Illinois Fighting Illini Football – Page 3

How to watch: Illinois vs. Wisconsin

The 14th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers will play their season opener Friday against the Illinois Fighting Illini.

The 14th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers will be playing in their season opener Friday against the Illinois Fighting Illini.

The yearly rivalry will be even more exciting this season, as the Badgers will likely carry their dramatic upset loss to Illinois last season with them in this game. Wisconsin will also have a new quarterback under center as former highly touted recruit Graham Mertz will take over for the injured Jack Coan.

A combination of running backs Garrett Groshek and Nakia Watson will have to replace star running back and Doak Walker Award winner Jonathan Taylor for this season, which could make this game even more interesting to watch.

Illinois will return its star quarterback, Brandon Peters, along with several starters in the receiving group.

This game could be a surprisingly close matchup for the Badgers, and will definitely be one for Wisconsin fans to tune in for.

How to watch:

Matchup: Illinois at Wisconsin

Where: Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisc.

When: October 23rd, 2020 at 7 p.m. CDT

Where to watch: Big Ten Network

Announcers:

Play-by-Play: Brandon Gaudin
Analyst: James Laurinaitis
Sideline Reporter: Rick Pizzo

Where to stream: Fox Sports App or on foxsports.com

College Football News Preview 2020: Illinois Fighting Illini

College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, looking ahead to the Illinois Fighting Illini season with what you need to know.

College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Illinois Fighting Illini season with what you need to know.

CFN in 60 Podcast: 2020 Illinois Fighting Illini
2020 Illinois preview in 30 seconds

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– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Illinois Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

2019 Record: 6-7 overall, 4-5 in Big Ten
Head Coach: Lovie Smith, 5th year, 15-34 overall
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 50
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 69
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 65

NOTE: Obviously, no one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.

5. College Football News Preview 2020: Illinois Fighting Illini Offense 3 Things To Know

– The Illinois offense wasn’t exactly a smoothly run organization. The running game was okay at times, and the passing attack came through late when it had to in a few huge upsets, but for the most part, it was a struggle.

The Illini finished 112th in the nation in total offense, but it made the yards count with a not-awful 26.7 points per game. However, the O almost never had the ball – long, sustained drives were a rumor – and the attack fell flat late in the season.

There’s hope for a boost, though, with four starters back on what should be a good line, a deep group of quarterbacks to play around with, and with almost all of the key targets back. It all starts with …

CFN in 60 Video: Illinois Fighting Illini Preview
[jwplayer atpALXmH-boEY74VG]

– The quarterback situation. It would’ve been nice to have had a full offseason of practices to come up with a good pecking order, but at least there’s a nice group of options in place.

Former Michigan transfer Brandon Peters was okay last season, but the accuracy wasn’t there and he didn’t do enough to move the chains. Former super-recruit Isaiah Williams got his feet wet, but he only played in four games to preserve his four years of eligibility. Sophomore Matt Robinson stepped in when Peters got hurt.

The receiving corps is there to do a whole lot more, starting with senior Joel Imaorbhebhe – a former USC transfer with next-level upside. In all, five of the top seven targets are expected back, former Miami Hurricanes Brian Hightower should be a factor, former Georgia super-recruit Luke Ford will get his shot at tight end, and the passing game should be more consistent.

– The offensive line didn’t do enough in pass protection, and the running game was just okay, but there’s a lot to like if the all-star parts can stay healthy. Four starters return with at least two years of starting experience – junior Kendrick Green is growing into a star at guard, and center Doug Kramer is strong – and now this has to be a plus.

Top running back Reggie Corbin left early for the NFL – and went undrafted – and No. 2 guy Dre Brown is done, too. Ra’Von Bonner has seen enough work to get the early call, and 2017 leading rusher Mike Epstein is back after an injury-plagued few seasons. Star recruit Reggie Love might have the door wide open right away for his services.

NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Illinois Fighting Illini Defense 3 Things To Know

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Wisconsin recruiting comparison: Illinois

Wisconsin versus Illinois in recruiting

National Signing Day has come and gone and the Wisconsin Badgers have put together a fairly decent class compared to the rest of the Big Ten. In the spirit of looking at recruiting classes compared to the rest of the conference, Badgers Wire is taking a look at Wisconsin’s class on a national level and a conference level. We’ll be including their national rankings and their conference rankings. Next up on the list is one of the Badgers’ losses in 2019. The Illinois Fighting Illini under head coach Lovie Smith, formerly of the Chicago Bears.

The Illini have the nation’s No. 87th-ranked recruiting class in 2020. They are on track for having the No. 61 class in 2021. They finished with the Big Ten’s No. 14 recruiting class with a player average rating of .8490. They’re projected to finish next year with the conference’s 12th-best recruiting class and a per player average of .8366 in the 24/7 composite rankings. Their best player is wide receiver James Frenchie. At 5-foot-9, 175-pounds, Frenchie (.8864) is the No. 6 player in Missouri and the 65th-best wide receiver in the class of 2020.The Badgers (.8782) have a higher per recruit average than the Illini (.8490). The Badgers’ best player in 24/7’s composite rankings is offensive tackle Trey Wedig (.9643). The 6-foot-8, 320-pound behemoth is ranked (.1153) higher than Frenchie for the Illini.

