Illinois or Northwestern? Voters picked the team they hope will win Saturday at Wrigley Field

On By Littum

Northwestern will be the home team Saturday against Illinois at Wrigley Field. Yes, in football. Some of you have probably been too busy sticking pins in your George McCaskey dolls to realize this was happening.

In this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on social platform X, we asked which team you’d most like to see win the battle for the “Hat” trophy.

“It means more to Illinois,” wrote @JeffreyCanalia, referring to the Illini’s 8-3 record and opportunity to get into a New Year’s bowl game.

Next, we asked if Luke Richardson is the right coach to lead the Blackhawks into their next winning era.

“No,” @arrosen76 commented. “He’s not a rebuilding coach. He’s a win-now coach.”

“I’d like it if he stopped changing his lines so much,” @MeersmanChris offered. “Has he heard of consistency or chemistry?”

Finally, we asked how often you have bet on sports.

“Much, much rarer than in 2020-21,” wrote @DeyoSahler. “It’s so hard to win consistently.”

It’s true in gambling. That’s also true for pretty much every Chicago sports team, just saying.

For the polls:

Poll No. 1: Which team would you rather see win Saturday’s game at Wrigley Field, Illinois or Northwestern?

Result: A 70-30 vote split in favor of the visiting Illini fits perfectly with the 70-30 audience split we need to see in favor of the Illini.

Vote no. 2: Is Luke Richardson the right coach to help turn the Blackhawks into winners again?

Result: The Hawks went 26-49-7 for 59 points in Richardson’s first season. But then they got it together and went 23-53-6 for 52 points in his second season. Wait, is the second one worse than the first? Don’t forget.

Vote no. 3: How often do you bet on sports?

Result: Don’t worry about what other people are doing, okay? You just have to worry about picking the 11-team parlay today that will totally get in.