Illinois has nearly matched its win total from all of last season with still seven games remaining on the Fighting Illini’s remaining schedule. Bret Bielema’s current squad was so good against his old squad last week that the Wisconsin Badgers decided enough was enough and fired head coach Paul Chryst.
Illinois (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) looks vastly improved from its 5-7 finish a season ago, and, like everybody else in the Big Ten West, the Fighting Illini appear primed to be a legitimate factor in the division race.
It all starts for Illinois offensively with the nation’s leading rusher in running back Chase Brown. He’s already racked up 733 rushing yards and five total touchdowns on 120 carries this season. Syracuse transfer quarterback Tommy DeVito hasn’t been spectacular but he’s been solid for Illinois, completing 107-of-153 passes for 1,121 yards and nine touchdowns against just two interceptions.
Meanwhile, the offensive shortcomings of Iowa likely have contributed to flipping what some of the numbers look like surrounding this football game. Back in July, ESPN’s Football Power Index gave the Hawkeyes a 67.8% chance to go on the road to Champaign, Ill., and walk away a victor.
Now, it’s a completely different story. ESPN’s FPI actually has Illinois as the favorite, giving Iowa an updated 39.9% chance to top Illinois. Again, this is a reflection of Illinois’ improvement and the struggles Iowa has had offensively.
The Hawkeyes are still looking to find more offense. Iowa managed two scoring drives last week against Michigan, though the final scoring drive came with the game out of reach and the Wolverines simply looking to make the Hawkeyes chew up as much clock as possible.
Despite continued frustrations on the offensive side of the football, there have been some offensive silver linings for those looking closely the past few weeks. Iowa finally has a trio of running backs it feels good about and the Hawkeyes look like they have one of the top tight end duos nationally. Starting quarterback Spencer Petras is also coming off his best statistical game against the best defense Iowa has seen thus far this season.
It will take all of those pieces working together in cohesion for the Hawkeyes to improve their record to 4-2 and the all-important 2-1 mark in Big Ten play late Saturday night at Illinois.
Entering Illinois week, here’s what the rest of Iowa’s ESPN FPI matchup predictor numbers look like for the remainder of the 2022 season.