Looking ahead to 2025

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#26      
HensonHall71
GrayGhost77 said:
I honestly think 9 wins again is most likely (maybe even the expectation?), but we'll look better doing it. 10-11 wins is not out of the question. Seems crazy to even be saying that.
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I agree- next year we should be a better team with a senior QB and all that we have returning - our defense should be better but we need a DT or two in the portal- I’m actually alexcited about our pass rush even if Jakas leaves. Our whole secondary is back

On offense - we will need a true #1 WR to replace PB, but I think the other WR pieces are already there and Luke has good chemistry with them already. We’ll need an OG at least and maybe a tackle in the portal- but the OL should be better. The running game should be better if they all can stay healthy.

So if we can keep the guys we have and load up NIL in a few key pieces, I think we can be really good
 
#27      
Fly Illini Fly!
Wins - Western Illinois, Western Michigan
Likely wins - Maryland, Purdue, Northwestern, Rutgers
Toss up - Duke, Indiana, Wisconsin, Washington
Likely Loss - USC, Ohio State

Won't pencil in anything (outside of WMU and WIU), but prediction wise, I don't think we lose any of the top 6. If we can manage to be around the 500 mark in the other six, I think we're in good shape.
 
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#28      
Second place is 1st loser
gibb52 said:
Not sure how that can be called a favorable schedule. Duke is a bowl team. OSU. USC is not a pushover. Rutgers is a bowl team. All 4 B1G road game are potentially problems. Tougher schedule than this year.
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It's a tougher schedule than it turned out to be this year. At the beginning of the year, Michigan was projected to be top 10. If projections were reality, that's three top 10 teams that would have been on the schedule.

Indiana also came out of nowhere. They were a back of the pack projection to start the year.

I think that Michigan and Indiana go back to the regularly scheduled programming next year.

We get rid of Oregon(Road), Penn State(Road) and Michigan(Home)....all good things.

I don't care how much we all despise Ohio State, but without the O & B goggles, that has to be an assumed L. After that, I don't see any truly cringe worthy games on the schedule, especially if we get USC later in the year when weather could be a factor.

All that said, we have absolutely no clue who we have coming back and let's be honest, we had a bit of a horseshoe up our rears this year. We came out on the right end of every toss up, but one(Minnesota).

This will be a classic Illinois prediction. We'll be anywhere from 3-9 to 10-2....which generally means 5-7 or 7-5.
 
#30      
JKR
jjv0004 said:
My question is why can't Illinois be like Iowa? Meaning have the same success. They have had 8 10+ win seasons since Ferentz arrived in 1999. Why is that too much to ask at Illinois?
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Iowa had Hayden Fry. We didn't.
 
#31      
LFOD
Grandpa said:
Sat, Aug 30: Western Illinois (Win)
Sat, Sept 6: at Duke (Win)
Sat, Sept 13 Western Michigan (Win)

B1G Home Games
Ohio State (Toss up)
USC (Win)
Maryland (Win)
Northwestern (Win)
Rutgers (Win)

B1G Road Games
Indiana (Toss up)
Purdue (Win)
Washington (Win)
Wisconsin (Win, low confidence)
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10 wins would be acceptable.

confused jim carrey GIF
 
#32      
BretMyBeachHouse
Ease of schedules is an interesting thing. Two ways to look at it.

For next year the schedule is tough if you're looking just to get bowl eligible. Just five super likely wins.

But if you're looking to get to 9 or 10 it's great. We can win every game. I don't see us as a double digit dog in any game.
 
#33      
RabidDawgClassic
GrayGhost77 said:
I honestly think 9 wins again is most likely (maybe even the expectation?), but we'll look better doing it. 10-11 wins is not out of the question. Seems crazy to even be saying that.
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Okay now… let’s not go all 2024 Kansas Jayhawks fans here. Yes, next year could be another good year and I like the progress Bielema is building. But let’s not say the thing we’ve done only a handful of times in our entire existence is either likely or the expectation.
 
#34      
Toews
I said before the season that the 2024 season was very favorable to us if we wanted to win a lot of games though not very favorable if we wanted to make the playoff or the Big Ten championship. It ended up even more favorable than I thought because Michigan was mediocre and all the bad Big Ten teams were REALLY bad. We avoided a lot of the gushy middle and our two tough road games were the hardest games on our schedule so almost throwaway games. It was almost a schedule built in a lab to win 7-8 (we won 9 obviously) with 2 for sure losses. Next year is kind of the opposite though we still play Purdue and NW which is very nice. No obvious losses but we do play the middle class teams on the road (depending on Indiana), and our hardest game is at home (OSU).
 
#35      
illinidarrin
It all depends on who we bring in with the transfer portal. If we get several quality starters like we did this past year, 8-9 wins is very possible, but if we don't do well in that area, then 6-7 wins is more likely.
 
#36      
GrayGhost77
We'll be in the Top 20 of returning snaps in all of D1. That carries a lot of weight. As long as we can replace a few key positions of need we should be stronger all around. Obviously Bryant will be the toughest to replace, but our overall depth and quality at almost all positions should be much improved. What Bret is building should be sustainable.
 
#37      
illinidarrin
GrayGhost77 said:
We'll be in the Top 20 of returning snaps in all of D1. That carries a lot of weight. As long as we can replace a few key positions of need we should be stronger all around. Obviously Bryant will be the toughest to replace, but our overall depth and quality at almost all positions should be much improved. What Bret is building should be sustainable.
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Briggs, Davis, Bryant, Franklin and Cox are the biggest losses. They have to get help at WR, also, the D-line will need some help as well. They have some work to do. Oh, i forgot about Jacas and Coleman as well. We have to get some players from the portal.
 
#38      
Chukwuwumba
Dan said:
Illini Football 2025

Sat, Aug 30: Western Illinois
Sat, Sept 6: at Duke
Sat, Sept 13 Western Michigan

B1G Home Games
Ohio State, USC, Maryland, Northwestern, Rutgers

B1G Road Games
at Indiana, at Purdue, at Washington, at Wisconsin
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Schedule is great as far as travel. Big issue for teams this year.
Trip to Duke early. Get a G5 opponent afterward as well if any lag.
Trip to Washington.
Wisc/IU/PU can’t ask for anything better in conference.
 
#39      
Tre11
illinidarrin said:
Briggs, Davis, Bryant, Franklin and Cox are the biggest losses. They have to get help at WR, also, the D-line will need some help as well. They have some work to do. Oh, i forgot about Jacas and Coleman as well. We have to get some players from the portal.
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Are you talking about Torrie Cox Jr.? He is a junior this year and has one more year of eligibility.
 
#41      
BalloonsTheElephant
My hope is six wins. That's it. Then you can say we made 3 bowls in four years. We're here. We arrived. We have built something that can sustain some level of success. It's not a fluke.

Then you can build for more. Until then, give me six. All you crazies out there who think that 8+ wins is the new foundation are the ones who scream the next season when we go 5-7. Bret is the guy we need and he understands what success is at Illinois.
 
#42      
Poe's Law
Pass/Fail should still be 6 wins next year. Looking at the schedule there is ample opportunity to outperform that metric, but failing to get back to a bowl would be deflating.

And since it’s the offseason, I’ll allow myself to dream of 10+ wins and a CFP birth next season.
 
#45      
mhuml32
WIU, WMU, NW, and Purdue are and should stay as expected wins. OSU is an expected loss. The rest is TBD depending on portal choices.
 
#47      
Olaf Blab
so long as Ryan Day is the head coach, Ohio State is not an automatic loss...Illinois hasn't beaten Ohio State at Zuppke Field since 1991.
 
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