Final Record Predictions for 2023 Illini Football

Alright, college football Week One officially starts tonight!! I think it's time for everyone's final predictions ... I went back and forth between what seemed like wildly optimistic and overly pessimistic predictions, but I guess that is the Big Ten West this year for ya! Here is where I landed, myself (using the current AP top 25, FYI). I-L-L!

W vs. Toledo: Toledo scares us all to death, but we survive.
L at Kansas: I have this awful feeling that this one will play out almost exactly like our early season loss in Bloomington last year ... but we'll bounce back!
W vs. #7 Penn State: I think we bounce back and get possibly the most important win of the Bielema Era here in front of what I hope is a huge crowd ... I'll be there!
W vs. Florida Atlantic: Nice and comfortable win.
L at Purdue: Unfortunately, I think we drop a really close one in West Lafayette under the lights.
W vs. Nebraska: Fourth straight over Nebraska?! Yes, please!
L at Maryland: A common trend of the Bielema Era has been breaking our ugly streaks ... beating PSU, beating Iowa, beating Wisconsin. However, some things are written in the stars, and Maryland continues to own us to an infuriating level. Plus, they have plenty of talent, and it's on the road.
W vs. Wisconsin: Put me in the camp that people are overrating Wisconsin, and I think Bret will freshly remember them absolutely DOMINATING us at home in 2021. This will be an important statement win and necessary to reassure the fans after losses to Maryland and Purdue.
--- Bye Week ---
L at Minnesota: I went back and forth on this one ... Bret owns the Goofs and we have already won there under him, but I think this could be our "MSU game" form last year, where things just aren't clicking and we run out of time to correct it before we take the L.
W vs. Indiana: Revenge for last year and a necessary bounce-back win comes in the form of absolutely destroying the Loosiers.
W at #25 Iowa: While Maryland will continue to own us, that era is officially OVER for Iowa, as we finally win in Kinnick. I'll also be at this one.
W vs. Northwestern: We do NOT let up on the gas, especially with a trip to Indy on the line, and beat the Mildcats just as badly as last year.

Final record of 8-4 (6-3). Last year, 6-3 won the Big Ten West outright, so here's to hoping! While I have repeatedly said that there are so many "toss-up" games on our schedule, I really don't see worse than 7-5 unless something goes seriously wrong or some players are just WAY worse than expected (e.g., Altmyer). If our D is as rock solid as last year and Altmyer can have a surprisingly effective season (i.e., approaching Tommy's consistency last year), I QUITE honestly believe that 10 wins is there for the taking. MAN, what a statement that would be for this program.

So ready to get this started!

L
W
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W
W
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W
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L- Michigan
W- FSU in cotton Bowl

I’ll do the 4 quarters prediction:

Q1: 1-2
Q2: 3-0
Q3: 2-1
Q4: 2-1

Final record: 8-4

OK, here we go:

W v Toledo -1-0 - Bret will have these guys hungry. Good tune-up with their mobile QB and experienced secondary
W at Kansas - 2-0 - This game will be a fun exercise of our best units going against each other and our worst as well. Ultimately, our D-line and turnovers will be the difference.
L v Penn St - 2-1 - great game, great atmosphere. I think PSU is the real deal this season. no shame in this loss, as I think it will be competitive.
W v FL A - 3-1 - good recovery game after a physical game with PSU.
W at Purdue - 4-1 - Purdue wears out by the end of the game. Our depth and size will be too much for their squad.
W v Neb - 5-1 - This game will be similar to last year—moments when Neb flashes but will make too many mistakes. We'll play classic West football - ball control, limited mistakes, and strong line play.
L at Maryland - 5-2 - I think Tua is a special QB, maybe the best in the Big Ten. He's so athletic and has a lot of tools. Plus, Maryland is underrated and makes this a statement game.
W v Wisconsin - 6-2 - I think the Badgers are still working out the kinks and are a year away. We lean heavily on our defense and ball control in this one. I see it as a low-scoring, nip-and-tuck affair.
Bye
W at Minn - 7-2 - Minn is replacing many of their weapons this season. They will be a competent team with solid defense but we might have the edge with our receiver and running back depth. Being up North might also be cold & windy, which would favor our running game.
W v Indiana - 8-2 - Payback
L at Iowa - 8-3 - Very close game, evenly matched. Daddy Ferentz saves his boy with excellent defensive stops after their TE-lead offense stalls.
W v NW - 9-3 - Just win.

