CHAMPAIGN – They made a big deal about the steel beams going up at the new football performance center, when the coach and some players were putting signatures on a piece of a building that’s intended to be a foundation for the Illinois football program.

Then they promoted a donation to the building that put a name on the front door from folks that ran big pharma in Springfield. All of it was big fun this fall, but it’s just that back side of producing a winner on Saturdays.

Sooner or later, it comes to winning on the scoreboard, and the Illini have reached that point. In a season that’s already shown some progress with a near miss against South Florida in Soldier Field and an eye-opener for three quarters against then No. 10 Penn State in Memorial Stadium before a bye week, it’s time to get away from any kind of moral victory.