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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what's going on around the area:
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Illinois football aims to pick up its seventh win of the season on Saturday, with Maryland visiting Gies Memorial Stadium in Champaign for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff. Robin Scholz/The News-Gazette
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Getting seven wins in the regular season may not seem like a big deal to some Big Ten football programs. But if Illinois beats Maryland on Saturday, it’ll mark a second straight regular season with at least that many regular-season victories.
➜ 2. The last time the Illinois football program was able to reach that mark in the regular season? When the 1990 Illini team went 7-4 to follow up a 9-2 regular season by the 1989 team.
➜ 3. Luke Altmyer is in fourth place at Illinois for career touchdown passes with 54 entering Saturday’s game. If he throws three, he’ll sit alone in second place. Jack Trudeau (55 from 1981-85), Nathan Scheelhaase (55 from 2010-13) and Juice Williams (56 from 2006-09) are up next.
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Former Illini Ayo Dosunmu is providing a steady scoring presence off the bench for the Bulls this season. Dominic Di Palermo/TNS
Numbers game: 14.9
points off the bench former Illini All-American Ayo Dosunmu is averaging for the Chicago Bulls this season. The Bulls (6-5) will try to snap a four-game losing streak when they tip off a three-game road trip out West on Sunday night against the Utah Jazz at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. The 25-year-old Dosunmu is shooting 52 percent from the field, 46 percent from three-point range and 91 percent from the free-throw line.
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Caleb Williams and the Bears will try to win their third straight game on Sunday when they play the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Maryland at Illinois football. Bret Bielema could get his 35th win at Illinois — tying Ron Turner for fourth all-time with the Illini — and 132nd win of his career — surpassing the 131 wins Robert Zuppke had at Illinois from 1913-41 — with a victory on Saturday in Champaign.
➜ 2. Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings. If the Bears win on Sunday afternoon and the Lions lose Sunday night at Philadelphia, coach Ben Johnson’s team is all alone in first place in the NFC North.
➜ 3. Bunnie Tip-Off. The high school girls’ basketball season starts Monday, with Fisher hosting its 18th annual tournament. Unity plays Iroquois West at 5:30 p.m. and the Fisher plays Tri-Point at 7 p.m. on Monday.
Gabe Gordon
Rantoul senior boys’ track and field athlete Gabe Gordon. Provided
Ask an athlete
Three questions with Rantoul senior boys’ track and field athlete Gabe Gordon:
➜ 1. Three athletes I’d like to have dinner with are ... Grant Holloway, Shaquille O’Neal and Tyreek Hill.
➜ 2. The TV show I most like to binge-watch is ... “Dexter.”
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is ... people smacking their lips when eating.