I feel like there is another loss on here, but it's a matter of which game they take their foot off the gas. On paper, I see a 9-win season as a real possibility. It's such a great schedule to make hay.

Unfortunately, my ILL orange-blooded heart tells me that if they lose the Toledo or Kansas Game (or both), I could see this being only a 6-win season. Ultimately, I think we land in a bowl game and break the tradition of 5-win stinker seasons after successful ones.

it would be cool to set up a type of "confidence" pool, but instead of weekly, we have to put our 12, 11,....2, and 1 points down before Saturday nite on our entire schedule. I'm guessing Fla Atl / or / NW would be everyones 12. Very interesting to see how many points people would throw out against our first two opponents.

9-3

15-0.

In all seriousness, I see 7-5 if Illini go 2-1 non-conference and 8-4 if Illini go 3-0 non-conference. I see a 5-4 conference record with three losses on the road and one blemish at home (likely Penn State).

8-4

10-2, losses at Iowa and Purdue. Purdue just has our number and will be sky high for us. Much as we have Penn States number and we will be sky high for them. We’ll play UM in the championship game and lose on some bogus call. We’ll lose our bowl game as our best linemen will opt out. 10-4 good buddy.

I'm thinking 7-5 is most likely.

IlliniMike_Aurora said:

it would be cool to set up a type of "confidence" pool, but instead of weekly, we have to put our 12, 11,....2, and 1 points down before Saturday nite on our entire schedule. I'm guessing Fla Atl / or / NW would be everyones 12. Very interesting to see how many points people would throw out against our first two opponents.

Click to expand...

I like it. Make it happen!

I think a floor of 5 wins, a ceiling of 9

Safe Wins (5)
Toledo, Florida Atlantic, Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern

Lean Win (1)
Nebraska

Safe Losses (1)
Penn State

Lean Losses (3)
Maryland, Iowa, Wisconsin

Toss ups (2)
Kansas, Minnesota

My head is saying 7-5 as we get Nebraska and one of Kansas/Minny. But, if they can get a big win (and confidence) on the road against Kansas, the PSU game could be interesting...

5 to 8 wins expected
Less disappointing. More suprisingly great.
As an Illini fan expecting a step back after a good year, however we don’t know what good football looks like.
8-4 plus bowl game.

I'm going pure optimism in that Altmyer will be at least a decent if not good QB for us this year. And not sold at all on Iowa, Wisconsin, and especially Minnesota yet, I'm drinking the orange Kool-Aid. Give me:

W vs. Toledo: In a tight one
L at Kansas: I'm not sure we'll have the offense yet at this point in the season to keep up, and they are a team that can cause our D some problems.
W vs. #7 Penn State: Call me a dreamer, but we have a team built to beat this team. For the first time in a long time we get that huge win in front of our home crowd
W vs. Florida Atlantic: Should be straightforward
W at Purdue: Another tight one that I think we just pull out at the end.
W vs. Nebraska: I thought this was a trap game against what should be a much improved Nebraska team. Seeing them in their first game, we should win this one by a couple scores
L at Maryland: Not a good matchup for us and going in at 5-1 makes us ripe for the picking against a good Maryland team
W vs. Wisconsin: In an extremely tight one, Leonhard's scouting shows up with a LB lurk pick 6 of a hot route that wins it.
--- Bye Week ---
W at Minnesota: This Minnesota team is much worse without Ibrahim. Low scoring game, but we win by a decent margin
W vs. Indiana: Revenge for last year and a necessary bounce-back win comes in the form of absolutely destroying the Loosiers.
W at #25 Iowa: Big time game with the West Championship on the line. This time we don't let it slip away as Cade McNamara holds on to the ball a little too long though much of the night, eventually leading to a crushing law firm hit and scoop and score and we never look back
W vs. Northwestern: We roll.

