As the firing of coach Ron Zook gave way to a sense of impending doom at Illinois, interim coach Vic Koenning gathered his players last week with a bottle of water and pinch of dirt at the ready.
He mixed them, held up the bottle and hoped he had made his point.
With emotions still frayed, the Illini learned Sunday night they will play UCLA in the Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco on Dec. 31. But Koenning said players will have to earn the right to make the trip.
"We've got some guys not where they need to be,'' he said. "If a guy isn't willing to do what he needs to do, maybe not everyone will be going to the bowl. I let them know we weren't going to allow negative talk. I showed them what a little negativity can do to a team. I said all it takes is one guy. We don't need anyone being that dirt."
Talking the day after Zook was fired, some players expressed uncertainty about whether the Illini should play in a bowl. Koenning said he would have to gauge the team's desire.
The level of commitment remains uncertain. Additionally, because Koenning and others on the staff are looking into other jobs, he couldn't guarantee that all coaches will be around in four weeks.
"There is a time when they have to put themselves first,'' he said, including himself. "I'd be the first to say they need to do it."
Despite the questions, Illinois accepted the invitation for a battle of teams led by interim coaches. UCLA, which needed an NCAA waiver to play in a bowl with a 6-7 mark, fired coach Rick Neuheisel and will be coached by offensive coordinator Mike Johnson.
Interrupting his search for a coach, Illinois athletics director Mike Thomas acknowledged there were some split opinions last week.
"Sometimes it's a dictatorship," he said. "I know there was a sense early that maybe we shouldn't move forward with a bowl opportunity. I can tell you it was a very emotional time. I understand that. The further removed you get from that, clearer heads prevail."
Illinois started the season 6-0 but lost its final six games, becoming only the second bowl subdivision team in history to complete that reversal. However, the program is playing in consecutive bowl games for the first time since 1991 and '92, and can become the first in school history to win consecutive bowls.
Because of the swoon, the Illini did not land in any of the Big Ten-affiliated bowls. Instead, they were given an at-large spot that would have gone to Army if it had been bowl eligible. The Fight Hunger Bowl also has ties to the Atlantic Coast and Western Athletic conferences, which didn't have enough qualifying teams.
After reaching No. 16 in the national rankings, even Illinois barely made it. Many players were hit hard by Zook's dismissal with some expressing guilt about not being able to win more games to save his job.
"It's been a crazy week in general," quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase said. "At the start of the week, thinking about a bowl game seemed pretty far out. We really didn't know what to think. But as the week went on and knowing we would have a chance, obviously the players are excited."
Illinois hasn't practiced since ending the regular season with a loss at Minnesota and won't return to the field until Thursday. That still leaves 24 days until the game.
The Illini lifted weights last week, and Koenning focused on preparing players for finals, setting up team meeting rooms for study hall.
"We have a lot of redemption to do,'' he said. "Our players have been working hard to try and heal up in a lot of different ways. We have a lot to do academically. As far as getting the team to where we need to be to play our best game, that's our objective. The team that typically does best in a bowl game is the team happiest to be there."
UCLA will be searching for some happiness after advancing to the Pac-12 championship game only because USC was ineligible. Neuheisel coached against Oregon, but it was his last game.
