, and 2012 and he absolutely has his sights set on the same thing at Illinois. This is not something he has told me, it’s something I’ve observed, but I see a focus on being the program that best capitalizes on this new era of college football.

There’s no doubt that it will happen to several Big Ten and SEC programs. As the revenue increases and the revenue sharing increases, many Big 12 and ACC programs just won’t be able to afford the 22% of revenue going to the players. They’ll have to make cuts elsewhere (coaching salaries, facilities) and that will trickle down. The approval of the House vs. NCAA settlement, which might happen before I’m finished writing this article, will signal that some of the programs in these two conferences can get on an elevator to the top floor. Why not Illinois?

Why not?