Illini Football 2025

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#51      
Fly Illini Fly!
Indy Illini Fan said:
11-1 …

Gameday makes an appearance in Champaign for the Ohio State and it’s a good fight but a loss …

This team will be CFB Playoff bound …

Breaking Bad Train GIF
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Season 3 Nbc GIF by The Office
 
#53      
fatt lacosse
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I tend to agree, regardless of what else happens. For one, I think IU will take a step back and we will be very evenly matched. I also think a lot of enthusiastic Illini fans are going to find their way over to Bloomington.

I kind of forgot for a second that we already got revenge for the 2022 loss in 2023, but it's worth noting that Bret has beat EVERY Big Ten team he has played except for Oregon ... and we only got one shot, in Eugene, while they were ranked #1. Bizarrely enough, we have not played Ohio State since he's been there and (obviously) none of the other West Coast schools.

Here are the Big Ten teams he has beat in order of first victory (starting in 2021).

Nebraska
Penn State
Minnesota
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Iowa
Maryland
Indiana
Purdue
Michigan
Michigan State
Rutgers

This year rectified winless records against Purdue, Michigan, MSU and Rutgers ... awesome, lol! Let's cross USC, Ohio State and Washington off of that list next year!!
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He has both beaten AND lost to every other B1G school he's played besides Oregon, so if he already had a loss to Ohio State I would be feeling pretty good about that one. Non-zero chance we win that one; it depends on whether or not he can make Ryan Day piss himself on the sideline like he did to several coaches this year.

I absolutely think we'll beat USC though, and I hope it's unseasonably cold. They are the softest team in the league.
 
#54      
Mr. Tibbs
serious question - is there any data to support the long held belief that southern college teams really play poorly in northern sites in November , when it could possibly be below freezing ?

i’m not convinced
 
#56      
BZuppke
When you look at things we have 6 games we should win. Assuming we go .500 on the others we’re at 9 wins.
 
#58      
phats22
Mr. Tibbs said:
serious question - is there any data to support the long held belief that southern college teams really play poorly in northern sites in November , when it could possibly be below freezing ?

i’m not convinced
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good question, im guessing that would be a small sample size?
 
#59      
mhuml32
phats22 said:
good question, im guessing that would be a small sample size?
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This was my initial thought too. I can't even think of examples where a southern or west coast school played a Big Ten or upper ACC school in November and the weather was cold. Your best sample might be Pinstripe Bowl participants, but bowl game stuff is not perfectly correlated with regular season teams because of opt-outs and other changes like trick plays and giving certain players playing time.
 
#60      
Mr. Tibbs
mhuml32 said:
This was my initial thought too. I can't even think of examples where a southern or west coast school played a Big Ten or upper ACC school in November and the weather was cold. Your best sample might be Pinstripe Bowl participants, but bowl game stuff is not perfectly correlated with regular season teams because of opt-outs and other changes like trick plays and giving certain players playing time.
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Fresno St played at Champaign in early Dec, about 25 years ago when it was 15 degrees out. They still beat us on a fluke play
I really dont think cold weather gives the northern / midwest schools that much of an edge.
Best place to get any data would be Big12 games when Texas schools had to play away games at IowaSt/Nebr/Kansas/Colo in the early 2000's
 
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#61      
IlliniInBuckeyeState
rtbritt said:
Sorry.. I saw this already. I guess, I probably should have said I saw this, and I’m thinking of getting west sideline or maybe horseshoe seats. Anyone have preference or input why one is better or worse?
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Horseshoe will be your best value if you are deciding between there and the West Sideline. I believe the cheapest tickets in 2024 along the West Sideline were in the balcony and they were $199 - so double the cost of the Horseshoe. When I've sat in the West Balcony, it's been a great view. Like you're watching on TV.

This was my second year with tickets in the Horseshoe. Going in, I thought I would dislike the vantage point and the distance from the action on the field. But I actually have developed an unexpected appreciation and enjoyment of them. Below are my personal pros and cons of my Horseshoe seats.

