Illini Football 2026

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#26      
BuckDitkis
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Ya know what would be cool? Colorado has a relatively uninspiring Rivalry Weekend opponent in the Big XII in Kansas State. Kansas has a totally random Rivalry Week opponent in Utah. Colorado and Nebraska used to always play on the Friday after Thanksgiving before Nebraska moved to the Big Ten, and Nebby fans STILL talk down about the fact that they "have to play Iowa," even though the Hawkeyes have owned them. Entitlement apparently takes decades of evidence to wear off, lol.

I vote Kansas naturally plays KSU on Rivalry Weekend, and Nebraska picks its rivalry with CU back up and has that as their Black Friday game every year. We then kick Northwestern to the curb and play them in October or something, and we then offer Iowa a home as our protected Rivalry Week opponent. All in favor say aye.

EDIT: The Northwestern last-weekend-of-the-year thing is not that engrained and pretty forced. From scanning Wikipedia, our final opponent of the regular season was...

2012 - 2025: Northwestern
2011: Minnesota
2009 - 2010: Fresno State
1999 - 2008: Northwestern
1997 - 1998: Michigan State
1993 - 1996: Wisconsin
1991 - 1992: Michigan State
1985 - 1990: Northwestern
1984: Indiana
1983: Northwestern
1982: Indiana
1981: Northwestern
1980: Indiana
1979: Northwestern
1978: Minnesota
1973 - 1977: Northwestern
1967 - 1972: Iowa
1965 - 1966: Northwestern
1960 - 1964: Michigan State
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I mean 40 times since 1960 is pretty engrained if you ask me…

Also, Hat.
 
#28      
lstewart53x3
A note on last season:

We ended up beating 9 win USC, 9 win Duke, and 8 win Tennessee, along with wins over 7 win Northwestern and 10 win Western Michigan. That’s a heck of a resume.

Missouri and Tennessee, for example, combined for zero wins over teams with winning records.
 
#29      
Illini4Christ
I hear you. Good season for sure but the Wisky loss, like the Minny loss from last year, killed a higher level of bowl invite.

We have to overcome these types of hurdles to get to the next level.
 
#30      
DeonThomas
the juiceman cometh said:
Looking at this schedule, you can pencil in at least 2 wins in the non-con, think you can pencil in a win against Purdue, and you look at that road slate of and say, Maryland is unlikely to improve to the point where you worry about what they do this offseason, and pencil that in too. So that's 4 wins right there. MSU and UCLA are likely wins but also in the "who knows, maybe the new coach knocks it out of the park right away" category and Northwestern is a likely win so I think you say we should get at least 2 more out of that group. That's 6. I was going to say that's the floor, but to add some room for uncertainty, in case we have a terrible offseason, I think the floor is 5.

The remaining games, OSU and Oregon are probably losses. Duke, Iowa, and Nebraska are likely competitive games and will depend a lot on how we and they do this offseason. So I think the ceiling is 10 (though getting to the ceiling would be tough).

Where we land within that range is entirely dependent on how this offseason goes. If we can get to at least 8 wins again that would be a great season, and keep momentum going.
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Agree.

Nicely summarized.
 
#31      
Dkayak
Dan said:
Have yet to see an announcement when the schedule will be released.


Illini Football 2026

Sept 5: UAB
Sept 12: Duke
Sept 19: Southern Illinois

B1G Home Games
Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon, Purdue

B1G Road Games
at Maryland, at Michigan State, at Northwestern, at Ohio State, at UCLA


IL Future Schedules (fightingillini.com)
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Any idea when the schedule will be released? Surely it’s been decided by now, so why the delay?

We’re starting to book travel and activities now and can’t just block three months. It would be unfortunate to later find home games on dates that are already committed to other things.
 
#33      
Illini92and96
Fighter of the Nightman said:
40/66 has more of a more often than the rest feel rather than ironclad tradition to me. And to each his own, I just don’t find it to be a cool rivalry, and there are several opponents in the Big Ten Illini fans probably have more animosity for overall.
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I find it an annoyingly mild rivalry, only a rivalry given the instate dynamic. I say it’s annoying because I get much more displeasure losing to northwestern than I get beating them. Unlike Iowa, for example.
 
#34      
the juiceman cometh
STLini25 said:
Their NIL from their operating budget is probably about $15M. Same as Illinois and most P4 schools.
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They have one of the most expensive coaching staffs in the country. So even if their NIL is the same then their total investment is higher. And I think logic would dictate that if they're investing this much in staff and they're seeing this much success, they will have no problems raising the funds to increase their NIL budget for future seasons.

