Bowl Projections

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#2      

Illini2010-11

Sugar Grove
If Illinois beats Northwestern, Minnesota beats Wisconsin, and Nebraska upsets Iowa, then the B1G is looking at 11 bowl eligible teams. It will be very interesting to see how the official bowl tie ins shake out. Interesting that Brett projects Nebraska to Las Vegas Bowl. I mean there is a chance they win on Friday, but they will be slight underdogs vs Iowa. Not sure they are deserving to be on the list as of this morning.

If Illinois wins and Toledo wins the MAC to get the Quick Lane Bowl auto tie in, then there is virtually no way Illini will play in Detroit.

FWIW, ESPN projections:

Schlabach: Quick Lane Bowl vs Ohio
Bonagura: Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs West Virginia
 
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#3      

redwingillini11

White and Sixth
North Aurora
Of course it comes down to Northwestern week.....

Quick Lane Bowl

Projected matchup
: Illinois vs. Ohio

  • Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Illinois vs. Kansas
Tuesday, Dec. 26
Quick Lane Bowl

Ford Field (Detroit)
2 p.m., ESPN and the ESPN App

Schlabach: Illinois vs. Ohio

Guaranteed Rate Bowl
Chase Field (Phoenix)
9 p.m., ESPN and the ESPN App

Bonagura: Illinois vs. West Virginia

Dec. 23 Las Vegas team logo
Illinois
vs.
team logo
UCLA
Big Ten vs. Pac-12 7:30 p.m. Las Vegas, Nev.

Quick Lane Bowl Logo

Quick Lane Bowl
Dec. 26 •
Detroit, MI
Illinois Logo

Illinois
-7
Ohio Logo

Ohio

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl​

Saturday, December 23, 2023
3:30 pm ET, ABC
Amon G Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, TX
Last Season: Air Force 30, Baylor 15
Bowl Ties: American Athletic vs Conference USA
Bowl Projection: Illinois vs West Virginia

Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 23)​

Tie-In: Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Projection: Illinois vs. UCLA

Gasparilla Bowl: Illinois vs. Texas State

Cure Bowl: Illinois vs. UCF

Dec. 23SRS Distribution Las Vegas BowlIllinois vs. Utah
 
#5      

Illini2010-11

Sugar Grove
We can still make a bowl game at 5-7, if Minny finishes 5-7 as well l but I don’t think we want to go there. Let’s beat NW next Saturday.
I do not see a viable path to a bowl game at 5-7. The Illini are 85th in APR rankings, and there are at least 9 teams that could finish 5-7 ahead of Illini (including Minnesota, Wake Forest, Rice, Mississippi State, even Michigan State and Florida).

Illini are in win or bust mode on Saturday, plain and simple.
 
#7      
going to a bowl at 5-7 is so lame

In a sense it’s lame. But in another sense this gives the team and fans a bowl game experience that they would not have had otherwise. And if a 5-7 team gets into a bowl and wins it... not too many people are going to complain.

From a fan and athlete point-of-view... playing a game is always better than not playing. And with the Illini giving a couple games away at the end this season... they would not really seem like a 5-7 team.
 
#9      
As a fan of the sport, I'm bummed this year is still a 4 team format. Seems like there are more than 4 deserving teams, at least at this point, that could make a run.
 
#10      

Illini2010-11

Sugar Grove
agree

besides, going to a bowl at 5-7 is so lame
Outside of the extra bowl practices, I completely agree that 5-7 teams should not be sniffing a bowl invite. Even with a win, the team would have a losing record. At least a 6-6 team can still win a bowl game to get a winning record.

As far as I am concerned, I hope there are 80 bowl eligible teams out of the 82 bowl spots. James Madison (10-1) and Jacksonville State (8-3) deserve to get a bowl invite, and the only way they can get in is if there are not enough bowl eligible teams.
 
#12      

redwingillini11

White and Sixth
North Aurora
Mid-week Update:

Quick LaneDec. 26Illinois (Big Ten 7)Eastern Michigan (MAC)

Frisco Bowl (Dec. 19)
Navy vs. Illinois

Dec. 26First ResponderBig 12 vs. At-largeIowa State vs. Illinois

Guaranteed Rate (Dec. 26): Illinois vs. West Virginia
 
#13      
Of course it comes down to Northwestern week.....

