Illini Football 2026
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RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Not sure I have the energy to TRULY dive down this rabbit hole right now... but for anyone trying to play the guessing game of game times and TV spots, here is what we have so far for the Big Ten time slots that are part of the preseason draft (i.e., Big Noon Kickoff, CBS at 2:30 pm CST and NBC primetime). The date is the Saturday, by the way.
Also, games that are not "Big Ten games" in the eyes of the networks are in red italic font. For example, when NBC picked up MSU at Notre Dame in Week Three, my understanding is that is NOT one of their "draft picks" for the Big Ten games, as it is part of their deal with Notre Dame. Similarly, if FOX picks a Big XII home game for Big Noon, that isn't one of their "Big Ten picks."
I'm also including the Saturday Big Ten games underneath the weeks where some spots are still TBD (or at least not public).
Week One | September 5
11:00 am FOX - North Texas at Indiana
2:30 pm CBS - Boise State at Oregon
6:30 pm NBC - Western Michigan at Michigan
Week Two | September 12
11:00 am FOX - Oklahoma at Michigan
2:30 pm CBS - Mississippi State at Minnesota
6:30 pm NBC - Iowa State at Iowa
Week Three | September 19
11:00 am FOX - Kent State at Ohio State
2:30 pm CBS - USC at Rutgers
6:30 pm NBC - Michigan State at Notre Dame
Week Four | September 26
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Oregon at USC
---> Iowa at Michigan
---> Illinois at Ohio State
---> Wisconsin at Penn State
---> Nebraska at Michigan State
---> Notre Dame at Purdue
---> Minnesota at Washington
---> UCLA at Maryland
Week Five | October 3
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Indiana at Rutgers (confirmed for 7:00 pm CST, so probably BTN / FS1)
---> Ohio State at Iowa
---> Washington at USC
---> Michigan at Minnesota
---> Michigan State at Wisconsin
---> Maryland at Nebraska
---> Purdue at Illinois
Week Six | October 10
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC - USC at Penn State
---> Indiana at Nebraska
---> UCLA at Oregon
---> Maryland at Ohio State
---> Illinois at Michigan State
---> Minnesota at Purdue
---> Ball State at Northwestern
Week Seven | October 17
11:00 am FOX - Ohio State at Indiana
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Penn State at Michigan
---> Nebraska at Oregon
---> Wisconsin at UCLA
---> Northwestern at Michigan State
---> Rutgers at Maryland
Week Eight | October 24
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Iowa at Minnesota (confirmed for 2:00 pm or later)
---> Indiana at Michigan
---> Oregon at Illinois
---> USC at Wisconsin
---> Michigan State at UCLA
---> Rutgers at Northwestern
Week Nine | October 31
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Ohio State at USC
---> Washington at Nebraska
---> Wisconsin at Iowa
---> Michigan at Rutgers
---> Purdue at Penn State
---> Minnesota at Indiana
---> Illinois at Maryland
---> Northwestern at Oregon
---> Nevada at UCLA
Week Ten | November 7
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS - Oregon at Ohio State
6:30 pm NBC - Miami (FL) at Notre Dame
---> Penn State at Washington
---> Michigan State at Michigan
---> Iowa at Northwestern
---> UCLA at Minnesota
---> Rutgers at Wisconsin
---> Maryland at Purdue
Week Eleven | November 14
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Michigan at Oregon
---> USC at Indiana
---> Northwestern at Ohio State
---> Washington at Michigan State
---> Purdue at Iowa
---> Nebraska at Rutgers
---> Minnesota at Penn State
---> Wisconsin at Maryland
Week Twelve | November 21
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC - SMU at Notre Dame
---> Indiana at Washington
---> Ohio State at Nebraska
---> UCLA at Michigan
---> Iowa at Illinois
---> Maryland at USC
---> Rutgers at Penn State
---> Wisconsin at Purdue
Week Thirteen | November 28
11:00 am FOX - Michigan at Ohio State
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Washington at Oregon
---> USC at UCLA
---> Purdue at Indiana
---> Penn State at Maryland
---> Illinois at Northwestern
---> Michigan State at Rutgers
I know folks would mostly be interested in gametimes so they could plan out their Saturdays and / or actually attend a game, but I also hope we can continue the trend of playing in more and more non-BTN / FS1 games ... the exposure is essential in this day and age!
