Illini Football 2025

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#155      
aiwpfan
unimaroon said:
Saturday 10/23/93 was a picture postcard fall day in Michigan, cool and sunny , trees in full color, sausage and beer in the great outdoors, and Johnny Johnson, Simeon Rice and the rest of the Illini football team.
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I was at that game. When Klein caught that pass, the 100,000+ Michigan fans went silent - all you could hear was the handful of Illinois fans present going nuts. That was totally awesome. I was there there year before when Michigan had to kick a field goal at the end to tie the game 22-22 - Gary Moeller's fabulous 9-0-3 season.
 
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#156      
lstewart53x3
After 3 games, here’s how likely I think each win total is:

11 wins: 10%
10 wins: 20%
9 wins: 40%
8 wins: 20%
7 wins: 10%

Breaking it down:
  • I see 9 wins as the most likely option, which would include a split of Indiana/USC, a loss to Ohio State, and a loss @Washington (remaining in line with my pre-season prediction).
  • I give us a better chance to win 9 or more than 8 or less (70/30).
  • 10 or more wins likely gets us into the playoff. Based on that, I essentially give us a 30% chance of making the playoff which feels about right (we’ll know a lot more after Indiana).
  • Stealing a conversation from the basketball thread, I see 11 wins as our ceiling and 7 wins as our floor. Both seem unlikely, but still within the realm of possibility.
 
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#157      
IlliniInBuckeyeState
Updated Gies Memorial Stadium Sellout Watch:

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#158      
Fighter of the Nightman
For those trying to continue down the rabbit hole of madness that is guessing our future TV times, there are at least some vague clues for the coming weeks:

W6: Oct. 4 - Illinois at Purdue
11:00 am or 2:30 pm (TV TBD)
- Wisconsin at Michigan
- Michigan State at Nebraska
- Louisiana-Monroe at Northwestern

OPEN GAMES
- Illinois at Purdue
- Minnesota at Ohio State
- Penn State at UCLA
- Washington at Maryland


W7: Oct. 11 - Ohio State at Illinois
Friday 10/10 at 8:00 pm Confirmed
- Rutgers at Washington

11:00 am Confirmed (TV TBD)
- UCLA at Michigan State

11:00 am or 2:30 pm (TV TBD)
- Northwestern at Penn State

6:30 pm Confirmed (TV TBD)
- Purdue at Minnesota

OPEN GAMES
- Ohio State at Illinois
- Indiana at Oregon
- USC at Michigan
- Iowa at Wisconsin
- Nebraska at Maryland

So not a ton to go off of, but a couple notes:
General Notes
- The "big three" FOX-CBS-NBC slots are open for both weekends. In other words, NBC did not "flex" a Notre Dame game to its primetime slot for these weeks.

Week 6: October 4
- I find it highly unlikely Illinois/Purdue will be on a "big three" channel, so truly any BTN/FS1 game time is on the table. For the hopefully many Illini fans making that trip, I'll hope for a later game!
- I wouldn't be surprised if FOX is "holding" Wisconsin/Michigan for Big Noon Kickoff. It's not the most exciting matchup this year, but they have not been to Ann Arbor yet, and the opportunities before OSU are minimal to do so.

Week 7: October 11
- Pretty darn sure UCLA at MSU will not be Big Noon Kickoff, so bank on that being on BTN or FS1, lol.
- I flat-out guarantee that Purdue at Minnesota will not be NBC's primetime game, so I'm positive that will be on BTN or FS1, and they are just waiting to decide where they want to slot them.
- I'm guessing NBC has already made its pick behind closed doors, and either FOX or CBS is "holding onto" that PSU game (which is confirmed as 11:00 am OR 2:30 pm) in case they don't have a better option.
 
#159      
altgeld88
#163      
Frank
altgeld88 said:
I'll post this here in case no one else has elsewhere. In The Wall Street Journal today (may be paywalled).

Spectacular. :illinois:

The Football Coach Who Built an Army of Elite Recruiters: His Players’ Moms
Bret Bielema has turned around Illinois’ program by getting his players to stick around. He did it in part by winning over their mothers.

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It’s kinda funny to reflect on the Bret we’ve all gotten to know and love these past several years compared to the vehement dislike of him prior to his hire. I remember a lot of takes with “just please not him” vibes in that short time we were looking for a new coach. Now he’s fully our guy. How the turntables.
 
