We’ve seen a best case scenario. Oh, and we've taken a look at a worst case scenario. Now we’re talking about a realistic scenario. What on earth would a realistic sort of situation look like for Bret Bielema and the Illinois Fighting Illini?
In case you weren’t aware, we’re taking a look at all of the different ways the 2025 season could play out for the teams across the Big Ten. Because Bielema’s Illinois football team happens to have an alphabetical advantage over everyone else in the Big Ten, they get to go first.
And as Illinois is coming off of a 2024 season that included a Citrus Bowl win over Shane Beamer and South Carolina, it’s pretty dang clear that Bielema’s Fighting Illini football team has some pretty impressive momentum rolling into this coming season.
Based on a comprehensive analysis of recent performance, roster changes, and upcoming schedule, here's a data-driven assessment of Illinois' most realistic outcome for 2025:
How will the Illinois Fighting Illini continue on as they move forward? Should Washington fans be worried about this matchup?
We actually tend to have a silly amount of time between the publishing of this article and when we actually get to see the Illinois Fighting Illini tested. But to be completely honest, I don’t expect there to be an overwhelming amount of drop off. This team is still likely to be pretty solid.
I mean, we’re going to see two very, very winnable games against Western Illinois and Western Michigan. Those games are winnable. But a road trip to Duke? That could be a bit of a challenge. As for the Indiana Hoosiers, well, they’ll probably want to beat up on folks throughout the season.
Washington will get a chance to face Illinois after a bye week, which is nice for Illinois, I guess. But the Hoosiers will be coming off of games against the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Purdue Boilermakers.
- Western Illinois vs Illinois - August 30 - win
- Illinois at Duke - September 6 - win
- Western Michigan vs Illinois - September 13 - win
- Illinois at Indiana - September 20 - loss
- USC vs Illinois - September 27 - loss
- Illinois at Purdue - October 4 - win
- Ohio State vs Illinois - October 11 - loss
- Illinois at Washington - October 25 - loss
- Rutgers vs Illinois - November 1 - win
- Maryland vs Illinois - November 15 - win
- Illinois at Wisconsin - November 22 - win
- Northwestern vs Illinois - November 29 - win
This feels like a pretty solid and attainable schedule. These results won’t be the most earth shattering results ever, but they do paint a pretty interesting future moving forward. And they’ll be happy to get these results.