Illinois Football Future Schedules (2017-2026)

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#51      
ijustkrushalot
unebch said:
I say schedule at least one tough marque game each year....Oregon, USC, ND, FSU, Oklahoma, Texas, or Miami. Who cares if we lose? Losing to Virginia Tech did not hurt OSU one bit last year.
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1.) not a single one of those schools are going to come to Champaign on equal terms (home and away series), meaning that scheduling them puts a real hurt on trying to get the occasional decent team to Champaign. Virginia, Kansas, North Carolina, USF and Washington are all ok matchups for us.

2.) after this year we are adding an additional Big Ten conference game (someone from the east) each year.

3.) Short of several miracles happening we aren't going to be in the conversation for a playoff spot anytime in the foreseeable or expected future. It just isn't going to happen. Our football program exists to win at least 6 games and see how good of a bowl we can slot ourselves into. To think or schedule above that is absolutely insane.

3b.) Even if we do strike gold one year, NOT playing a marquee out-of-conference opponent isn't going to hurt us.

4.) Scheduling Alabama instead of Texas State last year absolutely would have crippled us.
 
#52      
Dan
Future schedule update: #Illini announce home/home series with @Duke_FB.

Future Schedules > http://bit.ly/ILLFBSchedules

CGvt4iUUcAE6kSL.jpg


https://twitter.com/IlliniFootball/status/606840545911177216
 
#53      
Dan
Major non-conference opponents-

2016: UNC
2017: @USF
2018: USF
2019: @UConn
2020: UConn
2021: @UVA
2022: UVA
2023: @KU
2024: KU
2025: @Duke
2026: Duke
 
#54      
GilThorpe
hard to argue with Thomas' football scheduling. Its night and day versus the nightmare Turner and Zook had to endure with the football guy.

playing the middle of the pack in the ACC is exactly who we should be playing. playing Vandy, Memphis or Kentucky are the only other teams that come to mind that are close , at our level, yet we haven't played in ages.
 
#55      
Illiniboardfan
The twitter universe is saying that Illinois's request to have South Florida count as a P5 opponent has been rejected. So unless we ignore Big Ten orders, it looks like we will have some changes to our 2017/2018 schedules.
 
#56      
KBLEE
Illiniboardfan said:
The twitter universe is saying that Illinois's request to have South Florida count as a P5 opponent has been rejected. So unless we ignore Big Ten orders, it looks like we will have some changes to our 2017/2018 schedules.
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Wait - I though the directive was that B1G teams were not allowed to schedule any more FCS opponents. South Florida is FBS, so that shouldn't be an issue.
 
#57      
IlliniRunIn07
Illiniboardfan said:
The twitter universe is saying that Illinois's request to have South Florida count as a P5 opponent has been rejected. So unless we ignore Big Ten orders, it looks like we will have some changes to our 2017/2018 schedules.
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What type of changes? USF wouldn't fall off our schedule, would they?
 
#58      
dgcrow
KBLEE said:
Wait - I though the directive was that B1G teams were not allowed to schedule any more FCS opponents. South Florida is FBS, so that shouldn't be an issue.
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It is my understanding that each Big 10 team is supposed to schedule at least one "Power 5" team each year, as well as not scheduling any more FCS teams. The Illini have no Power 5 teams scheduled for 2017 or 2018. Their other opponents, besides South Florida, are Ball State, Western Kentucky, Kent State, and Western Illinois. (FCS Western Illinois, I believe, is "grandfathered" in since it was scheduled before the "no FCS" edict.)
 
#59      
Illiniboardfan
dgcrow said:
It is my understanding that each Big 10 team is supposed to schedule at least one "Power 5" team each year, as well as not scheduling any more FCS teams. The Illini have no Power 5 teams scheduled for 2017 or 2018. Their other opponents, besides South Florida, are Ball State, Western Kentucky, Kent State, and Western Illinois. (FCS Western Illinois, I believe, is "grandfathered" in since it was scheduled before the "no FCS" edict.)
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Exactly. It wouldn't surprise me if we try to buy out the Western Illinois game now. The Big Ten requires us to play a P5 opponent every year AND no FCS schools and we are breaking both of those rules in 2018. It seems rather late in the scheduling game to get a P5 opponent in 2017/2018, but maybe the B1G will be alright with us counting USF as a P5 opponent if we get rid of Western Illinois off the schedule.
 
#60      
Franklin Delano Bluth
dgcrow said:
It is my understanding that each Big 10 team is supposed to schedule at least one "Power 5" team each year, as well as not scheduling any more FCS teams. The Illini have no Power 5 teams scheduled for 2017 or 2018. Their other opponents, besides South Florida, are Ball State, Western Kentucky, Kent State, and Western Illinois. (FCS Western Illinois, I believe, is "grandfathered" in since it was scheduled before the "no FCS" edict.)
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By the same logic, shouldn't USF be "grandfathered" into our schedule because they were on there before the new Power 5 rule?
 
