It is no exaggeration to say Saturday’s game between No. 19 Indiana and No. 9 Illinois is one of the biggest to ever be played at Memorial Stadium.

The Hoosiers’ 65-year old arena has only hosted five matchups of top-20 teams in its history and none since 1987. The sixth such clash will come when the pair of Big Ten upstarts duel for the right to remain unbeaten. The winner will make a significant early statement that it belongs on the list of true College Football Playoff contenders.

“The focus has been there since we woke up Saturday morning,” Hoosiers linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “We enjoyed our win Friday (against Indiana State), but by Saturday morning, everyone had kind of shifted to Illinois. We got No. 9 coming in, coming to our place.

“It’s everything we want, a packed house.

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