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Big Ten Network's 'B1G Tailgate' to Broadcast Live from Illinois' Memorial Stadium

BTN's flagship game-day show visits Grange Grove as the Illini take on Michigan in an historic game

Jason Langendorf

Sep 2, 2023; Champaign, Illinois, USA; The Illinois Fighting Illini take the field before a game against the Toledo Rockets at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images
Sep 2, 2023; Champaign, Illinois, USA; The Illinois Fighting Illini take the field before a game against the Toledo Rockets at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images / Ron Johnson-Imagn Images
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No. 22 Illinois is set to welcome No. 24 Michigan to Memorial Stadium on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT on CBS), and it’s hard to imagine more pomp or grander circumstances around a mid-October college football game in Champaign.

As the 5-1 Illini celebrate the 100th-year anniversary of Memorial Stadium with a sold-out Rededication Game against the reigning (but now-vulnerable) national champions, the Big Ten Network’s “B1G Tailgate” will be on site to cover the lead-up to the event.

Hosted by Mike Hall and Tyvis Powell, “B1G Tailgate” will kick off at 9 a.m. CT (doors open to the public at 8) and run through 11 a.m., into the first conference games of the day. Former Illini quarterback Juice Williams and receiver Brandon Lloyd will be guests on set, in the southwest corner of Grange Grove, where the first 50 early arrivals will be rewarded with a free Big Ten Network bucket hat.

The occasion of the rededication, beyond honoring the original ribbon-cutting for Memorial Stadium, is the acknowledgment of another notable century mark set that same day: the 100 years that have passed since Red Grange ran roughshod over the Wolverines.

On Oct. 18, 1924, “The Galloping Ghost” put up an historic performance in the Memorial Stadium Dedication Game, tearing off a 97-yard touchdown return on the opening kickoff and piling up 402 total yards, five rushing TDs and tacking on a scoring pass to knock off a Michigan team that entered the matchup on a two-year unbeaten streak.

Illinois coach Bret Bielema would likely be tickled with that kind of production from his entire offense against the Wolverines on Saturday.

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Jason Langendorf
JASON LANGENDORF

Jason Langendorf is a longtime journalist who has covered football and basketball, among other sports, for ESPN, Sporting News, the Chicago Sun-Times and numerous other publications.

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