Illinois has four games remaining and needs two wins to qualify for a bowl game. Three of those four games are winnable.

This game isn’t one of those.

Illinois is likely to get thumped by Ohio State this weekend. A win over Purdue would have eased the pressure a little bit, but there’s nothing the Illini can do about that now.

Iowa, Penn State and Northwestern are all beatable. They are also all losable games.  One could realistically see Illinois finishing anywhere from 7-5 to 4-8.

I guess that’s the fun in watching the Big Ten. It’s been a while since the conference competed for a championship, but at least it’s competitive within, right!?

That being said, the Buckeyes are too strong for the Illini. Stop calling J.T. Barrett a backup. The guy has started seven games this year and won six of them. By this point, he knows what he’s doing, and he’s doing a good job.

He’s completed 65 percent of his passes and is averaging 4.7 yards per rush. He’s leading the eighth-best offense in the nation right now.

It must make Illinois backup Aaron Bailey wonder if that could be him. The sophomore was recruited by the Buckeyes, but chose Illinois.

Whether Urban Meyer would have left him at the quarterback position could be debated. But in some alternate universe somewhere, Bailey is the one leading the Buckeyes after Braxton Miller went out for the season with a shoulder injury.

Besides Barrett, Ohio State features a rushing attack that averages 254 yards per game. Defensive coordinator Tim Banks needs to find some more of that secret stuff that helped Illinois hold off Minnesota last week.

Head coach Tim Beckman thought Illinois improved its tackling and that the Illini were tackling in groups. But the defensive performance of last week feels more like a fluke than a turning point. Plus, the Buckeyes present a tougher challenge than the Gophers did.

Illinois must be on some kind of high right now. Coaches and players celebrated last week’s win like they had won the Big Ten. That confidence might carry over this week, but it doesn’t figure to be enough to top the Buckeyes in Columbus.

This will be another big test for quarterback Reilly O’Toole. In his three starts this year, we’ve seen his worst in Nebraska, a mediocre performance at Wisconsin and his best last week.

Ohio State is a tougher foe defensively. A mediocre performance isn’t likely to be enough. The Illini will need him to be better than his best, better than last week’s performance. That might be too much to ask in such a tough environment.

But maybe having Juice Williams on staff will motivate Illinois. People questioned Williams’ passing ability until the Illini toppled No. 1 Ohio State in Columbus in 2007. People are still questioning O’Toole.

Maybe this week that will change.

Probably not.

But isn’t it fun to imagine?

Sean is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @sean_hammond.