#61      
Illiniboardfan
Franklin Delano Bluth said:
By the same logic, shouldn't USF be "grandfathered" into our schedule because they were on there before the new Power 5 rule?
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The B1G said it had approved "BYU, Army, Notre Dame, UConn, and Cincy" and had denied at least one request for other schools to count as P5 opponents. It's easy to put two and two together to realize Illinois requested USF and was denied.
 
#62      
DrewD007
I'd sooner buy out the USF games than the Western one. USF isn't the greatest at the moment but it'd still be a tough game in addition to adding a Power 5 team.
 
#63      
orangeroses07
Central Michigan added for 2022

"Central Michigan and Illinois have agreed to a single football game to be played at Memorial Stadium in Champaign on Sept. 24, 2022. The Fighting Illini will pay the Chippewas a $1.15 million guarantee for the game, according to a copy of the contract obtained via an FOIA request to CMU."

Full article here: http://www.fbschedules.com/2016/02/central-michigan-illinois-fau-future-schedules/

*not confirmed on fightingillini.com
 
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#64      
Second and Chalmers
orangeroses07 said:
"Central Michigan and Illinois have agreed to a single football game to be played at Memorial Stadium in Champaign on Sept. 24, 2022. The Fighting Illini will pay the Chippewas a $1.15 million guarantee for the game, according to a copy of the contract obtained via an FOIA request to CMU."

Full article here: http://www.fbschedules.com/2016/02/central-michigan-illinois-fau-future-schedules/

*not confirmed on fightingillini.com
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Well, Dave Heeke got a nice consolation prize. Go get em Dave :thumb:

And there's a new CMU and Florida Atlantic series now too. Did that deal get brokered in the lobby of some Indy hotel while Heeke and Patrick Chun were waiting for their interviews?

What tangled webs we weave.
 
#65      
dgcrow
orangeroses07 said:
"Central Michigan and Illinois have agreed to a single football game to be played at Memorial Stadium in Champaign on Sept. 24, 2022. The Fighting Illini will pay the Chippewas a $1.15 million guarantee for the game, according to a copy of the contract obtained via an FOIA request to CMU."

Full article here: http://www.fbschedules.com/2016/02/central-michigan-illinois-fau-future-schedules/

*not confirmed on fightingillini.com
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Bowling Green has also announced a football game against the Illini, on September 19, 2020 in Memorial Stadium:

http://www.fbschedules.com/2016/02/bowling-green-future-games-illinois-south-dakota/
 
#66      
1970 John
Penn State

Penn State isn't on the list after next year, and that in Champaign. No coming out here to Happy Valley were I can see them without having to travel too far. Of course, the way they played this year, I'm glad I didn't go.

Rutgers, on the other hand, is closer and a more likely victim than PSU. I may just make the drive over to Piscataway.
 
#67      
BillyBob1
orangeroses07 said:
"Central Michigan and Illinois have agreed to a single football game to be played at Memorial Stadium in Champaign on Sept. 24, 2022. The Fighting Illini will pay the Chippewas a $1.15 million guarantee for the game, according to a copy of the contract obtained via an FOIA request to CMU."

Full article here: http://www.fbschedules.com/2016/02/central-michigan-illinois-fau-future-schedules/

*not confirmed on fightingillini.com
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I'm hearing the new AD will be announced on the Friday before this game!
 
#70      
Second and Chalmers
To add some meat on that bone, the NCAA started allowing a 12 game schedule in 2002. Illinois finally played 8 home games in 2011, when the switch to Big Ten divisions and dictates from the league office started complicating things.

In that time period, Illinois played 19 regular season non-conference games that were something other than home games against non Power Five opposition.

Our record: 2-17(!!!!!)

The wins were Zook's first game against Rutgers and at Syracuse during the Rose Bowl season.

Those 19 games were out of a total of 34 non conference games in that span, so well over half. Robert from Illini Board has often presented a stat that over a similar timeframe Illinois played the single toughest schedule in all of college football.
 
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#71      
South Farms
RG's ridiculous scheduling, that basically kept us from bowling every year our team was remotely close to being eligible, certainly played a role in the programs downward death spiral under his watch.
 
#72      
JimmyTheLayup
Second and Chalmers said:
To add some meat on that bone, the NCAA started allowing a 12 game schedule in 2002. Illinois finally played 8 home games in 2011, when the switch to Big Ten divisions and dictates from the league office started complicating things.

In that time period, Illinois played 19 regular season non-conference games that were something other than home games against non Power Five opposition.

Our record: 2-17(!!!!!)

The wins were Zook's first game against Rutgers and at Syracuse during the Rose Bowl season.

Those 19 games were out of a total of 34 non conference games in that span, so well over half. Robert from Illini Board has often presented a stat that over a similar timeframe Illinois played the single toughest schedule in all of college football.
Click to expand...

Zook's first game against Rutgers was in Champaign.
 
#73      
BZuppke
The problem is we are rarely close to making a bowl. We either have a 2007 type year or 2009. This past year was the first time in a very long time that we were one win away from a bowl.
 
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