By Woodrow Carroll
The Big 10 Conference is preparing for its final season as it is presently constituted. The Big 10 is comprised of 14 member schools and soon will be 18 in number with the addition of UCLA, Southern California, Oregon, and Washington, set to join in 2024. We still concentrate 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 overall record. That final Illinois record was the best by the school since 2007 when the Ron Zook-coached Illini were 9-4 overall and reached the Rose Bowl.
Expectations for the 2023 Illini are certainly higher than a year ago. Still, expectations have to be tempered by reality.
The Big Ten has East and West Divisions. Illinois is a member of the seven-team Big Ten West. Being in 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 East Division, it would be a real shocker. As for 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 being favored.
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. Toledo will be Illinois’ foe when the host Orange & Blue open play at 6:30 p.m. Saturday 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2 in Champaign.
Michigan is defending Big Ten champion. The Wolverines, along with always-powerful Ohio State, are not on Illinois’ crossover schedule with Big Ten East opponents. Penn State, the third team in the East Division, given a shot at divisional honors, comes to Champaign September 16. The schedule is relatively favorable.
Following the game with Toledo, Illinois will play at Kansas September 8. After facing the Jayhawks, Illinois will welcome Penn State to open Big Ten play. The non-conference portion of the Illini schedule will conclude September 23 when they play host to Florida Atlantic.
In addition to Penn State, the Fighting Illini will play Big Ten opponents at Maryland and at home to Indiana from outside the West Division.
Last season, Illinois was in the running for a spot in the Big Ten championship game until faltering late in the season. Once again, that Conference champion game will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis December 2. Michigan beat Purdue, 43-22, in last season’s crossover championship game which 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 it in 2022.
In 2021, in Bielema’s rookie year in Champaign, the Illini averaged 35,347 per home game. Last season, Illinois attracted 43,048 per home game. The only discordant note might have been the Michigan State game.
When Michigan State played Champaign last season, Illinois was 7-1 and riding high in the divisional race. Fan-expectations were evident and 56,092 made their way into Memorial Stadium, capacity 60,670, only to see the visiting 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, a streak that effectively ended the Illini’s shot at the Big Ten championship game. Four losses in the team’s final five contests, including a 19-10 setback at the hands of 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 it remains to be seen.