I look forward to seeing what you come up with when you DO have the energy.
thanks for the brief overviewNot sure I have the energy to TRULY dive down this rabbit hole right now
Also, games that are not "Big Ten games" in the eyes of the networks are in red italic font. For example, when NBC picked up MSU at Notre Dame in Week Three, my understanding is that is NOT one of their "draft picks" for the Big Ten games, as it is part of their deal with Notre Dame. Similarly, if FOX picks a Big XII home game for Big Noon, that isn't one of their "Big Ten picks."
I'm also including the Saturday Big Ten games underneath the weeks where some spots are still TBD (or at least not public).
Week One | September 5
11:00 am FOX - North Texas at Indiana
2:30 pm CBS - Boise State at Oregon
6:30 pm NBC - Western Michigan at Michigan
Week Two | September 12
11:00 am FOX - Oklahoma at Michigan
2:30 pm CBS - Mississippi State at Minnesota
6:30 pm NBC - Iowa State at Iowa
Week Three | September 19
11:00 am FOX - Kent State at Ohio State
2:30 pm CBS - USC at Rutgers
6:30 pm NBC - Michigan State at Notre Dame
Week Four | September 26
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Oregon at USC
---> Iowa at Michigan
---> Illinois at Ohio State
---> Wisconsin at Penn State
---> Nebraska at Michigan State
---> Notre Dame at Purdue
---> Minnesota at Washington
---> UCLA at Maryland
Week Five | October 3
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Indiana at Rutgers (confirmed for 7:00 pm CST, so probably BTN / FS1)
---> Ohio State at Iowa
---> Washington at USC
---> Michigan at Minnesota
---> Michigan State at Wisconsin
---> Maryland at Nebraska
---> Purdue at Illinois
Week Six | October 10
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC - USC at Penn State
---> Indiana at Nebraska
---> UCLA at Oregon
---> Maryland at Ohio State
---> Illinois at Michigan State
---> Minnesota at Purdue
---> Ball State at Northwestern
Week Seven | October 17
11:00 am FOX - Ohio State at Indiana
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Penn State at Michigan
---> Nebraska at Oregon
---> Wisconsin at UCLA
---> Northwestern at Michigan State
---> Rutgers at Maryland
Week Eight | October 24
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Iowa at Minnesota (confirmed for 2:00 pm or later)
---> Indiana at Michigan
---> Oregon at Illinois
---> USC at Wisconsin
---> Michigan State at UCLA
---> Rutgers at Northwestern
Week Nine | October 31
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Ohio State at USC
---> Washington at Nebraska
---> Wisconsin at Iowa
---> Michigan at Rutgers
---> Purdue at Penn State
---> Minnesota at Indiana
---> Illinois at Maryland
---> Northwestern at Oregon
---> Nevada at UCLA
Week Ten | November 7
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS - Oregon at Ohio State
6:30 pm NBC - Miami (FL) at Notre Dame
---> Penn State at Washington
---> Michigan State at Michigan
---> Iowa at Northwestern
---> UCLA at Minnesota
---> Rutgers at Wisconsin
---> Maryland at Purdue
Week Eleven | November 14
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Michigan at Oregon
---> USC at Indiana
---> Northwestern at Ohio State
---> Washington at Michigan State
---> Purdue at Iowa
---> Nebraska at Rutgers
---> Minnesota at Penn State
---> Wisconsin at Maryland
Week Twelve | November 21
11:00 am FOX -
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC - SMU at Notre Dame
---> Indiana at Washington
---> Ohio State at Nebraska
---> UCLA at Michigan
---> Iowa at Illinois
---> Maryland at USC
---> Rutgers at Penn State
---> Wisconsin at Purdue
Week Thirteen | November 28
11:00 am FOX - Michigan at Ohio State
2:30 pm CBS -
6:30 pm NBC -
---> Washington at Oregon
---> USC at UCLA
---> Purdue at Indiana
---> Penn State at Maryland
---> Illinois at Northwestern
---> Michigan State at Rutgers
I know folks would mostly be interested in gametimes so they could plan out their Saturdays and / or actually attend a game, but I also hope we can continue the trend of playing in more and more non-BTN / FS1 games ... the exposure is essential in this day and age!
What about this jersey and uniform as a throw back?