What I like about my seats:
1. Our seats are in section 118 and look down the west sideline. I like not being directly behind the goal post and getting a little depth perception, but also being able to see the entire field and not have players/coaches on the sideline standing in my way.
2. Someone earlier mentioned getting cooked by the sun in the Horseshoe and East Sideline. While that may be true for some games (and I did not attend the CMU game this year), the sun is always at my back and never in my face. During the chillier October and November games, if there is sun, it feels good to have it on my back. During the hot September games, I'm just glad I'm not looking into the sun like the students or East side of the stadium. I would imagine being in the shade on the West side during some of the late fall games would make it feel quite a bit colder too.
3. My seats are pretty well blocked from the winds out of the south and southwest.
4. Slightly more room to spread out. That may not be the case moving forward if we draw bigger crowds.

What I dislike about my seats:
1. Depth perception is still tricky, but I'm getting better at it.
2. I have to crank my head around to watch something on the video board.
3. The video board contains the sound system for the entire stadium, so it's really loud sitting right in front of it.

I still can't get over the affordability of the season tickets in general, but $98 for Horseshoe tickets is worth every penny to me. Very pleased with that purchase the last two seasons. With the reseat in the spring, I hope to end up in a similar spot.
 
#63      
spotter
Fighter of the Nightman said:
FIFY!

Also, I think our fan base should have a completely reasonable challenge … sell out or come close to selling out almost every home game. We sold out two games last year and drew 55k+ crowds multiple times. We just won 10 games via a prestigious Citrus Bowl victory, and we’ll return a core that should have us ranked preseason. There should be plenty of excitement, continued growth in the season ticket base and we have MORE than enough people in our state, Central Illinois and even just the broader C-U region itself to put 60k butts in those seats!
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Gotta walk before you run, etc. I'll be happy for all home attendance numbers to start with a 5. I think 55K per game is a reasonable challenge.
 
#64      
jmwillini
New Creation said:
your prediction? or theirs'? They have us at 9-3 with losses to OSU, IU and WASH
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Their picks, losing to IU and beating USC

EDIT: Sorry, my bad, I got the 10-2 from the end paragraph below...

How does 10-2 going into a CFP matchup sound to Illinois fans? Hopeful? Sure. A pipe dream? Not after what we witnessed in 2024 and what we're seeing (admittedly, far ahead) on the schedule for next year. If nothing else, there's reason to believe that what Bielema and the Illini pulled off this season is repeatable – and perhaps the dawn of an expectation of excellence.
 
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#70      
Illinijoe
SoCal Illini said:
5-1 in one score games in 2024. In the long run those average out to about 50-50. There’s a possibility Illinois could be a better team but finish with fewer wins. Plenty of reason for optimism but if things don’t go exactly as desired let’s not freak out (I keep pointing to Kansas as an example).

Anything can happen week to week in the middle of the big 10, but my call out for ‘25 is illini will beat the Trojans.
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The 2010 team is a great example. Finished 6-6 but advanced analytics shows this team should have been far better. Still a fun season!
 
#71      
Illinijoe
The floor for next year must be 6-6 if not 7-5. We have every reason to have a ceiling of the CFP. This team figured out how to win 2024 despite the advanced stats showing that we were a bit worse than where we finished. Assuming we at least hit the floor, we are in good shape for sustained success. IMO Bielema has already generated far more excitement than Zook mainly because we haven’t had the 2009 3-9 season under Bielema. Bielema also has proven to be able to sustain this even the 5-7 season wasn’t awful. Zook did end up getting us back to some 6-6 seasons but the trajectory was awful after finishing 0-6. Let’s avoid that!
 
#73      
MoCoMdIllini
Illinijoe said:
The floor for next year must be 6-6 if not 7-5. We have every reason to have a ceiling of the CFP. This team figured out how to win 2024 despite the advanced stats showing that we were a bit worse than where we finished. Assuming we at least hit the floor, we are in good shape for sustained success. IMO Bielema has already generated far more excitement than Zook mainly because we haven’t had the 2009 3-9 season under Bielema. Bielema also has proven to be able to sustain this even the 5-7 season wasn’t awful. Zook did end up getting us back to some 6-6 seasons but the trajectory was awful after finishing 0-6. Let’s avoid that!
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The Zooker found the most annoying way to go 6-6 imaginable.
 
#75      
Mr. Tibbs
agree
I thought Mike Thomas was a horses a$$.
that said it was “Coach Guenthers” job to do that after 2009 or 2010 and he didn’t have the balls to call Zook into his office and do it .

what a nightmare 2010-2016 were. and no, I didn’t want RG having any influence as to the new coach selection , but what a sorry state he left the program in

what’s his combined pension he’s collecting?
$40,000 per month ?
any sightings of him at the bowl game ?
 
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