I'm not a country music fan but I will fight anyone on this: Record Year by Eric Church is one of the greatest songs of all time. Not "greatest country songs of all time" - greatest songs of all time. It's a work of art.

It is on my "inspiration list" - a list I keep on my phone of things that inspire me. Sometimes, before writing about outside linebackers, I'll need to feel inspired. I'll go to the list, watch or listen to something from the list, and then I can find the words.

If you'll indulge me, I'd like you to watch the full video. And then I'd like to give you my thoughts. And then I want to write about the team that might be 12th when the CFP rankings debut on Tuesday.

Here's the video:

It starts with art at the start (#startart). That little guitar lick with the syncopated clapping sound? The one that's made to sound like a record player that skipping? It's incredible. Only those of us who have had vinyl records understand a record that's skipping (and that's pretty much limited to "people older than 40 and hipsters"). But it's the perfect start to Record Year.

The song does what so many country songs will do: plays with two meanings to the same phrase. You know how that goes. An example: the guy finds out he's going to be a young father and exclaims "there goes my life". And then his daughter is grown up and driving off to college and he exclaims "there goes my life". The country music thing. You know the country music thing.

The country music thing with this song: I'm havin' a record year (I'm setting some records this year). I'm havin' a record year (I'm listening to a lot of records this year because she left me).

But what makes this song even greater is the imagery in the lyrics. He talks in music terminology ("quarter notes and Hank's halftime"), he references albums (Songs In The Key Of Life by Stevie Wonder), and he even plays with "needle" imagery since he's talking about record players:

Your leavin' left me goin' crazy
I'm countin' on a needle to save me
I drop it in the groove
And we go 'round and 'round
And down in a spiral

And don't get me started on the video. The 1:40 mark - where the vinyl records placed on the bar represent the exact graphic equalizer spikes for that portion of the song - should have won awards. I don't throw this word around very much, but it's absolutely brilliant. I'm so inspired every time I watch that.

I guess I just love the entire concept of the song. She broke his heart. He turned to music. It got him through. And you know what, he concludes? Maybe the pain wasn't such a bad thing.

I guess I really oughta call and thank you
I rediscovered Red Headed Stranger
Got down with old James Brown
And found New Grass Revival
If you find your way back, I owe you a beer
For my record year

I just feel so romantic about Illini football right now. All of those "how can you not be romantic about baseball?" tweets? That's more or less what I'm feeling right now. I even made a playlist of Illinois songs on my phone this week.

It wasn't a long playlist. I just put several songs on a playlist that made me think about Illinois. Some of them obvious ("Illinois" by Dan Fogelberg, "Illinois" by Brett Eldredge), some of them a bit more obscure ("Long Hot Summer Day" by Turnpike Troubadours). I was in Idaho last week and feeling romantic about the state where I was born.

Like, this is a STATE thing for me right now. I find myself excited when I see the state outline. It's hard for me to explain how much this photo I took at the renovated Ubben Basketball Facility makes me excited:

That's a great looking state, no? It's one of the best states. Majestic, even.

And that feeling has me listening to songs about Illinois. I get so excited when "Long Hot Summer Day" gets to the "we dropped a man off in Beardstown" part and then concludes that thought with "gonna get off down in Alton." I'm always "Alton! That's in the county where I was born!"

This is just where I am right now. We're having the season I've always dreamed about, and because I spent so much time telling myself that if it ever happened again, I would enjoy it, here I am, enjoying it. I'm debating our CFP ranking with friends. I'm hanging out with wife and kids and also my college friends. I'm getting I-L-L'd from every direction. I'm flipping through my phone trying to find every single thing every single national college football writer has said about Illinois. And I'm singing along to "it looks like you're gonna have to see me again... Illinois" with Dan Fogelberg.

I'm havin' a record year.

+ At first the Art Sitkowski thing was fun. But now I'm wishing I had never played with the whole Startkowski thing. Anything that takes the tiniest little thing away from Tommy DeVito is a bad thing. We're going to remember this season for a long time.

