CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- What we doin'? We be chillin' at the Holiday Inn.

Sorry. It was Corey's clever idea to rip off the lame rap lyrics (thanks, Chingy) but we're just in the lobby waiting for our room to be cleaned here at -- where else? -- the Holiday Inn. Should be ready in an hour, the receptionist said.

Anyway, we've arrived here for tomorrow's Penn State-Illinois game. This town is flat and filled with yellowed corn and soybean fields. Apparently, that's just the way Corey likes it. Upon arriving here around 1 p.m. EST, he said, "I like the scene."

In the course of our travels between central Pennsylvania and central Illinois, we flew to Philadelphia, then to Chicago and finally here. Along the way, we picked up some wonderful newspapers (see below) and sampled some of the local flavor: Chicago deep dish pizza and a Chicago-style hot dog. Did you know that a Chicago-style hot dog is topped with a pickle, tomato, cucumber, peppers and mustard? It was pretty good, too.

Here are some stories we read while sitting in three different airports this afternoon:

Kevin Tatum of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports about the hapless Temple Owls, who will face Penn State at the end of the season.

In yesterday's Philadelphia Daily News, Mike Kern took a look at the weekend in college football. He paid particular attention to tonight's South Florida-West Virginia game.

In The Chicago Tribune, a gorgeous newspaper, Teddy Greenstein writes about the apparently hard-nosed Wisconsin quarterback, Tyler Donovan.

Corey, who has done two internships with magazines, decided to read Esquire. Never a bad choice. He liked a piece by Chuck Klosterman. Never short on opinions, Klosterman offered his theory on how to save sports journalism.

Be sure also to check The Daily Collegian Online for updates on the murder trial of former Penn State football player LaVon Chisley. The jury started deliberating at 11 a.m. today, the article said.

Let me shamelessly plug The Collegian again: Don't forget we'll be live blogging from Memorial Stadium tomorrow, so come back to the Footblog at noon EST if you don't get the Big Ten Network.

That's all for now. Our room should be ready shortly. We're going to relax for a bit and then check out this town. We'll report back if we come across anything interesting.

Cheers,
Mark