A three-game series against Nebraska is all that’s left in the regular season for Illinois, which is in first place in the conference with a 19-1 record and No. 12 in the RPI rankings at 43-6-1 overall.
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Riding a program-record six straight Big Ten sweeps, the Illini’s magic number is two.
If the Illini defeat the Cornhuskers in the series-opener Thursday and second-place Rutgers loses to Iowa, then the Big Ten title goes to Illinois. Two wins over Nebraska clinches the title, no matter what Rutgers does. The longest winning streak by a Big Ten team is 26 by Nebraska (1983), so another sweep would break the record.
The NCAA record winning streak of 34 is owned by Texas (1977) and Florida Atlantic (1999).
