Illini Football 2026

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2026 Illini Football
Sat, Sept 5____UAB
Sat, Sept 12___Duke
Sat, Sept 19___Southern Illinois
Sat, Sept 26___at Ohio State
Sat, Oct 3_____Purdue (Homecoming)
Sat, Oct 10____at Michigan State
Sat, Oct 17____---bye---
Sat, Oct 24____Oregon
Sat, Oct 31____at Maryland
Sat, Nov 7_____Nebraska
Sat, Nov 14____at UCLA
Sat, Nov 21____Iowa
Sat, Nov 28____at Northwestern


Last year
Week 1 game move to Friday night was announced on May 14th
First 3 game times & TV was announced on May 29th

Lots of talk about Jayshon Platt ?

So, if Feagin had 188 yards last year as a RUNNING BACK. I’d guess he can at least match or slightly exceed that total as a tight end?

Or does it not work that way?

WhereDoWeStandWithStorr? said:

So, if Feagin had 188 yards last year as a RUNNING BACK. I’d guess he can at least match or slightly exceed that total as a tight end?

Or does it not work that way?

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think it all depends if he can block well enough to be on the field at TE. routes will be different too, but he's certainly shown pass catching ability.

PleaseMakeABowlGame said:

Lots of talk about Jayshon Platt ?

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Both he and Perry look like they can translate but I can see why they're high on Platt. This offense is taylor made for slot WRs (And WRs in general) who are serious about developing their abilities to play in the NFL (NFL schemes, concepts, etc.).

Platt is obviously a speedster but he brings some size as well. A really good pickup to help bridge in Nas Rankin because I think he'll be the best yet in what is turning into a real WR to the NFL pipeline for Illinois (Slot WR like Williams. Beatty, etc.).

The WR core in general is pretty underrated here IMO. Believe Illinois will threaten school records on offense this year and for sure once Boyd takes the reigns.

How I see this year:
Floor 5-7
Ceiling 9-3

1. Biggest concerns are OL replacement and DL replacement.
1(a) - our OL was not great last year. Luke was running for his life on more than one occasion and we had the 92nd ranked rushing offense. 12th in the big ten.
1(b) - our DL landed at 40th against the run last year. Firmly middle-of-the-pack in big ten.

Conclusion - Luke masked a lot of that with his legs and low turnover ratio, so it’s incumbent on Katin Houser to be able to replicate that recipe if those don’t improve. I see this ultimately being a wash on defense and probably a slight regression on offensive line.

2. Schedule

Should be wins: 3 (UAB, Duke, Southern)
- I’m gonna count them all as wins. No Darian Mensah, and at home, makes me feel like Duke won't be a tough one. (3-0 start to the season)

Good odds: 4 (Purdue, MSU, Maryland, Nebraska)
- Pat Fitzgerald on the road scares me, but I feel good about everything else here. I’d expect a 3-1 grouping here.

Toss up: 1 (Northwestern)
- it’s not been easy lately, and they did go win a bowl game last year. I just have a feeling Aidan Chiles will fit in well there against us. I’m gonna count it as a loss on the road in their new stadium. 0-1.

Bad odds: 2 (UCLA, Iowa)
- UCLA is tough at home. Iowa is tough no matter what. I don’t see a win here. 0-2.

Should be a loss: 2 (Ohio State, Oregon)
- forget about it. 0-2.

As of this very moment, I could see us 6-3 with 3 weeks to go and sputtering to 6-6 at the finish. I don’t think that’s puts a good taste in anyone’s mouth, but I think that’s a realistic (albeit slightly pessimistic) look. Now, if the OL improves and Houser is good I think picking up 2-3 games in there is totally doable. The reality is that the “weakness” on defense really wasn’t a strength last year, so it’s mostly incumbent on them holding serve and having the offense take off.

Now, optimistically, if the offense gels quick and we have a 3-3-5 revelation, yeah I could see 9-3 or maybe 10-2 happening, but I think it’s a lot to ask to reload like that.

CaptainCrutch said:

How I see this year:
Floor 5-7
Ceiling 9-3

1. Biggest concerns are OL replacement and DL replacement.
1(a) - our OL was not great last year. Luke was running for his life on more than one occasion and we had the 92nd ranked rushing offense. 12th in the big ten.
1(b) - our DL landed at 40th against the run last year. Firmly middle-of-the-pack in big ten.

Conclusion - Luke masked a lot of that with his legs and low turnover ratio, so it’s incumbent on Katin Houser to be able to replicate that recipe if those don’t improve. I see this ultimately being a wash on defense and probably a slight regression on offensive line.

2. Schedule

Should be wins: 3 (UAB, Duke, Southern)
- I’m gonna count them all as wins. No Darian Mensah, and at home, makes me feel like Duke won't be a tough one. (3-0 start to the season)

Good odds: 4 (Purdue, MSU, Maryland, Nebraska)
- Pat Fitzgerald on the road scares me, but I feel good about everything else here. I’d expect a 3-1 grouping here.

Toss up: 1 (Northwestern)
- it’s not been easy lately, and they did go win a bowl game last year. I just have a feeling Aidan Chiles will fit in well there against us. I’m gonna count it as a loss on the road in their new stadium. 0-1.

Bad odds: 2 (UCLA, Iowa)
- UCLA is tough at home. Iowa is tough no matter what. I don’t see a win here. 0-2.

Should be a loss: 2 (Ohio State, Oregon)
- forget about it. 0-2.

As of this very moment, I could see us 6-3 with 3 weeks to go and sputtering to 6-6 at the finish. I don’t think that’s puts a good taste in anyone’s mouth, but I think that’s a realistic (albeit slightly pessimistic) look. Now, if the OL improves and Houser is good I think picking up 2-3 games in there is totally doable. The reality is that the “weakness” on defense really wasn’t a strength last year, so it’s mostly incumbent on them holding serve and having the offense take off.

Now, optimistically, if the offense gels quick and we have a 3-3-5 revelation, yeah I could see 9-3 or maybe 10-2 happening, but I think it’s a lot to ask to reload like that.

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1A. I'm optimistic the OL will actually be better this year. Think we got more athletic across the board there.
As for Houser.....I think you will probably see a few more picks as he tends to be more of a gunslinger than Luke but he is probably a better runner than Luke and I think we will use him more in short yardages situations as well.

illini0440 said:

As for Houser.....I think you will probably see a few more picks as he tends to be more of a gunslinger than Luke but he is probably a better runner than Luke and I think we will use him more in short yardages situations as well.

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In terms of short yardage (QB sneaks, etc), he might be a tad more equipped physicially.

However, in totality, hard to bet he'll be a better runner than Luke. Last season, Altmyer had 469 yards rushing (excluding sacks). Houser at Eastern Carolina had 284.

illini0440 said:

1A. I'm optimistic the OL will actually be better this year. Think we got more athletic across the board there.
As for Houser.....I think you will probably see a few more picks as he tends to be more of a gunslinger than Luke but he is probably a better runner than Luke and I think we will use him more in short yardages situations as well.

Click to expand...

I think this every year and then I remember that Miller is the coach.