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		Fighting Illini and Bruins meet at AT&T By Jeremy Kahn December 27, 2011

	SAN FRANCISCO-When the Illinois Fighting Illini and the UCLA Bruins meet this weekend at AT&T Park in the 10th annual Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, this will not be the first matchup between these two institutions. The first matchup between the Illini goes all the way back to 1947, when the two schools played in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Actually, that would be the first ever matchup between the Big 10 and the Pac 10 conferences until the BCS was created in 1997. On that January afternoon in the Arroyo Seco, the Illini defeated the Bruins 45-14 and the two teams would not face each other in a bowl game until January 2, 1984. It was on that afternoon, that now former Bruins head coach Rick Neuheisel helped lead the Bruins to a 45-9 victory over the Fighting Illini, who were making their first Rose Bowl appearance since the Dick Butkus led Illini defeated the University of Washington Huskies 17-7 on January 1, 1964. Nearly eight years to the day later, the Illini and the Bruins would meet in the John Hancock Bowl in El Paso, where the Bruins defeated the Illini 6-3. This maybe the fourth matchup between the two schools in bowl games, but the Illini and the Bruins have faced each other eight times during the regular season. The Bruins have defeated the Illini the last four times that the two schools have faced each other, with the last time coming during the 2004 season, when the Bruins defeated the Illini at Memorial Stadium in Champaign. Coming into this game, both the Bruins and the Illini will be under the tutelage of interim head coaches. Former San Francisco 49ers Offensive Coordinator Mike Johnson replaced Neuheisel despite the Bruins winning the Pac-12 South. This will be a one shot deal for Johnson, as the Bruins hired Jim L. Mora as their next head coach. As for the Illini, Defensive Coordinator Vic Koenning took over for the fired Ron Zook and the Illini have hired Tim Brewster to be their next head coach. The Illini are led by red shirt sophomore Nathan Scheelhaase and first team All-Big 10 receiver AJ Jenkins, who was also a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award, the award given to the best Wide Receiver in College Football. On the defensive side of things, the Illini are led by junior Whitney Mercilus, who won the Ted Hendricks Award as the top Defensive End in College Football. Mercilus led the nation in sacks with 14.5 and forced fumbles with nine. He also ranks second in FBS history with those nine forced fumbles in a season, just one behind Dwight Freeney of the Indianapolis Colts and played his college football at Syracuse. The Bruins on offense are led by quarterback Kevin Prince and running back Johnathan Franklin, while on defense, the Bruins are led by Defensive Back Tevin McDonald, the son of former 49ers defensive back Tim McDonald, who played his college ball at the Bruins archrival, the USC Trojans. McDonald is not the only Bruins player to have ties to the 49ers, as wide receiver Jerry Rice, Jr., is the eldest child of the great Jerry Rice, who played 16 years for the 49ers before three with the Oakland Raiders and one with the Seattle Seahawks.