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There's a lot of news each day. Illini Inquirer will try to make it easier to digest each weekday morning with the Daily Digest.

Illinois officially will play UCLA in the opening round of the Continental Tire Main Event on Friday, Nov. 18, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The game between the Illini (No. 13 T-Rank projection) and Bruins (No. 7 T-Rank) will tip off at 8:30 p.m. CT (6:30 p.m. PT) on ESPNU.

The winners of the two Friday matchups will meet in the championship at 2 p.m. CT (noon PT) on Sunday, Nov. 20.

Four months in advance, here are three matchups we’re excited about for Illinois-UCLA.

Kirby Smart has agreed to a 10-year, $112.5 million contract to stay with Georgia through the 2031 season, according to multiple reports. Smart last season led Georgia to its first national championship in 41 years, and the Bulldogs just had a modern record 15 players selected in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Why it matters: The contract is the highest in total ($112.5 million) and average salary ($11.25 million) in college football history. Yes, higher than Smart’s mentor, Nick Saban.

What it means: As college football’s media rights deals continue to skyrocket, coaching salaries also skyrocket. During the last year, seven coaches have agreed to deals that take their current contracts to more than $90 million: Saban, Smart, Brian Kelly (LSU), Dabo Swinney (Clemson) Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M), Mel Tucker (Michigan State) and Lincoln Riley (USC).

Bottom line: It’s becoming harder and harder for coaches to publicly decry players earning additional compensation when the most successful coaches in the country are making close to eight figures per year.

Three-star New Jersey wide receiver Famah Toure will announce his college decision at 6 p.m. Friday. The 6-foot-3 wideout is the younger brother of Rutgers defensive lineman Mohamed Toure and took official visits last month to Illinois and Rutgers.

Why it matters: Illinois lost out on four-star Chicago Simeon wide receiver Malik Elzy to Cincinnati earlier this month. Toure also has been a top target for Illinois, so if he goes to Rutgers, Illinois seems likely to continue to evaluate wide receivers into the fall and potentially look to the transfer portal this offseason this fall for a bigger, more physical wideout.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he wants answers on why UCLA is leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. UCLA, a public university in the state of California, announced along with USC, a private university, that it will join the Big Ten for the 2024-25 academic season, leaving the Pac-12 after almost a century together in the conference.

The simple answer: It’s the money, Gavin. It’s the money. And he knows that. UCLA and USC are likely to make triple the media-rights revenue in the Big Ten than in the Pac-12.

Bottom line: UCLA’s move could damage UC-Berkeley, a prestigious public university in California, but Newsom’s political options to keep UCLA from leaving the West Coast-based conference are limited, so this appears to be an attempt by Newsom to do something publicly to gain some political points.

Duke and Arizona this week agreed to a home-and-home series beginning at Cameron Indoor Stadium during the 2023-24 season. This was a landmark agreement because Duke has not scheduled a home-and-home nonconference series for 13 years and most of its non-conference road games came due to Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

The got us thinking: what non-conference home-and-home series we’d like to see Illinois basketball play. Brad Underwood has said he’s not afraid to schedule anyone, and Illinois just completed a home-and-home series with Arizona.

Have a great weekend! Hot take: good riddance to the Turnover Chain, which was fun for a minute…

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