By Woodrow Carroll
The Big 10 Conference prepares for its final season as it is presently constituted, comprised of 14 member schools, soon to be 18 in number with UCLA, Southern California, Oregon, and Washington set join in 2024. We must focus on the present.
The University of Illinois football program last season was an uplifting run. Under second-year head coach Brett Bielema, the Fighting Illini closed with an 8-5 record, the best by the school since 2007 when the Ron Zook-coached Illini was 9-4 overall and reached the Rose Bowl.
Expectations for the Illini this season are certainly higher than a year ago, still, must be tempered by reality.
The Big Ten has East and West Divisions. Illinois is a member of the seven-team Big Ten West. The West Division has its pluses and minuses.
In the Big Ten East, if a team other than Michigan, Ohio State, or Penn State, were to win the division, it would be a real shocker. In the West Division, the race is far more wide open. Conventional thinking gives Illinois a shot at divisional honors, however, the Illini are far from the favorites.
The Illinois football schedule this season is not brutal in the eyes of most observers. Only one team on the Illini’ schedule is a defending conference champion, the Toledo Rockets of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Toledo was Illinois’ foe to open season Saturday, Sept. 2 in Champaign.
Illinois won the non-conference game, 30-28, on a 28-yard field goal by Caleb Griffin in the closing few seconds of the game to rescue victory from possible defeat.
The next day, visiting Northwestern fell to host Rutgers, 24-7, in Piscataway, N.J. in a Big Ten opener for both teams. Northwestern will play host to UTEP in a non-conference game at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9.
Michigan is defending Big Ten champion. The Wolverines and always-powerful Ohio State are not on Illinois’ crossover schedule with Big Ten East opponents this season Penn State, the third team in the East Division given a shot at division honors, will play Champaign Saturday, Sept.16. So, the schedule is relatively favorable to the Illini.
Illinois will play at Kansas Friday, Sept. 8. Then, Illinois will welcome Penn State to open Big Ten play. Illini non-conference play will conclude Saturday, Sept. 23 as host to Florida Atlantic. In addition to Penn State, the Fighting Illini will play Big Ten East opponents at Maryland and home to Indiana.
Last season, Illinois was in the running early for a spot in the Big Ten championship game until faltering in the late going. The conference championship game will be played December 2 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Michigan beat Purdue, 43-22, in last season’s championship game. The championship game has been dominated since its inception in 2011 by Big Ten East teams.
One of the surest signs of an up-and-coming program is increased attendance. Illinois proved that in 2022.
In 2021, in Bielema’s rookie year in Champaign, Illinois averaged 35,347 per home game. Last season, Illinois attracted 43,048 per home game. The only discordant Illini note last season might have been the Michigan State game.
When Michigan State came to Champaign last season, Illinois was 7-1 and riding high in the divisional race. Fan expectations were there and 56,092 made their way into Memorial Stadium (capacity 60,670) only to see the Spartans spoil the Illini dreams by upsetting favored Illinois, 23-15.
The loss to Michigan State was the start of a three-game losing streak that effectively ended the Illini’s shot at the Big Ten championship game. There were four losses in the team’s final five games, including a 19-10 setback against Mississippi State in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Fla..
Guarded optimism might best describe the feeling in Champaign for Illinois football this season. The Fighting Illini figure to win enough games to make it to a bowl game.
Beyond that remains to be seen.