The position both classes compare is at wide receiver. The Badgers signed Chimere Dike (.8727), a 6-foot-0, 185-pound player out of North High in Waukesha, Wis. He’s the No. 93 player at his position in the nation and the fourth-best player coming out of Wisconsin. The Illini signed Lavar Gardner. At 5-foot-11, and 210-pounds, Gardner (.8420) is the nation’s best athlete, but he’s the 30th-best best player in the talent-rich state of Kansas. Recruited by Miles Smith, the Illinois linebackers coach, Gardner is an enormously talented athlete and the sky is the limit for him.

Wisconsin decade in review: Badgers vs Illinois

Wisconsin vs. Illinois

As the 2019 season brings to a close another decade of college football, Badgers Wire has been engaged in a series of reflective pieces. “Record Review” is another series examining how the Badgers have fared against the rest of the Big Ten conference in the 2010s. Next up is an examination of the Badgers’ record against divisional rival Illinois. The Illini haven’t had too much success in the past 10 seasons, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Wisconsin dominates this series.

Using Stassen, Badgers Wire pulled up every result against Illinois in the decade. The Badgers are 8-1 against the Fighting Illini. This year, the Illini finally notched a win over Wisconsin for the first time since 2007. It’s impressive how dominant the Badgers have been in this particular Big Ten West matchup. Up until this year, the closest game the two played was the previous time Illinois won, 12 years ago. Other than that, the closest game you could find were a couple of 10-point wins by the Badgers.

The toughest loss for the Badgers is obviously the one-point defeat at the hands of the Illini this year. One could make the argument that the loss didn’t really affect anything other than their overall perception with voters, but if Wisconsin had been 11-1 and not 10-2 heading into the Big Ten Championship Game, it would have been playing for a playoff spot, not just a conference championship. Having lost to Illinois, the reality was that when the Badgers got beaten down by Ohio State a week later, it didn’t look good.

One thing to say about the loss to Illinois is that’s the type of thing the Badgers have been good about avoiding; they need to avoid that type of loss in the future if they want to compete for national titles. As already mentioned, win that game and it doesn’t come down to a final week contest against Minnesota, UW’s biggest rival. Win the easy games when they’re there and improve on the harder ones. If Wisconsin can kick things back to the normal setting in this series (in other words, this decade preceding 2019), they’ll be alright in the next decade.

2020 and beyond could witness the evolution of the Illini. Illinois could get a little better with Lovie Smith as head coach. He’s done well in the NFL, making a Super Bowl, and even if it takes him a few more seasons, there is no reason to think he can’t be a moderately successful college coach. Hell, he’s made a Super Bowl with Rex Grossman as his quarterback. If he can do THAT, he should be able to win in Champaign. He’ll make it interesting, but Wisconsin has the talent and coaching to keep the loss column low if the Badgers are committed to this game versus the Illini every year.

Big Ten, big ’20s: Illinois football

Illinois football in the 2020s

For the biggest questions and challenges facing the non-Wisconsin Big Ten football programs in the coming decade, I reached out to friends for some outside perspectives. For the Illinois Fighting Illini, I consulted Terry Johnson, whom you can find on Twitter at @TerryPJohnson.

Terry used to work with me at Comeback Media and, before that, at College Football News. He follows the national scene quite well, but Illinois is one of the Big Ten programs he has observed more closely than others. (You can also get the best assessments of Georgia and Utah from him — he lives in Georgia, and family members attended the University of Utah.)

Here is what Terry had to say about the coming decade of Fighting Illini football, as our “Big Ten, big ’20s” series continues at Badgers Wire:

The biggest question surrounding Illinois football in the 2020s is whether the team will contend in the Big Ten West year in and year out.

I realize that most casual football fans will dismiss this idea. They only know the Fighting Illini as a team that usually struggles, but occasionally breaks through with a big season, as it did in 2001 or 2007. After suffering losses to Eastern Michigan, South Florida (twice), and Rutgers in the past three seasons, it’s easy to see why people don’t expect Illinois to compete for B1G West crown anytime soon.

However, as Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend”.

Illini football wasn’t always an “also ran” in the Big Ten. Mike White guided Illinois to five straight winning seasons from 1981-1986, highlighted by a Rose Bowl berth at the end conclusion of the 1983 season. John Mackovic succeeded him and led the Illini to four additional winning seasons, including a top 10 finish in 1989. Lou Tepper took the team to two bowl games in three seasons before things fell apart in 1996.

In other words: it’s possible to win consistently at Illinois. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened since Texas lured Mackovic away in 1992.

Will Lovie Smith finally get the Illini back to the level it was under White and Mackovic?

That’s a great question. Illinois showed flashes of brilliance at times this season, posting impressive wins against Wisconsin and at Michigan State. Yet, it also suffered head-scratching losses to Eastern Michigan, Nebraska, and Northwestern(?!).

Simply put: there’s no way to know which direction things will go over the next few seasons. That’s why people will ask, “when will Illinois reach the level of consistency that it did in the 1980s” for most of the 2020s.

— Terry P. Johnson