Yeah, it’s just the Redbox Bowl, but ending on the right note would go a long way for Illini

Illinois’ football team visited Alcatraz Island over the weekend. The Illini got to take in a Warriors game, too. Steph Curry might be injured, but still — pretty sweet.

There are far worse places to head for a bowl game than Northern California, where the Illini (6-6) will meet Cal (7-5) in the Redbox Bowl on Monday at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara (3 p.m., Fox-32).

But good things have to happen there for Lovie Smith’s team. More to the point, the -Illini must finish with a bang. There’s no other way to erase the lingering ugliness from their 29-10 loss at home to Northwestern in the regular-season finale.

Will Smith’s fourth Illini team end with three consecutive losses to finish 6-7 — just another subpar squad? Or will it finish with an upset of the Pac-12 Bears — who are favored by 6½ points — and an above-.500 record?

For a program whose improvement still can be measured in baby steps, the outcome of this one matters. Give me the Illini by a James McCourt field goal.

On to the rest of the “Big 10” (where 10 actually means 10):

2. Odds development: Heading into Saturday’s playoff semifinal games, odds-makers had No. 1-ranked LSU listed as a slight underdog against defending champion Clemson in a potential Jan. 13 final.

Then Joe Burrow and the Tigers destroyed Oklahoma 63-28, which was followed by Clemson surviving Ohio State 29-23.

Result: The line has swung all the way to 5½, with Burrow and his guys favored. That’s a heck of a lot to chew on for the next couple of weeks.

3. Deal with it: For the 13th time in 14 seasons, the SEC will have at least one team in the national-title game. That is going to be kind of tough to explain away for Big Ten fans who take issue with the SEC routinely being seen as the king of college football conferences.

4. Expand your minds, not the playoff: It would be great if everyone would wrap their brains around the reality that there’s no such thing as a college season in which more than two or three teams are good enough to win it all.

To wit: Even after Saturday night’s Clemson-OSU classic, the 12 semifinal games over the playoff’s six years have been decided by an average of 21.3 points. Those blowouts weren’t big enough for you?

5. It kind of makes sense: Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley just can’t get over the hump and win a playoff game. Maybe he really is a perfect fit for Jerry Jones’ Cowboys.

6. Justin Jefferson, your table is ready: If there was any doubt heading into Saturday about which team — LSU, Alabama or Clemson — has the top receiving core in 2019, Jefferson put it to rest with four touchdown catches in the first half of LSU’s blowout of Oklahoma. The 6-3 junior finished with 14 receptions for 227 yards. A weapon like that to go with Ja’Marr Chase, the nation’s most decorated receiver? Unfair, dude.

7. Tommy Rees’ big day: Rees called -offensive plays for Notre Dame in its 33-9 bowl win over Iowa State and did an outstanding job. Will the Irish ex-quarterback get the nod from Brian Kelly to replace Chuck Long as offensive coordinator. Maybe not, but the 27-year-old will make a fine coach some day regardless.

8. Eleven, shmeven: Notre Dame finished 11-2. Penn State beat a very dangerous Memphis team Saturday to finish 11-2. Anybody else remember when 11-2 used to be really good? The playoff sure overshadows everything else. Too much so, if you ask me.

9. That’s what he said: “The state of Louisiana is going to be on fire.”

That was LSU coach Ed Orgeron, on his team’s mega-tilt vs. defending national champion Clemson on Jan. 13 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

10. And another thing: After news broke Saturday that LSU offensive -coordinator Steve Ensminger’s daughter-in-law had died in a plane crash while en route to watch the Tigers play, numerous reporters referred to the tragic death as a “distraction” that Ensminger would have to deal with as he went ahead and coached in the game.

A distraction? Really? Must everything that happens surrounding a football game be assigned an inane football-speak cliché? “Insensitive” and “intellectually lazy” are among the words that come to mind to describe those reporters.