He was injured early in the Iowa game, so let's look at the stats from his last three full games: Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin:

Nebraska: 20-22, 179 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 INT's
Minnesota: 25-32, 252 yards, 1 passing touchdown, 1 rushing touchdown, 0 INT's
Wisconsin: 18-24, 167 yards, 0 passing touchdowns, 3 rushing touchdowns, 0 INT's

It's amazing what this offense looks like with a quarterback who you trust to not turn the ball over. It makes things so simple. "Let's see if we can get the run game going, but if not, we'll make the connections we need to make to move the chains in the passing game. And if we need a third-and-eight throw, we have a quarterback we trust to make a tricky third-and-eight throw."

Play solid defense. Have a great running game. Have a trustworthy quarterback. That's it.

7-1.

+ It's so nice to have that game where a bunch of The Little Things go wrong but we still pull away. I documented them early in the second quarter:

So many little things today. That missed tackle, the timeout on the made field goal, DeVito stepping out of bounds, the missed extra point.

Football can be infuriating (and exhilarating).

— Robert Rosenthal (@ALionEye) October 29, 2022

We were playing well, and we were the better team, but we were losing because of so many Little Things. The timeout (and then the false start) took three points off the board. It looked like DeVito had a clear first down but he stepped out of bounds short of the sticks. One DB goes for the INT and one DB makes a lazy tackle attempt and Nebraska turns a nothing play into a long touchdown.

What do we immediately do after I tweet that? Completely dominate every facet of the game until the final whistle. We grab two more interceptions, turn them into points, and ballgame.

Every team goes on the road and struggles with The Little Things. Just when Ryan Walters calls a blitz, the home team calls a screen to that side and it's a 50-yard play. We've watched those Little Things turn possible wins into blowout losses for so many seasons.

So to watch us just shrug them off and dominate? I could get used to this.

+ The thing from today that I keep going over and over in my head: interceptions.

I've written that yearly article for more than 10 years. I've tracked how bad we are at intercepting passes. Each year I've tried to come up with new ways to say "you don't understand how much this hurts us."

And now here we are leading the nation with 15 interceptions. Here's the stat I was tweeting all day:

Interceptions (by the defense) since 2007:

2007 - 17
2022 - 15 in eight games
2018 - 15
2011 - 13
2019 - 12
2010 - 11
2015 - 10
2021 - 9
2017 - 9
2020 - 7
2016 - 7
2014 - 7
2012 - 7
2008 - 6
2009 - 5
2013 - 3

Just incredible. 2013: three interceptions. 2022: fifteen on our way to... 20? 22? Absolutely incredible.

Havin' a record year.

+ I just want to note how happy I am that I'm sitting in the stands for most game this season. For this game, my youngest son (the one from Friday's podcast) sat with me. And we were directly behind my friends Carmen, Myles, and Jason. The two-row block of fans at a road game (a road game with 80,000+) is just such a fantastic experience. High fives for days.

Side note: I'm a firm believer that four season tickets should be two in one row, two behind, not four in one row. Since you're going to be getting season tickets again next year (YOU'RE GOING TO BE GETTING SEASON TICKETS AGAIN NEXT YEAR), go for the two in front, two behind layout. You're welcome.)

My youngest son has probably attended the most games with me (of our boys), so getting to sit with him while we dominate Nebraska was a special treat. We spent 16 hours yesterday either driving or trying to fix his overheating truck, so this was a great reward. Finally, the Illini fandom I forced on him is paying off.

+ If you didn't listen to From The Stands I'll say it again: this is our first season with seven regular season wins SINCE 2007. And we're going to get to 8, 9, 10, or maybe even 11. ELEVEN!

+ I'll close with this:

I'm just so happy. And I owe it all to you. You guys agreed to this "we'll pay you some money and you go cover the games" thing, and now I get to be here, in this Lincoln, Nebraska hotel lobby at 12:56 am, writing about OUR #17 (soon to be.. #12?) Fighting Illini football team. Thank you so much for partnering with me.

The best part: we're not done. We can now wrap up the Big Ten West by winning the next two home games (seriously - Indy will be wrapped up if we win the next two and the results of the Michigan game and the Northwestern game won't matter). The tailgating in Champaign on the next two Saturdays will be epic. And you're paying me to be at all these games. I love you guys. If you bought some tickets last week and are headed back to Champaign for the first time in a long time, come say hi in Lot 31.

A better way to put that:

If you find your way back, I owe you a beer
For my record year