CHAMPAIGN – As Dana Howard recalled, it was so much as a guarantee as much as a captain sticking up for his team.

But when it hit the papers the next morning, Howard had guaranteed the Illini would beat Ohio State on the road the following weekend.

“It wasn’t really a guarantee,’’ Howard said. “A reporter asked me if you guys were going to beat Ohio State. I told them, yeah. And he repeated it as asked if I felt we would win. Whether it’s we’re going to win or a guarantee, you can call it what you want. I speak for my guys. Put it in the paper how you want to put it. We’re going to win at Ohio State.

“I didn’t know how a 21-year-old captain of a college football team can guarantee a win, but I spoke for my guys. They took it how they took it.’’