DALLAS — Illinois needed to win its last two games to become bowl eligible, then had to wait another week before finding out if there would be more football.

Louisiana Tech knew after winning six of seven at the end of the regular season that it was going to a bowl. And the Bulldogs have already played an extra week, a tight 26-23 loss to Marshall in the Conference USA championship game.

Now the Illini (6-6) of the Big Ten and the Bulldogs (8-5), both coached by the sons of coaches, meet Friday in the Heart of Dallas Bowl that is played at historic Cotton Bowl Stadium. It’s the first of 10 bowl games involving a Big Ten team, and the last of five for Conference USA.

“You want to go into your winter workouts with success and you want your seniors to leave with success,” third-year Illinois coach Tim Beckman said. “They have done a great job with this program. I’m proud of them. We have made strides from Day 1, and we are doing it on and off the football field.”

This is the third time in five seasons the Illini go into a bowl 6-6. They won the previous two for a winning record, but that was before they went 6-18 in Beckman’s first two seasons.

Skip Holtz is wrapping up his second year at Louisiana Tech, which last played in a bowl game in 2011. The Bulldogs overcame a 2-3 start this season that included games against Oklahoma and Auburn, then both top-five teams.

“We knew it was going to be a challenging start,” Holtz said. “We talked about we’re a work in progress as a young team.”