Chris Silcox isn’t happy.

The senior from San Antonio, Texas, has been on campus four years but has yet to beat Illinois’ opponent this weekend, Ohio State, during the gymnastics regular season.

“We’ve never beaten them, since I’ve been here, in a dual meet,” he said.

“We’ve beaten them in Big Tens and NCAAs, but never in a dual meet. They were here and tied us when they were No. 1 in the country (in 2005). It means a lot to us, even more so than the ranking (increase that would result from a win). I would say, screw the ranking, I want to take the victory over Ohio State.”

Illinois’ record against Ohio State has been dismal as of late, with a 2-9-1 record against the Buckeyes since 1997.

During last year’s meet between the two teams, Ohio State took four events and had the top individual score in all events but vault in a 214.7-211.05 victory.

The Illini’s last win in the series was in 2002.

For Silcox and the rest of the team, this weekend will be a chance for some payback after last weekend’s loss to Minnesota – one that was especially hard to swallow for the team given the high expectations and talent level.

“Everyone was really disappointed,” senior Chris Boyer said. “We did not expect to lose to Minnesota. We weren’t pleased, to say the least, we know we’re better than that.”

Even after last weekend’s defeat, the Illini are still ranked higher, sixth, than both the Golden Gophers and the Buckeyes, who are seventh and eighth, respectively, in the first GymInfo Men’s National Rankings. The Illini weren’t all available last weekend for the Minnesota meet but still managed to field a team that fell by less than a point to the Gophers.

Head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said his team will be facing an Ohio State team that is very comparable in skill to Minnesota but better than the Gophers. The Buckeyes’ skill and home-gym advantage will present a bigger challenge for Illinois than last weekend.

But Hayasaki is still confident in his team going into the weekend.

“If we just put together our performances now and get our guys back and competing, we’re going to be able to post a much higher score,” Hayasaki said.

“But we can’t have half of the team have a good meet, or 10 have a good meet; we need all 12 to have a good meet. We’re in a better situation this weekend (than last), so I am expecting better results.”