It was the game of the year in college football, and that’s no empty platitude.
Just how big a deal was last weekend’s LSU-Alabama showdown, won 46-41 by the Tigers on the road in Tuscaloosa? Put it this way: The CBS afternoon affair was the highest-rated regular-season college football game — on any network — since 2011.
But Richie Petitbon missed it. The offensive lineman with Alabama crimson in his veins just so happened to be nearly 800 miles to the north — at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich. — and playing the game of his life.
That’s no empty platitude, either.
Petitbon — the grandson of the former Bears star of the same name, a four-time Pro Bowl safety in the 1960s — gave Alabama four years of his very best. Alas, his best never was quite good enough to crack the starting lineup of the mighty Crimson Tide.
After redshirting as a freshman, appearing in 11 games over the next three seasons and graduating last December, Petitbon still had one season of eligibility to spend … where?
It turns out Illinois was the perfect place. Petitbon, who turned 23 Tuesday, has started all 10 games at right guard for the Illini. And two days before his birthday, he celebrated early with the biggest comeback in school history.
Illinois 37, Michigan State 34: It meant bowl eligibility for the Illini, who stormed back from a 25-point deficit. And it meant sweat, scrapes, bruises and enormous satisfaction for Petitbon, who’s got a good bit of orange and navy blue in his blood, too.
“My entire goal here was to show up, work hard and show guys I was excited to be here and was going to help my team win,” said Petitbon, who’s pursuing a master’s degree in sport management. “I really wanted to show them everything I can do, how hard I can work, the way I handle my business — weight room, field, classroom.
“And these guys have been great. I’ve got some really great buddies here.”
He has some great ones on the team back in Tuscaloosa, too. Even in that first hour or two of tremendous disappointment, their loss to LSU all too fresh, a handful of them reached out to Petitbon to congratulate a friend who’d worked his tail off to achieve his moment in the sun.
Matt Womack was Petitbon’s roommate for all four years at the school. A fifth-year offensive lineman, he was good enough to start as a sophomore and is an NFL prospect. Hearing from Womack — who knew better than anyone how badly Petitbon wanted to be on the field, and not on the sideline, on Saturdays — was extra special.
“When you go to college, you never feel you’re going to leave somewhere,” Petitbon said. “But it was all part of the plan, you know? Part of what God wanted me to do. I’ve been accepted into the [Illinois] family, and it’s been awesome. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.”
The Illini wouldn’t be the same without him.
JUST SAYIN’
Anybody want to guess how long it had been since Alabama had lost and Illinois had won on the same day?
Hint: Nick Saban had already won his first of five national championships at the school.
The answer is October 9, 2010. The No. 1-ranked Tide lost 35-21 at South Carolina. The Illini won 33-13 at Penn State.
You might say the programs kind of went in opposite directions from there.
• Bulls rookie Coby White earlier this week on experiencing winter-like conditions in Chicago.
“I love the city, but I hate the cold,” the 19-year-old North Carolina native said. “It’s not good for me. I don’t want any part of 12 degrees. I want to stay in bed.”
Then he went out and torched the Knicks with seven three-pointers in one quarter, a Bulls record.
Good thing he got out of bed.
• The White Sox have no choice now but to pull a 2015 Cubs and get to the postseason a year earlier than most people expect them to.
Otherwise, first baseman Jose Abreu — signed Thursday to a one-year, $17.8 million qualifying offer — probably won’t be around to enjoy it when the Sox do play October baseball for the first time since 2008.
Abreu can become a free agent with no restrictions after the 2020 season. It seems the Sox plan to let him walk, because isn’t that what you do with guys who hit 30-plus home runs and win RBI titles?
• It’s was a nice 5-3 victory Wednesday for the Blackhawks in Las Vegas. It was also comically overdue. Every other NHL team beat the Golden Knights before the Hawks finally did — in their eighth try. I know what it’s like to embarrass myself in Vegas, but that’s ridiculous.
