2025 Illini Football Schedule

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#27      
Fighter of the Nightman
Sat, Aug 30____Western Illinois
Sat, Sept 6____at Duke
Sat, Sept 13___Western Michigan
Sat, Sept 20___at Indiana
Sat, Sept 27___USC (Homecoming)
Sat, Oct 4_____at Purdue
Sat, Oct 11____Ohio State
Sat, Oct 18____--bye--
Sat, Oct 25____at Washington
Sat, Nov 1_____Rutgers
Sat, Nov 8_____--bye--
Sat, Nov 15____Maryland
Sat, Nov 22____at Wisconsin
Sat, Nov 29____Northwestern

Preliminary thoughts.

1. Playing in Madison on November 22nd sounds cold!!
2. Crowdwise, it kind of sucks that our games that are going to be worse draws anyway (e.g., Rutgers and Maryland) that are on dates that are likelier to have crappier weather. It would have been nice to get USC in November to (1) boost attendance a bit and (2) get those SoCal boys in the cold!
3. We have a nice opportunity to finish strong. 3 of our last 4 are at home against teams we could likely be favored against, and we owe Wisconsin a revenge victory.
 
#29      
IlliniCaboose
I don't know if I've ever seen a year in my lifetime where we didn't have a home game on back to back weekends all year.
Now, FOX, can you take a year off from ruining my favorite thing on the planet and keep all our games on Saturdays? I know TV is king but I just don't get how the University can sell season tickets before they know if the games will be moved to a completely different day.
 
#30      
IlliniInBuckeyeState
Fighter of the Nightman said:
2. Crowdwise, it kind of sucks that our games that are going to be worse draws anyway (e.g., Rutgers and Maryland) that are on dates that are likelier to have crappier weather. It would have been nice to get USC in November to (1) boost attendance a bit and (2) get those SoCal boys in the cold!
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This was my very first thought as well haha. I think new season ticket sales are going to drive much higher baseline attendance overall, but the three opponents in November may mean those games don't get pushed over the edge to become (near) sellouts.
 
#31      
mhuml32
IlliniCaboose said:
I don't know if I've ever seen a year in my lifetime where we didn't have a home game on back to back weekends all year.
Now, FOX, can you take a year off from ruining my favorite thing on the planet and keep all our games on Saturdays? I know TV is king but I just don't get how the University can sell season tickets before they know if the games will be moved to a completely different day.
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I know we were discussing this elsewhere but I want to mention again: Lots of big business sports require fans to lock in season tickets before the schedule is decided, let alone opponents, days, times, etc. If anything, CFB gives you the opponents and 95% of the scheduling accuracy ahead of time, which is better than NFL teams requiring season ticket holders to lock in pricing during week 15 of the season beforehand.
 
#34      
fuddrules
IlliniCaboose said:
I don't know if I've ever seen a year in my lifetime where we didn't have a home game on back to back weekends all year.
Now, FOX, can you take a year off from ruining my favorite thing on the planet and keep all our games on Saturdays? I know TV is king but I just don't get how the University can sell season tickets before they know if the games will be moved to a completely different day.
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If it's any game, they'll move Western Illinois to get in an extra day or two to play @Duke.
 
#35      
TheDrinkinLincoln
jamie13197 said:
We are replacing Kansas with Duke who just landed #1 Qb in portal. Whiskey for Michigan st., Maryland for Minnesota, USC for Michigan, OSU for Penn St. And I'll take Washington all day and on Sundays vs. Oregon. Oh ya, Indiana for Nebby. 👍 I'll go with your take for now.
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I think most people would say that all the teams we swapped are equal to or worse than the team we swapped them for except for OSU and PSU. Indiana is a mystery as we don't know how they are going to be after JMU players graduate.
 
#36      
gibb52
60+ yrs as an Illini fan has taught me to be wary of any big expectations. If we can land a couple of OL/DL and a good WR in the portal I think we will be alright with that schedule. And by alright I mean 6-6 floor with legit chance to get back to where we are this year.
 
#37      
TheodoreRex
Toughest part to me isn't necessarily the matchups but that we have 7 games before our first bye and have to play a stretch Indiana, USC, and OSU before we get that bye. We will need it.

Western ILL W
W. Michigan W
Purdue (better W)
Rutgers at home (W)
Maryland at home (W)

I feel pretty good about those 5

At Duke,
At Washington
At Indiana
At Wisconsin

I feel like they are tossup games that we could definitely win.

Pretty certain we will lose to OSU, no idea what to think of USC.
 
#41      
Illinicpa14
jamie13197 said:
Pretty brutal schedule imo. Duke, USC, Washington, OSU, Indiana, Rutgers, Maryland, and Whisky. Hope for returning players, portal studs, and health. My Christmas list.
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I realize Indiana is having a magical season but if we’re afraid of them being on the schedule a year away, then you’re never gonna have a “favorable” schedule.
 
#42      
Illiniguy74
Apparently, we should be afraid of playing even a third level (imo) team like Duke. The PTSD of Illini football fans is palpable.
 
#43      
mhuml32
It's not probable.........but someone pinch me because I see a possible path to being 6-0 when Ohio State comes to Champaign.



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