Isn’t it ironic …

The Illini pigskin boys will host another orange-hued squad from upstate New York this Saturday. There isn’t much of anything notable about this battle of the gridiron, other than how wretched each team has been over the past five years.

With one exception.

Call this game the Nancy Cantor invitational. The former U of I chancellor, who was practically chased out of town by the pro-Chiefers, left C-U in February 2004 to become the president chancellor of Syracuse University.

But a story out of Syracuse this morning indicates that Ms. Cantor won’t be able to return to Champaign for the game, giving the good ol’ “prior committment” excuse.

That would be acceptable, but for one caveat; football schedules are made years in advance. In fact, it’s likely that this game was scheduled before Cantor ever left Champaign.