Illinois Football a hit on a sitcom, not in reality

ABC's new, surprisingly funny sitcom Modern Family featured the Illini football program - and the immortal Dustin Ward. The premise of the latest episode featured a barbecue where the Illinois vs Ohio State football game was on TV.

As far as I can surmise, the ABC network used footage of the 2000 Illini-Buckeye clash for the program. A game that the Illini lost 24-21 and Kurt Kittner was injured on cheap shot from Mike Doss, resulting in Ward's unfortunate quarterbacking. They also showed a clip of the Illini scoring a touchdown, a rare occurrence these days for the Illini.

It is not a good time when I watching this and seriously asking things like "would Dustin Ward start for the Illini now?"
One of the characters in the show was wearing a Juice Williams jersey and Illini face paint. I guess it is good that Illinois is getting national attention through the show, but really it just draws attention to our disgraceful program.
You can watch the entire episode on Hulu.