As the country’s oldest Division I conference, the Big Ten has a lot to prove this football season, as its conference opener is just days away for each of the 11 schools.

The BCS conference was founded in 1896, with Illinois, Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin as the original universities in the group.

Since then, the six remaining schools have joined, with Penn State being the last addition to the athletic conference in 1993. Even though PSU has only played in the Big Ten for 16 years, the No. 22 Fighting Illini and No. 12 Nittany Lions already have a storied past. Overall, Penn State leads the series 12-3 under its legendary head coach, Joe Paterno.

But instead of looking to the past, the Illini are focusing on the present and preparing for their Big Ten debut.

“Obviously, this is what it’s all about, playing in the Big Ten,” head coach Ron Zook said. “They all count, obviously, so we got eight games in the Big Ten, and we open up with a heck of a team to start with.”

Penn State will be a challenge, but this season’s conference opener is reminiscent of last season’s when Penn State came rolling into Champaign as No. 19. After the final whistle, however, it was the Illini who rushed the field and the north end zone, celebrating their 27-20 victory.

The Orange and Blue have spent ample practice time preparing for their journey to State College.

“I think a team like Penn State being our opening game in the Big Ten, it’s a tremendous challenge,” offensive coordinator Mike Locksley said. “You’ve got two ranked teams, it’s a great opportunity to go into an environment like State College and like the stadium there – 107,000 people who are your enemy.”

Enemies or not, the intensity during the season opener will be electric on both sides of the football. After its lackluster performance against Louisiana-Lafayette, the team will need more excitement and energy to pull of an upset.

And the players are convinced the bye week came at the perfect time. Not only did the team have Saturday off, it also had a shortened week of practice.

“Everybody was excited for meetings, and then going into practice and all that,” defensive end Will Davis said. “Everybody’s just excited. We’re going into the Big Ten now. We’re about to play a big game and you know, it’s the best game to come off the bye week to play. Everybody’s just excited to come off the bye week to play football again, so now you’re playing one of the big stages like this.”

Again, the team is focusing on the present, but Illinois cannot help but look ahead to the future and what a successful – or unsuccessful – conference season will mean.

“You can obviously see there’s a little more sense of urgency with our guys because they understand that this is the next season,” Locksley said. “We’re out of our out-of-conference schedule for the most part, and we’re into the Big Ten, and then hopefully our postseason. We’ll be able to do the things we need to do to get to the postseason.”