Also, NIL doesn't come from operating budget. Are you thinking of revenue share? Because while that is capped, NIL is not.
 
#35      
OrangeBlue98
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Ya know what would be cool? Colorado has a relatively uninspiring Rivalry Weekend opponent in the Big XII in Kansas State. Kansas has a totally random Rivalry Week opponent in Utah. Colorado and Nebraska used to always play on the Friday after Thanksgiving before Nebraska moved to the Big Ten, and Nebby fans STILL talk down about the fact that they "have to play Iowa," even though the Hawkeyes have owned them. Entitlement apparently takes decades of evidence to wear off, lol.

I vote Kansas naturally plays KSU on Rivalry Weekend, and Nebraska picks its rivalry with CU back up and has that as their Black Friday game every year. We then kick Northwestern to the curb and play them in October or something, and we then offer Iowa a home as our protected Rivalry Week opponent. All in favor say aye.

EDIT: The Northwestern last-weekend-of-the-year thing is not that engrained and pretty forced. From scanning Wikipedia, our final opponent of the regular season was...

2012 - 2025: Northwestern
2011: Minnesota
2009 - 2010: Fresno State
1999 - 2008: Northwestern
1997 - 1998: Michigan State
1993 - 1996: Wisconsin
1991 - 1992: Michigan State
1985 - 1990: Northwestern
1984: Indiana
1983: Northwestern
1982: Indiana
1981: Northwestern
1980: Indiana
1979: Northwestern
1978: Minnesota
1973 - 1977: Northwestern
1967 - 1972: Iowa
1965 - 1966: Northwestern
1960 - 1964: Michigan State
Click to expand...
I don’t know, I kind of like having a strong win probability game to build momentum heading into the bow game………
 
#36      
Mistakenj
mhuml32 said:
I think the winning is blinding us to some faulty causation = correlation beliefs and ignoring countering data points.

- Their transfer class last year only brought in 3 4-star transfers (Coogan, Mendoza, and Knighten)
- Other transfers that have turned into stars (Daley, Wyatt, etc.) have no stories on their 247 or Rivals to imply there was heavy competition for their services
- A good chunk of their guys in '24 for JMU followers, which is traditionally more of a schematic fit than financial slugging
- Their team's cumulative roster talent is going to break Bud Elliott's blue chip ratio formula
- They have yet to bring in a top-25 HS class, showing they rather spend money on the portal


It's guaranteed that Indiana is bringing in more money, but the context is important. I've been harping on this in previous threads because folks love to hype up how Illinois (or other schools) are bringing in more money than ever before, but so is everyone else! The hard part is you have to maintain the pace of the entire P4 landscape and annually grow at a much faster rate. Think of it as the stock market; SP 500 went up ~17% this year. Every program is a financial advisor but needs to grow at a faster rate than the SP 500 to justify their worth.

Keeping with the stock market analogy - Indiana's approach is simple in one way and bending economic theory at its will in another. They've decided it's worthwhile to spend whatever it takes to bring in a blue chip QB. They brought in Mendoza in 2025 and they'll likely bring in Hoover for 2026. That's the simple (and expensive!) part. Then, they seek out cost savings with the majority of their other additions, but their strategy is to out-scout everyone else. This is financially easy, but strategically impossible. This is the part that I still trust that regression will swing on them. Every other program is finding a mix of success-failure in the portal in ways that Indiana has not in the past two seasons. The first season made sense because Ciggy knew all of the guys he wanted and had a non-economic advantage over the competition. The second season was an even bigger success, without the advantage.

I'll keep suggesting that all of the programmatic questions about Indiana on this board are misplaced and should be directed to Texas Tech. They are the program spending big money to acquire talent in ways that directly challenges the blue bloods. Indiana is challenging the system in more mysterious ways. They are bringing in a top QB and then performing a combination of scheme/development/scouting that is many multiples better than every other program that seems impossible to replicate (and will be impossible for Indiana to continue replicating themselves unless Ciggy has his own copy of Grays Sports Almanac).
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I think he also has one of the oldest rosters in all of CFB, so he has grown men going up against younger men or teenagers
 
#37      
STLini25
the juiceman cometh said:
They have one of the most expensive coaching staffs in the country. So even if their NIL is the same then their total investment is higher. And I think logic would dictate that if they're investing this much in staff and they're seeing this much success, they will have no problems raising the funds to increase their NIL budget for future seasons.

Also, NIL doesn't come from operating budget. Are you thinking of revenue share? Because while that is capped, NIL is not.
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Yes, I was calling revenue share NIL as the original poster implied in his question. I should have clarified in my answer. Thanks for clarifying.
 