We play for the B10 title against Michigan. And in the final year of the B10 as we know it, we leave B10 champions, but are left out of the CFP.

Easy, 10-2

#duh

For those of you that haven’t seen it, watch Altmyer’s only start against Central Arkansas. It’s on YouTube. He starts off electric then seems to Jack up his shoulder and throws a !!!! interception. For the most part, though, kid looked electric and had great accuracy/decision-making. He starts feeling himself a bit and gets a little cute with a shovel pass that nearly gets picked, but kid looked good. I’m sold that he’ll be a solid QB and an upgrade over DeVito (who I loved).

If that plays out, I’m feeling a ceiling of 12-0 (seriously) and a floor of 8-4. I’d predict 10-2.

If he’s not good, though, I’m much more tempered in my expectations. Ceiling 8-4, floor 4-8. I’d predict 6-6.

7-5 and a decent bowl but I'd love to be wrong and too low.

I think 8-4 is realistic. Even if the Illini lose a tough game on an offensive pass interference no-call, and forget to show up to another game, I think 6-6 and a bowl game can happen.

I want to be wrong and see the Illini win 9+

Wow, times have changed, optimism reigns. Other than Altmyer falling apart, no one has yet gone below 7 wins. Except Vegas with the O/U at 6.5.

I see slow and steady improvement under Bret, the best football CEO we've had since Mackovic. I like the direction we're going.

But I really think people are discounting our lost personnel. I worry about significant drop-offs in several areas, especially the defensive backfield. Even DeVito (who I also loved) made an NFL practice squad. Is Luke that much of an improvement? All those guys going to the NFL and we still went 7-6 last year. I don't see us materially better.

6-6 and would love to be wrong.

Battle89 said:

Wow, times have changed, optimism reigns. Other than Altmyer falling apart, no one has yet gone below 7 wins. Except Vegas with the O/U at 6.5.

I see slow and steady improvement under Bret, the best football CEO we've had since Mackovic. I like the direction we're going.

But I really think people are discounting our lost personnel. I worry about significant drop-offs in several areas, especially the defensive backfield. Even DeVito (who I also loved) made an NFL practice squad. Is Luke that much of an improvement? All those guys going to the NFL and we still went 7-6 last year. I don't see us materially better.

6-6 and would love to be wrong.

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Illini went 8-5 last year... though your point stands considering the team lost 4 of the last 5 games. However, I take the bowl game with a grain of salt due to all the opt outs on both sides and the screw job in Ann Arbor. Those two losses at home to Purdue and Michigan State still sting to this day.

And Vegas (betters) has us right around 6-7 wins. Seems about right because to outsiders, until Illini win consistently, they will never see Illinois consistently winning more than 7 games.

7-5 or with a few lucky bounces (or double doinks) our way...... 9-3

Illini2010-11 said:

Illini went 8-5 last year... though your point stands considering the team lost 4 of the last 5 games.

Click to expand...

My bad, thanks

7-5

I'm thinking 7-5 also. I believe Wisconsin and Nebraska will be much improved by the time we play them. We'll be 2-0 vs the state of Indiana though.

W vs. Toledo
L at Kansas
L vs. #7 Penn State
W vs. Florida Atlantic
W at Purdue
L vs. Nebraska
W at Maryland
L vs. Wisconsin
--- Bye Week ---
W at Minnesota
W vs. Indiana
L at #25 Iowa
W vs. Northwestern

W vs. Toledo
W at Kansas
L vs. #7 Penn State
W vs. Florida Atlantic
L at Purdue
W vs. Nebraska
L at Maryland
W vs. Wisconsin
--- Bye Week ---
L at Minnesota
W vs. Indiana
L at #25 Iowa
W vs. Northwestern

I think we could win 8-9 games this year. But we have so many 50-50 games that I can't help but think we have some frustrations on the road this year. If we go 7-5, I won't be complaining at all. Taking care of business at home should be a great step in the right direction. Lets start the year strong 2-0.