Champaign – Game week is finally back for the Illinois football team as it is coming off a bye week which felt like an eternity to players like senior right guard Nick Aligretti.

“I was bored… sometimes it’s good to be bored,” Aligretti said. “We didn’t know what to do with ourselves.”

After being "bored" for a week, the Illini are in full preparation mode as they set their sights on Saturday’s afternoon matchup with Rutgers in New Brunswick, N.J.

In the midst of the Lovie Smith era, Illinois has failed to acquire a win off the break. In both instances, the Illini fell to Nebraska in a noncompetitive fashion, getting outscored 22-59 between the two games.

Smith isn’t worried about his team’s previous poor performances coming off the bye week.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that’s our history on team’s I’ve been on,” Smith said. “Even if it had been, what we plan on doing now is make improvements through that bye week and what you should see now is a better product. That’s what we’re going to go with.”