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I feel like the occasional orange-out adequately honors that general thread of our uniform history.
I'm the biggest Bob Blackman defender here, but ultimately none of the teams in our orange-primary era accomplished enough to produce very much nostalgia.
Our most orange jersey-forward coaches ever were Blackman, Moeller and Beckman, right? I rest my case.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
The typing and organizing is nothing, but my brain completely short circuits when I try to guess who the networks might pick.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
The way SP+ works is, the computers generate each team an offensive rating and a defensive rating. It then subtracts the defensive rating from each team’s offensive rating to form a net rating and ranks teams from highest to lowest net rating.
Sure, we dropped one more spot in the rankings than Michigan, but that’s simply because the net ratings in our rankings cluster are closer together. Michigan’s net rating dropped from 17.0 to 12.2 after the WMU game. A net rating drop of 4.8. Our net rating dropped from 10.4 to 7.5, a net rating drop of 2.9.
So Michigan’s net rating actually fell by twice as much as ours. If Michigan would’ve had our original ranking, they would’ve fallen 21 spots, about as big of a drop as any team in the country.
Ohio St’s net rating fell by 2.7 in their win over Ball St but because of the size of the gap between them and the #2 team, they stayed #1.
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Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
All of these years later, I did not realize I am exactly one year older than Benn. Such a great player to wear the orange and blue during my time as a student.
Will never forget the one glove he tossed me on Senior Day 2010 (my friend caught the other).
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
I’m old enough to remember people on this board saying we needed to fire Henry with a 47th ranked defense because “it literally could not get any worse”.
Welp.
I probably did, or at least I thought it.
Then again, as I’ve gotten older, no matter how bad things are, they can always get worse, even when it doesn’t seem like it can.
That said, I’m excited for the future, the program is in good hands.
Last year, we were 100th in points per drive allowed.
Right now, we’re 131st out of 138 teams.
Can it get worse? Yes. But there’s only 6 spots remaining until it mathematically can’t.
Right now, we’re 131st out of 138 teams.
Can it get worse? Yes. But there’s only 6 spots remaining until it mathematically can’t.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
I’d probably use efficiency ratings like SP+ over raw points per possession, since it takes opponent strength into account. I can’t remember the exact stat, but we played something like 5 of the top 10 offenses in the country last year. Most teams would give up points to those opponents.
SP+ had us at 47 on defense overall last year. I’m terrified to check where we’ll be tomorrow. We dropped from the 40s to the 60s after our week 1 game. I imagine we’ll be the 80s or 90s after this one.
I knew we could be worse but I thought we could easily do better
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
The thing is, as mediocre as last season’s defense was, it was still better than 75-80% of our defenses over the past 30 years.
Making a change can make things better. But it can also make things worse.
Yeah but we should stop comparing to previous years and set the bar at minimum middle of the road power 4 defense
Is Hauck pulling a Lovie on us?? His salary was $265K / yr as the HC at Montana (equivalent of a position coaches salary here). He retires b/c he says has had enough of the NIL. A couple of days later, his phone rings from a desperate Brett B "hey Bobby, it takes a lot money to retire. You sure you got that covered? "Well Brett, now that you mention it, I am not really sure" "Well how'd you like make almost triple your old salary helping my out here in Chambana for $700K...hmmmm...hmmmm"? "Geee Brett, that's an awful lot of money. Do I have to be on the field actually coaching the guys during game"? "Heck no Bobby, you can just sit up in coaches box and phone it in". "Can I bring my boy and coupel of other guys" "sure, bring 'em all, we'll give them a raise too" "Well shoot Brett, that sounds pretty damn good and $700K will make my retirement a lot better...count me in".
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Why? The past is highly correlated with the present/future. For every Indiana, there’s a dozen Wake Forests who were bad in the past and are still bad now. So it’s generally more useful to compare your program to its own past than any other program’s present.
My point, anyhow, wasn’t to compare to the past, but simply to point out that: if you have a defense that’s better than 80% of your previous defenses and you choose to change that defense, it’s almost more likely your next defense will be worse than it is to be better.
I spent much of last year sticking up for Aaron Henry and his average defense because I feared this exact situation: trading average for bad.
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Blah…..defense sucks. Offense is not what we think it’s at.
7 wins wil be a good thing.
7 wins wil be a good thing.
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