BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - A few years removed and a few hours up the road from Champaign, Ron Turner couldn't help but show a little pride in the University of Illinois' run to the Rose Bowl.

He recruited some of the key players such as J Leman, Martin O'Donnell and Rashard Mendenhall when he was the Illini's head coach.

Now, after five straight losing seasons, Illinois is back in a bowl. And back in a BCS game.

"I'm happy for all of them," said Turner, the Chicago Bears' offensive coordinator. "I know the adversity they've all been through, and I'm very happy and proud of the way those kids stayed together and battled their way through all that adversity."

Turner was the head coach when the 2001 team won 10 games and made the Sugar Bowl, but instead of regular bowl appearances, a pile of losses mounted.

The Illini won five games in 2002, went 1-11 in 2003 and finished 3-8 in 2004, Turner's final season. After winning two games each in the first two seasons under Ron Zook, Illinois is back in the Rose Bowl for the first time in 24 years.

"They've recruited very well, obviously," Turner said.

Time will tell if Illinois can sustain this success and avoid what happened the last time it made a BCS bowl.

"There were a couple years, maybe, recruiting where we didn't get as many of the top players. I think there was a little bit of a drop-off there. After we had success, we had a couple real good recruiting classes, but they were still really young when we left. You have to have those kind of recruiting classes year after year. We felt we had that the last couple years we were there, and those guys are showing that right now."

Zook vs. Carroll

The record book says the Rose Bowl will be Zook's first game against Pete Carroll as a head coach. It won't be the first time they've gone against each other on the collegiate level.

They've collided on the recruiting trail and the result was lopsided every time.

Carroll beat Zook when linebacker Keith Rivers chose Southern California over Florida. The Trojans' coach was interested in wide receiver Arrelious Benn and linebacker Martez Wilson, but they're finishing their freshman seasons at Illinois.

"They're tremendous athletes and really gifted kids," Carroll said.

Benn has 596 yards receiving, the most ever by an Illini freshman, despite separating his shoulder in August while Wilson has 26 tackles in a more limited role. Neither visited USC.

"Both those kids were really classy athletes," said Carroll, who saw them as "No. 1 draft pick kind of kids."

"We'd have loved to have them here," he added.

Zook got Rivers to visit Florida when he was the Gators' coach but had no chance.

"I just liked SC more. I came out here and enjoyed the weather, the coaches, the team," Rivers said. "It felt like it was more of a family atmosphere."

Rivers grew up in Lake Mary, Fla., and the Gators were in the recruiting picture early on. It didn't take long for him to make up his mind.

Rivers attended a camp at USC and that all but clinched it. The weather was perfect, and the coaches and players made a good impression.

A history lesson

The last time Illinois faced Southern California, things did not go well for the Illini. Final score? USC 55, Illinois 3.

"We weren't even alive at that time," linebacker Brit Miller said.

Actually, they were, although Illinois didn't show much life that day in 1996.

It was a home game, and Miller, who grew up about 50 miles away in Decatur remembered it.

He said it

Miller, comparing Illinois' and USC's colors: "Isn't red something that promotes fear? I've heard that, read it. College does that to you, I guess. When you think of USC, you think of cardinal and gold. You think of those guys and you think of great athletes, big guys that want to come hurt you. That's all right. We're going out there in the white jerseys, I think. That's not as fearful, kind of angel-y, but whatever."