As he prepared to play Illinois, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was asked this week if he would ever agree to participate in a reality show like “The Journey,” which has documented the Illini football team this season on the Big Ten Network.

He didn’t hesitate to say no.

This was not a condemnation of the Illini doing the show. But Ohio State is an established national program, while Illinois is still seeking the type of exposure “The Journey” has provided in cities that carry the Big Ten Network.

But Tressel did mention the possibility of distraction, and there are some who have theorized that the Illini have been distracted during their 5-5 season.

“Anything that could distract what we’re trying to do, I don’t think helps,” Tressel said. “So most of the time I try to keep things we do toward how can it help us and I don’t know as I analyze, maybe longterm something like that could help us because more exposure and all that, but I think about what’s going on here now and what’s the best thing for us today so I probably wouldn’t, but I’m old-fashioned, everyone knows that.”