Illini Football 2025

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#76      
Fighter of the Nightman
Joel Goodson said:
kind of a click bait list, but not bad, nonetheless:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1931022196882743362

at Washington is gonna be a tough test
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Yep, in my last prediction, it was one of our losses. I would roughly rank our games in this order as far as likelihood to lose:

vs. Ohio State




at Washington
at Indiana
at Duke


at Wisconsin
vs. USC

at Purdue
vs. Rutgers
vs. Maryland


vs. Northwestern

vs. Western Michigan
vs. Western Illinois
 
#77      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
If we win one of Duke/Indiana that USC game will be arguably Bret's biggest game here. Maybe Michigan last year. the only other I would even put in the same realm.

Big name school (but one that hasnt performed at that level recently), homecoming, and everyone wants to talk about 10-2 ... that significantly increases your chances, maybe even makes it likely.
 
#78      
NarrowJ
lstewart53x3 said:
Luke to Sellers
Crocodile Dundee Hello GIF by Laff
Click to expand...

Lanorris sounds like a grandmas name

I said what I said
 
#79      
jrichisamazing
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Yep, in my last prediction, it was one of our losses. I would roughly rank our games in this order as far as likelihood to lose:

vs. Ohio State




at Washington
at Indiana
at Duke


at Wisconsin
vs. USC

at Purdue
vs. Rutgers
vs. Maryland


vs. Northwestern

vs. Western Michigan
vs. Western Illinois
Click to expand...

I think the Washington, Indiana, and Wisconsin road games have a very volatile range on the "how tough is this game" scale.

Indiana - Start time will be a big factor. We will already have a road game against legit opponent under our belt, while this is Indiana's first real game. Give me an 11am start time and I think we punch them in the mouth. On the other hand, a prime time game as their first real game? In mid September so likely perfect tailgating weather? Yeah, that's a guaranteed raucous environment and would make this game much tougher.

Washington - This game is at the end of October so we have to factor in momentum and start time. A 6-1 Husky team in primetime or a 4-3 Husky team at an earlier start time? Makes a big difference. Something I find interesting about this game...Washington has to play @Michigan the weekend before while we are resting on our bye week. Hopefully Michigan wears them out and our fresh legs make the difference.

Wisconsin - IMO the most volatile game on the schedule, mainly because it's the second to last game. At this point Fickell could be a dead man walking or could be already fired. If that's the case, Camp Randall might only be half full in late November with fans not wanting to brave the cold. But if Fickell and Wisconsin find some success this year and he gets the fan support back, we should expect another hostile environment in Camp Randall.
 
#81      
Epsilon
He’s done a lot of content on what’s going on with the PAC12 expansion but it’s been a lot of talking with no real news. I stopped watching those updates because of that, but this was a good watch.
 
#83      
PleaseMakeABowlGame
Why does everyone think it's impossible to make the playoffs at 3 losses? It's not impossible, but you'll just have to have A MILLION different luck things fall your way. Only 3 sec teams can have less than 4 losses, only 3 from the big 10 can have less than 4 (maybe 3) losses, only 2 from the big 12 can have less than 3 losses, only 1 from the ACC can have less than 3 losses - that would do.
 
#85      
Frank
foby said:
It's simultaneously awesome and terrifying to receive this much preseason hype.
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Agreed, love to see the program get recognition and to see Bret’s battle for awareness paying off. That said, my personal fan preference is to start the season off the radar and then smash ourselves onto the scene. Hopefully all this hype doesn’t get to our team’s head — still gotta win the games.
 
#86      
Bleedorangeandblue44
Wasn't sure where else to put this, Dan please move if you need to

We are coming up on 40th anniversary of this, hard to believe, but would love to hear any memories of Illini students on campus for this

Seems to me as an Illini undergrad in early 90s that this would have been unbelievable to see the biggest music stars of that era on campus for this

 
#88      
Bleedorangeandblue44
Bleedorangeandblue44 said:
Wasn't sure where else to put this, Dan please move if you need to

We are coming up on 40th anniversary of this, hard to believe, but would love to hear any memories of Illini students on campus for this

Seems to me as an Illini undergrad in early 90s that this would have been unbelievable to see the biggest music stars of that era on campus for this

Click to expand...
Don't mean to reply to my own post but a quick youtube search and I didn't realize just how many hall of fame rock and country legends played this

can't even imagine being a student for this

Realize we have huge things coming from our football team this fall, but wish we could also celebrate 40th anniversary of a truly amazing concert at our beloved Memorial Stadium
 
#91      
From the cheap seats
Bleedorangeandblue44 said:
Wasn't sure where else to put this, Dan please move if you need to

We are coming up on 40th anniversary of this, hard to believe, but would love to hear any memories of Illini students on campus for this

Seems to me as an Illini undergrad in early 90s that this would have been unbelievable to see the biggest music stars of that era on campus for this

Click to expand...
Just wondering if the DIA could sponsor a concert...to raise funds for NIL??? Not the most noteworthy cause to be sure, but maybe Meyers Leonard could rock the place for his alma mater
 
#93      
altgeld88
Bleedorangeandblue44 said:
Don't mean to reply to my own post but a quick youtube search and I didn't realize just how many hall of fame rock and country legends played this

can't even imagine being a student for this

Realize we have huge things coming from our football team this fall, but wish we could also celebrate 40th anniversary of a truly amazing concert at our beloved Memorial Stadium
Click to expand...
Thanks for this.

Sophomore year. Lived in Snyder Hall directly across the street from IMPE and the stadium. I recall visitors sleeping in our stairwell. Well behaved crowd in town if memory serves. Massive event.

A month or so later saw John Mellencamp again from around the 10th row in Assembly Hall. One of the best shows of my youth. That plus The Call at Mabel’s my junior year. And The Pursuit of Happiness at Mabel’s in grad school. What a venue that place was.
 
#96      
band camp
Conference championships. Next Sat is for the League title.
 

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#100      
Fighter of the Nightman
@IlliniInBuckeyeState, I'm super excited to see what your sellout tracker looks like for the home opener and following home games this year! Our slow increase in attendance in the Bielema Era has been nothing short of awesome ... to think we would have drawn 44k for a late start on a Thursday night vs. Eastern Illinois for an unranked team last year is such an incredible change of affairs.

Here is our home attendance for early season non-conference opponents (excluding Power Five ones, which draw bigger crowds) over the last several years, starting with Lovie's first season:

--- Lovie is Hired ---
2016
48,644 vs. Murray State (clear Lovie excitement here!)
40,954 vs. Western Michigan

2017
42,505 vs. Ball State
41,923 vs. Western Kentucky

2018
31,898 vs. Kent State
39,252 vs. Western Illinois

2019
30,654 vs. Akron (I believe this represented a 3-decade low point for average attendance)
34,759 vs. Eastern Michigan

--- Bielema is Hired ---

2021
33,906 vs. UTSA

2022
37,832 vs. Wyoming
37,579 vs. Chattanooga (Thursday night)

2023
48,898 vs. Toledo
53,512 vs. FAU

2024
43,849 vs. Eastern Illinois (Thursday night)
51,498 vs. Central Michigan

FWIW, after the CMU game and win at Nebraska the following week, we never drew below 52k the rest of the year, including an average attendance of nearly 57k over those games and a second sellout of the season vs. Michigan.
 
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