Quick Lane Bowl

Projected matchup
: Illinois vs. Ohio

  • Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Illinois vs. Kansas
Tuesday, Dec. 26
Quick Lane Bowl

Ford Field (Detroit)
2 p.m., ESPN and the ESPN App

Schlabach: Illinois vs. Ohio

Guaranteed Rate Bowl
Chase Field (Phoenix)
9 p.m., ESPN and the ESPN App

Bonagura: Illinois vs. West Virginia

Dec. 23Las Vegas team logo
Illinois
vs.
team logo
UCLA
Big Ten vs. Pac-127:30 p.m.Las Vegas, Nev.

Quick Lane Bowl Logo

Quick Lane Bowl
Dec. 26 •
Detroit, MI
Illinois Logo

Illinois
-7
Ohio Logo

Ohio

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl​

Saturday, December 23, 2023
3:30 pm ET, ABC
Amon G Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, TX
Last Season: Air Force 30, Baylor 15
Bowl Ties: American Athletic vs Conference USA
Bowl Projection: Illinois vs West Virginia

Las Vegas Bowl (Dec. 23)​

Tie-In: Big Ten vs. Pac-12
Projection: Illinois vs. UCLA

Gasparilla Bowl: Illinois vs. Texas State

Cure Bowl: Illinois vs. UCF

Dec. 23SRS Distribution Las Vegas BowlIllinois vs. Utah
Selfishly I’d love to see us play Texas State because one of my old players is a D End for them.
 
#15      

Shief

Champaign Area
Mid-week Update:

Quick LaneDec. 26Illinois (Big Ten 7)Eastern Michigan (MAC)

Frisco Bowl (Dec. 19)
Navy vs. Illinois

Dec. 26First ResponderBig 12 vs. At-largeIowa State vs. Illinois

Guaranteed Rate (Dec. 26): Illinois vs. West Virginia
IMO, assuming Illinois does become bowl eligible, I hope that we go to either the First Responder Bowl or Frisco Bowl. We all know that Texas, especially the DFW area, is a fertile recruiting area and being seen by local prospects could be beneficial to Illinois' future recruiting efforts. If we are matched up with Iowa State, then I could probably throw together a watch party with some of my wife's family, a few of them went there, and have a good time ragging on each other and eating good food.
 
#16      
IMO, assuming Illinois does become bowl eligible, I hope that we go to either the First Responder Bowl or Frisco Bowl. We all know that Texas, especially the DFW area, is a fertile recruiting area and being seen by local prospects could be beneficial to Illinois' future recruiting efforts. If we are matched up with Iowa State, then I could probably throw together a watch party with some of my wife's family, a few of them went there, and have a good time ragging on each other and eating good food.
Love this as I'm in the DFW area and would actually be able to get to an Illini football game for the first time since 2019 :)
 
#17      
As a side note, I am really glad of the following two things:

1. The only bowl on Friday 12/22 is the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl, and the Big Ten does not have an affiliation.
2. Missouri is good enough at football this year to avoid being the SEC team going to that bowl.

My first Braggin' Rights was 2021-22, and in addition to Mizzou's awful record watering down the attendance, the game was also during their bowl game. While it was fun beating Mizzou like a drum, it sucked having their side MAYBE 25% full. Of course, last year I got the atmosphere I wanted (both sides about 85% full, which was VERY impressive given the weather) and some truly horrific game results, lol...
 
#20      
IMO, assuming Illinois does become bowl eligible, I hope that we go to either the First Responder Bowl or Frisco Bowl. We all know that Texas, especially the DFW area, is a fertile recruiting area and being seen by local prospects could be beneficial to Illinois' future recruiting efforts. If we are matched up with Iowa State, then I could probably throw together a watch party with some of my wife's family, a few of them went there, and have a good time ragging on each other and eating good food.
DFW has direct flights to Champaign. Takes some of the travel pain away that some families would have in other places.
 
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