PISCATAWAY - With Illinois visiting Rutgers on Saturday (noon, Big Ten Network), there has been a lot of hemming and hawing this week over which is the worst Power Five program in the country.

After blowout losses to Kansas and Buffalo, the Scarlet Knights are the perceived title-holder. The Fighting Illini are in the conversation, as are the Jayhawks, although that has cooled some since its 55-14 win over Rutgers in Lawrence last month.

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Enough debating. I have an idea. We're going to settle this on the field.

First, I am calling this thing the Power Outage Showcase, which came to me late one night this week after a long day. The mind goes to wild places when it is exhausted. Trust me.

The regular season ends on Nov. 24. The following weekend is reserved for conference championship games, so on Dec. 8, the teams with the two worst records will play in a Power Outage semifinal. Since we're trying to decide who the worst team is, the loser here will advance. The winner, will get to call it a season, and not have to further participate in this money-grab.

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Kickoff is TBD, but definitely primetime as to not conflict with Army-Navy, which is a 3 p.m. kickoff. Location is also TBD, depending on the matchup, but I'd like to hold it at an MLS Stadium. Less seating, more intimate, will look better on TV if only, say, 8,500 people show up.

The third team, the one with the best record, will earn a bye straight to the Power Outage championship game. They'll have earned at least that much.

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The title game will be held as part of a doubleheader with the Division III championship game, which will be played at Woodforest Bank Stadium in Shenandoah, Texas, likely on Dec. 15. Turf, 9,600 seats, one admission, two games, who says no?

There will be an argument over which game gets played first, but I think you have to play the Division III game first. You do that, you know you're getting at least 3,500 or 4,000 in there to start. Hopefully, some of them stick around.

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To the loser, congratulations, you are the worst Power Five team in the nation. To the winner, congratulations, you got some extra practices and reps for your young guys.

If anyone wants the broadcast rights to this thing, get at me. My email address is at the bottom of this story.

Below, USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey staffers make their predictions for Rutgers-Illinois.

Josh Newman, Rutgers beat reporter

Seriously, after an optimistic second-half showing against Indiana last week, Rutgers can win this game. If you want to say this is the last winnable game on the schedule, well, that probably plays.

I am generally a guilty-until-proven-innocent guy, not a benefit-of-the-doubt guy. Let's reverse course on that in this case. This roster has not given up on Chris Ash and this coaching staff yet, and I think that shines through in this one. Rutgers 23, Illinois 20

Jerry Carino, sports reporter/news columnist

On Illinois' first team, in 1890, quarterback Scott Williams doubled as the head coach. The Scarlet Knights might want to try that if they lose to Illinois and Lovie Smith, whose best attribute is his beard. Illinois 21, Rutgers 20.

Mike Davis, Asbury Park Press reporter/Rutgers alum/season ticket holder

I want Rutgers to win this weekend. Obviously. And they very well could: Artur Sitkowski showed glimpses of the quarterback he could grow into, and there’s a good chance he repeats that performance against Illinois. But I’ve watched Rutgers give up so many first downs and so many yards to wide-open receivers that I can’t possibly pick them to win. I mean, seriously. How many times can you miss a coverage assignment in one game?

Perhaps most importantly: Can someone tell Rutgers Athletics to stop kidding themselves with these 12 p.m. “blackout” games. It’s fun for a night but until you put a team on the field that’s good enough to get a night game (and the crowd that comes with it), stop pretending. It’s embarrassing.

TL;DR Everything is terrible but somehow Rutgers is worse. And please stop this daytime blackout nonsense. Illinois 30, Rutgers 27

Steve Edelson, columnist

When the Big Ten preseason poll came out, the only team to receive fewer votes than Rutgers was Illinois. Now Rutgers finds itself in the East division basement, while Illinois holds down the same spot in the West. That makes Saturday's festivities at High Point Solution Stadium a battle to see who is the worst Power 5 Conference team of them all. I'm going with Rutgers. Illinois 28, Rutgers 17.

Steve Feitl, digital strategist

I’m not sure this Saturday’s gridiron tilt is what Donna Summer had in mind 40 years ago when she sang, “It’s the last dance. The last chance, for love.” But that’s certainly what this clash with Illinois represents for Scarlet Knights fans, provided they equate college football wins with love… and really, who doesn’t? Because if Rutgers cannot defeat a team that hasn’t won a conference game in a year-and-a-half, it will not win another game this season. 1-11 was unthinkable at the start of the year, but there’s another quote from the late, great Ms. Summer that may apply to Rutgers: When they’re bad, they’re so, so bad. Illinois 20, Rutgers 13

Bob Jordan, Asbury Park Press sports editor

The Scarlet Knights have lost four straight, but you ain’t seen nothing yet. The Sept. 16, 2017, victory over mighty Morgan State ended an 11-game losing streak, a span that delivered an early reality check to Chris “I’ll Need Six Years’’ Ash. And who can forget the 117 straight losses Rutgers endured in the 1990s? (That was Rutgers-Camden, and it was basketball, but we’re sizing up the potential). Illinois comes into this game off a bye week that followed a 63-24 whipping at the hands of Penn State, so the guess here is that the Fighting Illini have had time to map out a few plays that actually work. Illinois 20, Rutgers 15

Zach Miller, digital producer

Ah, the annual pillow fight between the Big Ten’s two worst teams. It’s a shame this won’t be an annual crossover game when the conference’s new scheduling cycle starts (Rutgers will get Iowa, Penn State will get Illinois in the next cycle). Rutgers showed some fight last week, and I’m picking the Scarlet Knights purely because of their uniforms for this game. The color scheme for this blackout game is great, and the helmet features the state of New Jersey instead of the block R. Enjoy this one Rutgers fans, because it might be the last win of the year. Rutgers 20, Illinois 17

Dave Rivera, Bergen Record sports editor

It’s a blackout game in Piscataway, and Rutgers is busting out the all-black unis and helmets for this one. Well, it’s been a dark season for the Knights so far, but they’ll be hosting an Illinois team that has lost 13 consecutive Big Ten games. Can Rutgers make it 14 for the Illini? This one won’t be pretty (shocker), and it’ll come down to the wire, but a different color uniform will still produce the same result. Illinois 23, Rutgers 19

Staff Writer Josh Newman: jnewman@app.com; @Joshua_Newman