One loss and Illini fans are ready to jump off the ledge. The USC thread is already miserable. After thinking about last night, it’s established that Illinois is a second tier Big Ten team, which means they could win anywhere from 6-9 games depending on their schedule, health, and favorable bounces. Last year, the Illini had good fortune in all 3 phases. Got dominated by Oregon, and offensively outside of 2 drives struggled against Penn State who committed several mistakes to keep the game close, but otherwise we were good enough to compete with everyone else we faced. It’s a hard truth for us to accept but Cignetti is a top 5 coach and he has already made Indiana a top tier program, which we have struggled against the last few years. Bielema and the staff have done a good job developing the current roster into a competitive team, but they’re just not good enough to hang with the big boys because the talent isn’t there…yet. We need to have a solid season to retain the talented recruiting class we have coming in and build on that if we want the program to take the next step. This year may end up a lot like 2021 Iowa State, a team that returned almost all its starters and was considered a Big 12 and playoff favorite only to finish 7-6. If that does happen to the 2025 Illini, hopefully we don’t follow the steps of that Cyclone team that followed up 2021 with a 4-8 season before rebounding the next 3 seasons because I cannot bear to see the Crying Illini fans b*tch and moan about how Illinois is the only program in the world that loses football games and disappoints its fans.