#38      
Fighter of the Nightman
OrangeBlue98 said:
I don’t know, I kind of like having a strong win probability game to build momentum heading into the bow game………
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Fair, lol. I just hate that fan bases all across the country look forward to that special weekend, and we are seemingly trapped in a game that garners zero attention outside of the state and that will more often than not be played in front of an empty Memorial Stadium. It would be insanely more cool to know we always had Iowa on the schedule for after Thanksgiving.
 
#39      
STLini25
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Fair, lol. I just hate that fan bases all across the country look forward to that special weekend, and we are seemingly trapped in a game that garners zero attention outside of the state and that will more often than not be played in front of an empty Memorial Stadium. It would be insanely more cool to know we always had Iowa on the schedule for after Thanksgiving.
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You have to look at it as a total sum of all of the schools. Then who does NW play?
 
#40      
Fighter of the Nightman
STLini25 said:
You have to look at it as a total sum of all of the schools. Then who does NW play?
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Do we, though?? Some schools get left out in the cold! NU can play a random opponent, haha. Just taking a first crack at it, I would have these opponents for Thanksgiving Weekend if I were King of the Universe.

Nebraska vs. Colorado (Black Friday at 11:00 am)
Illinois vs. Iowa (Black Friday at 2:30 pm)
Indiana vs. Purdue
Maryland vs. Penn State
Michigan vs. Ohio State
Michigan State vs. Northwestern
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
Oregon vs. Washington
Rutgers vs. Syracuse
UCLA vs. USC

Side notes below...
- Colorado has a lame Big XII rivalry opponent, so this works better for them to go out-of-conference. This would replace an early season non-conference game.
- Maryland and PSU actually have a pre-Big Ten history of a rivalry, so it makes more sense to go with this than a forced Rutgers/PSU matchup. Also, PSU has a ton of DC Area alumni, so that also adds a fun element.
- MSU/Northwestern isn't some epic battle, but NU/Illinois has absolutely nothing outside of being instate and being forced down our throats by the Big Ten wanting everyone to fit into a neat little Rivalry Weekend silo, and MSU currently plays in a totally pointless series with Maryland. Both schools at least are traditional Big Ten teams, and someone had to be standing at the end of the Musical Chairs game ... I'll take it NOT being Illinois!
- Rutgers fans would much rather play 'Cuse than any Big Ten opponent, and I bet 'Cuse fans feel the same about replacing RU for Boston College. Perfect? Nah, but better than Rutgers/Maryland and Rutgers/PSU, IMO.
- The rest are natural fits.

Boom!
 
#42      
rjeffreys
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Do we, though?? Some schools get left out in the cold! NU can play a random opponent, haha. Just taking a first crack at it, I would have these opponents for Thanksgiving Weekend if I were King of the Universe.

Nebraska vs. Colorado (Black Friday at 11:00 am)
Illinois vs. Iowa (Black Friday at 2:30 pm)
Indiana vs. Purdue
Maryland vs. Penn State
Michigan vs. Ohio State
Michigan State vs. Northwestern
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
Oregon vs. Washington
Rutgers vs. Syracuse
UCLA vs. USC

Side notes below...
- Colorado has a lame Big XII rivalry opponent, so this works better for them to go out-of-conference. This would replace an early season non-conference game.
- Maryland and PSU actually have a pre-Big Ten history of a rivalry, so it makes more sense to go with this than a forced Rutgers/PSU matchup. Also, PSU has a ton of DC Area alumni, so that also adds a fun element.
- MSU/Northwestern isn't some epic battle, but NU/Illinois has absolutely nothing outside of being instate and being forced down our throats by the Big Ten wanting everyone to fit into a neat little Rivalry Weekend silo, and MSU currently plays in a totally pointless series with Maryland. Both schools at least are traditional Big Ten teams, and someone had to be standing at the end of the Musical Chairs game ... I'll take it NOT being Illinois!
- Rutgers fans would much rather play 'Cuse than any Big Ten opponent, and I bet 'Cuse fans feel the same about replacing RU for Boston College. Perfect? Nah, but better than Rutgers/Maryland and Rutgers/PSU, IMO.
- The rest are natural fits.

Boom!
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Thinking Illinois vs Mizzou would be a really attractive braggin rights draw...Just say'n
 
#43      
Fighter of the Nightman
Illinivek23 said:
Didn't Nebraska and Oklahoma have their epic battles on the Friday after Thankshiving?
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True, that would be another good one ... I was more picking Colorado because they don't have a good setup in the Big XII at all right now. It looks like Oklahoma is currently matched up with LSU, which is a surprisingly solid one for being brand new for the SEC.
 
