Illini Football 2026

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#301      
lstewart53x3
WolfpackIllini said:
(takes a good gulp of orange koolaid)
You know, we will have 5 games under our belt when Oregon comes to Champaign.
We should be pretty gelled by then. If we are healthy, and get a bounce or two,
hey, anything can happen. So, I like our chances! Exciting times!
(returns to koolaid)
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Using SP+, Oregon’s #2 at +29.2 and we’re #28 at +10.4, so we’ll likely be two touchdown dogs. There’s as big of a gap between Oregon and us and as there is between us and #100 Temple.
 
#302      
bluemountain
aaeismacgychel said:
To get to this conclusion you really have to ignore the absolute reputational mess and legal bind Beckman put us in. There's a difference between being a bad coach making a great team mediocre, and a coach that makes your mediocre team a laughingstock and your program a poison pill. Tepper wasn't good but you give Beckman the same exact conditions and he almost certainly would've gotten our entire athletic program the death penalty during that time with how big the microscope was on us at that point.

The fact that we got some credibility back to the program and the NCAA backed off a bit after the Beckman tenure is more a testament to how Lovie cleaned up the toxicity surrounding the program than anything Beckman did or left us with.
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Beckman was a mess, but holy s***, saying Lovie brought credibility back to the program is quite a stretch.

And for all intents and purposes, Tepper self-imposed the death penalty on the program with his ineptitude - he didn't earn the nickname CDP for nothing
 
#307      
purcy51
Mr. Tibbs said:
I agree about Beckman , but Tepper took a program with really strong recruiting / records & at his firing we were crap . we were really good when Tepper took over . but not for long.
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I suppose there could be some recency bias involved with my thought process here...its been a long time, but at least Tepper was professional compared to Beckman. And then there's the player abuse from Beckman. That to me is the clincher.
 
#312      
Mr. Tibbs
I’d like to see all the OL guys get into a sweet corn eating contest - see if any can get up to a dozen or so
 
#317      
Grandpa
I’d like to see all the OL guys get into a sweet corn eating contest - see if any can get up to a dozen or so
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I'm just coming off of a bout of "ate something that I shouldn't have". Do we really want our OL o have the runs and feel bad for a day or two? I vote NO.
 
#318      
Biggie
Fly Illini Fly! said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2088358463189471366
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www.nytimes.com

College football’s 2026 All-Geezer Team: The 7th- and 8th(!)-year players dotting rosters

Amazingly, there are still a few players in college football who began their careers in the 2010s.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

OL Jake Renfro, Illinois​

First season of college football: 2020

Remember way back in 2020 when Luke Fickell’s Cincinnati team went to the Peach Bowl and nearly upset Georgia? And then the next year when the Bearcats reached the Playoff? Renfro was the starting center on both teams, earning all-conference honors in ’21. Injuries cost him most of the next two seasons, but he returned to start for Fickell at Wisconsin in ’24 before injuries cut last season short. Now, in a full-circle moment, he’ll play for the school where his father, Rick, won a Big Ten title with the Illini in 1983.
 
#320      
IlliniWu
gary? said:
via yahoo.com:

sports.yahoo.com

2026 full Big Ten CFB predictions: Indiana misses conference title game

The Big Ten is set for another big season in 2026. Who will win the conference and what will each team's record be?
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com

4th place finish at 10-2 (7-2 big ten). i see closer to 7 or 8 total wins, but this would be something
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I have them 10-2 as well but I can see 11-1. Think this offense is going to feed families plus the defense has the playmakers to keep giving them the ball back on the backend.
 
#321      
Se Il Illini
Inexperience on the both sides of the line raises red flags. My head says 6-6. But this staff will squeeze out another regular season victory along with a bowl victory 8-5. Illinois will be much better by the end of the season.
 
#322      
zentrails
bluemountain said:
As bad as Beckman and Tepper (and Zook) were, the worst 2 coaches in my lifetime were Lovie and Moeller, with Moeller being the worst. By mid-70's standards Blackman was a good coach; he had to deal with ridiculously difficult non-conference schedules and there was no way he was going to beat OSU or UM. With today's schedules he would have gone to bowl games every year, in which case who knows how the program develops?

Moeller inherited a lot of starters from a very competitive team in '77 and it took him all of one year to run the program into the ground. And for those who think Beckman is a jerk, well Moeller made him look like a saint. I was in HS and went to a lot of games during that era - it was brutal.
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Yep, Moleface was awful and even ended up flaming out later in a great situation at UM. He gets my vote for worst
 
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