#165      
altgeld88
Frank said:
It’s kinda funny to reflect on the Bret we’ve all gotten to know and love these past several years compared to the vehement dislike of him prior to his hire. I remember a lot of takes with “just please not him” vibes in that short time we were looking for a new coach. Now he’s fully our guy. How the turntables.
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Many recalled his personality and behavior at Wisconsin and Arkansas. Perhaps they didn't realize that he'd grown up, become a family man, and was stable and mature. I didn't know a lot about the guy post-Wisc but felt optimistic given his ascent into middle age and fatherhood. Couldn't have imagined, however, that he'd pan out as he has done.
 
#166      
ptgrd23
reporter is University of Michigan grad. I guess she did not want to do a story on Univ of Michigan football stealing signals, coach suspension, show cause, firing assistant who stole signals, recruiting violations and lying to NCAA.
:ROFLMAO::LOL:
 
#168      
IlliniShelt
Assuming we win at least 5 games this, which is extremely likely, we'll have 5 straight years of 5 or more wins. We have done that since 88 to 95. Look how far we've come.
 
#169      
STLini25
The previous high points of Illinois football were largely “magical” seasons were everything came together. This is different in that there is no doubt a sustainable program that has been built. I just wanted to highlight the opportunity that’s in front of Illinois football right now. If we can take of business the next 3 weeks and go into the OSU game undefeated and make the CFP, the Illinois program is turning into a Top 15 program in the modern football era (NIL era). There is no doubt Bielema, Whitman and the football program would continue to capitalize on that elevated platform.

I I just wanted to comment on the special crossroads where I think Illinois football is right now and how close we are to being a sustainable Top 15 program. These are program changing games we have in front of us the next two week in my opinion.
 
#170      
Illinijoe
Fighter of the Nightman said:
For those trying to continue down the rabbit hole of madness that is guessing our future TV times, there are at least some vague clues for the coming weeks:

W6: Oct. 4 - Illinois at Purdue
11:00 am or 2:30 pm (TV TBD)
- Wisconsin at Michigan
- Michigan State at Nebraska
- Louisiana-Monroe at Northwestern

OPEN GAMES
- Illinois at Purdue
- Minnesota at Ohio State
- Penn State at UCLA
- Washington at Maryland


W7: Oct. 11 - Ohio State at Illinois
Friday 10/10 at 8:00 pm Confirmed
- Rutgers at Washington

11:00 am Confirmed (TV TBD)
- UCLA at Michigan State

11:00 am or 2:30 pm (TV TBD)
- Northwestern at Penn State

6:30 pm Confirmed (TV TBD)
- Purdue at Minnesota

OPEN GAMES
- Ohio State at Illinois
- Indiana at Oregon
- USC at Michigan
- Iowa at Wisconsin
- Nebraska at Maryland

So not a ton to go off of, but a couple notes:
General Notes
- The "big three" FOX-CBS-NBC slots are open for both weekends. In other words, NBC did not "flex" a Notre Dame game to its primetime slot for these weeks.

Week 6: October 4
- I find it highly unlikely Illinois/Purdue will be on a "big three" channel, so truly any BTN/FS1 game time is on the table. For the hopefully many Illini fans making that trip, I'll hope for a later game!
- I wouldn't be surprised if FOX is "holding" Wisconsin/Michigan for Big Noon Kickoff. It's not the most exciting matchup this year, but they have not been to Ann Arbor yet, and the opportunities before OSU are minimal to do so.

Week 7: October 11
- Pretty darn sure UCLA at MSU will not be Big Noon Kickoff, so bank on that being on BTN or FS1, lol.
- I flat-out guarantee that Purdue at Minnesota will not be NBC's primetime game, so I'm positive that will be on BTN or FS1, and they are just waiting to decide where they want to slot them.
- I'm guessing NBC has already made its pick behind closed doors, and either FOX or CBS is "holding onto" that PSU game (which is confirmed as 11:00 am OR 2:30 pm) in case they don't have a better option.
Click to expand...
Feels like it’s big noon for Illinois Ohio state. I forgot how the order works - can someone confirm? Does Fox get to always take the best game or what’s the order? NBC has some good options still if Illinois OSU is in fact big noon. Is nbc always a night game? I could see Penn state being cbs 230.
 
#171      
Fighter of the Nightman
Illinijoe said:
Feels like it’s big noon for Illinois Ohio state. I forgot how the order works - can someone confirm? Does Fox get to always take the best game or what’s the order? NBC has some good options still if Illinois OSU is in fact big noon. Is nbc always a night game? I could see Penn state being cbs 230.
Click to expand...
The order of picks 1-3 for FOX, CBS and NBC is different every weekend. However, FOX has the first pick for 8/14 weeks compared to 3/14 each for CBS and NBC.
 
#172      
Illinijoe
Do we know that order for each week then? Or how do we even know it’s 8/14 for Fox. Trying to figure out who has topic pick for OSU weekend.
 
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