#46      
STLini25
Long term I think they get to the following because they really want to get season over prior to spring semester.

1) season ending Saturday before Thanksgiving.

2) No conference championship games

3) 24 team playoff starting Thanksgiving Friday and Saturday (4 games each day)

4) National Championship on New Years Day
 
#47      
Marshall_Lucky
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Do we, though?? Some schools get left out in the cold! NU can play a random opponent, haha. Just taking a first crack at it, I would have these opponents for Thanksgiving Weekend if I were King of the Universe.

Nebraska vs. Colorado (Black Friday at 11:00 am)
Illinois vs. Iowa (Black Friday at 2:30 pm)
Indiana vs. Purdue
Maryland vs. Penn State
Michigan vs. Ohio State
Michigan State vs. Northwestern
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
Oregon vs. Washington
Rutgers vs. Syracuse
UCLA vs. USC

Side notes below...
- Colorado has a lame Big XII rivalry opponent, so this works better for them to go out-of-conference. This would replace an early season non-conference game.
- Maryland and PSU actually have a pre-Big Ten history of a rivalry, so it makes more sense to go with this than a forced Rutgers/PSU matchup. Also, PSU has a ton of DC Area alumni, so that also adds a fun element.
- MSU/Northwestern isn't some epic battle, but NU/Illinois has absolutely nothing outside of being instate and being forced down our throats by the Big Ten wanting everyone to fit into a neat little Rivalry Weekend silo, and MSU currently plays in a totally pointless series with Maryland. Both schools at least are traditional Big Ten teams, and someone had to be standing at the end of the Musical Chairs game ... I'll take it NOT being Illinois!
- Rutgers fans would much rather play 'Cuse than any Big Ten opponent, and I bet 'Cuse fans feel the same about replacing RU for Boston College. Perfect? Nah, but better than Rutgers/Maryland and Rutgers/PSU, IMO.
- The rest are natural fits.

Boom!
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NU and MSU matchup now has some actual intrigue too with Sparty hiring Fitz
 
#48      
the Castle on Daniel
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Do we, though?? Some schools get left out in the cold! NU can play a random opponent, haha. Just taking a first crack at it, I would have these opponents for Thanksgiving Weekend if I were King of the Universe.

Nebraska vs. Colorado (Black Friday at 11:00 am)
Illinois vs. Iowa (Black Friday at 2:30 pm)
Indiana vs. Purdue
Maryland vs. Penn State
Michigan vs. Ohio State
Michigan State vs. Northwestern
Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
Oregon vs. Washington
Rutgers vs. Syracuse
UCLA vs. USC

Side notes below...
- Colorado has a lame Big XII rivalry opponent, so this works better for them to go out-of-conference. This would replace an early season non-conference game.
- Maryland and PSU actually have a pre-Big Ten history of a rivalry, so it makes more sense to go with this than a forced Rutgers/PSU matchup. Also, PSU has a ton of DC Area alumni, so that also adds a fun element.
- MSU/Northwestern isn't some epic battle, but NU/Illinois has absolutely nothing outside of being instate and being forced down our throats by the Big Ten wanting everyone to fit into a neat little Rivalry Weekend silo, and MSU currently plays in a totally pointless series with Maryland. Both schools at least are traditional Big Ten teams, and someone had to be standing at the end of the Musical Chairs game ... I'll take it NOT being Illinois!
- Rutgers fans would much rather play 'Cuse than any Big Ten opponent, and I bet 'Cuse fans feel the same about replacing RU for Boston College. Perfect? Nah, but better than Rutgers/Maryland and Rutgers/PSU, IMO.
- The rest are natural fits.

Boom!
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I think we need divisions for this to even be remotely considered, which means ND +1. The internet came out of nowhere w Pitt to the B1G, which would be a no-brainer for PSU. That'd likely make Rutgers-Maryland a game and MSU-ND a game on rivalry week.
 
#49      
STLini25
the Castle on Daniel said:
I think we need divisions for this to even be remotely considered, which means ND +1. The internet came out of nowhere w Pitt to the B1G, which would be a no-brainer for PSU. That'd likely make Rutgers-Maryland a game and MSU-ND a game on rivalry week.
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Pitt will never be in the BT. If we added 2 teams and ND was one of them the other would be Miami, FSU or Stanford. We will 100% add Miami or FSU or both.

In addition, if we expand to 20 teams we definitely need a west team and if we expand to 24 maybe 2 west teams.
 
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