Illinois Football Focus

#illini Bret Bielema: We'll take a deep breath after today and then the portal will open up. I think with the one portal window, kids are feeling an urge to get in there earlier than ever.

COMMIT: Three-star Florida RB Javari Barnett flips back to Illini from Alabama on Signing Day Thad Ward secures a second straight big Signing Day flip for a long-time target

FLIP: One-time #illini commit and three-star RB Javari Barnett has flipped his commitment back from Alabama to Illinois, giving Illinois another boost to its Class of 2026

The Illini team celebrating their victory and retention of the Land of Lincoln trophy.

Bret Bielema snow angels

Is it better for a program like Kentucky to hire a 36-year-old OC who, if it works, is gone & if it doesn’t work, he’s gone

Or hire an older retread/older coordinator who’s more likely to stay if things go well and won’t be using the program as a springboard to a better program if they find success

pat fitzgerald...what are we doin with this haircut

The columns are games, wins, losses, WP, month, then at teh end it's the combined winning percentage for pre-and post-october 1 All Time 9 7 2 0.778 August Aug+Sep 0.618 274 168 104 0.613 September 445 219 217 0.492 October Oct-Jan 0.470 400 179 204 0.448 November 37 17 19 0.459 December 8 3 4 0.375 January Since 2000 8 6 2 0.750 August Aug+Sep 0.705 97 68 29 0.701 September 96 40 56 0.417 October Oct-Jan 0.381 100 32 68 0.320 November 12 7 5 0.583 December 2 1 1 0.500 January Since 2010 5 5 0 1.000 August Aug+Sep 0.754 56 41 15 0.732 September 60 20 40 0.333 October Oct-Jan 0.282 63 13 50 0.206 November 8 4 4 0.500 December

September Maryland, calculated:

Pat Fitzgerald went 3–24 in Big Ten play over his final three non-Covid seasons at Northwestern. The Wildcats did go 7–2 in the Covid-shortened year, but how much weight to give that season is debatable.

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We'll be loaded with Illini offseason & Signing Day in the coming days with plenty of hoops coverage coming as well.

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How Luke Altmyer and the Illini made indelible impacts on each other: 'Transformed completely' Three years ago, Luke Altmyer arrived at Illinois "a broken boy." He leaves as "a different person" and an Illini legend.

Three years ago, Luke Altmyer arrived at Illinois "a broken boy." He leaves as "a different person" and an #illini legend.

"I transformed completely," Altmyer said.

How Luke Altmyer and the Illini made indelible impacts on each other for the better ⤵️

🏈📊College Football's Most Efficient Teams
Opponent-Adjusted EPA/Play through Week 14

🟢⬆️➡️: Good Offense, Good Defense
🔵⬆️⬅️: Good Offense, Defense Needs Work
🟡⬇️➡️: Good Defense, Offense Needs Work
🔴⬇️⬅️: We're trying our best!

Illinois just posted 31 wins across four seasons. The program’s strongest four-year stretch since 1902–05 (32).

Fitzgerald's last four seasons at Northwestern, by the way: a 14-31 record with an average SP+ ranking of 75.0.

Lane Kiffin arrives for his plane at the Oxford, MS airport

📹 via @GohLes1 𝕏

That's fuckin right

We interrupt your constant refreshing of the Lane Kiffin situation to bring you the updated Power 4 adj. EPA/play chart after Nov 29.

Top 5 (note: Toledo is 2nd and listed in G6 chart)
Ohio State: +0.39
Indiana: +0.24
Oregon: +0.24
USC: +0.24
Texas A&M: +0.22

The OG post:

I don’t care in the slightest what happens in the SEC. Who wins. Who loses.

But now…

Go Ole Miss. Fuck LSU.

So it was a great heel turn by Lane that got me invested in the SEC.

Lane Kiffin could’ve run a perfect work by teasing leaving Ole Miss for “better jobs,” then reject them in a face turn & declare Ole Miss the superior program. That could’ve vaulted Ole Miss into the sport’s upper tier

Instead he went full heel turn & now Lane is the villain people want to see lose

A photo of former Illinois fighting Illini head coach Tim Beckman with assistant coach Alex Golesh who is now the head coach of the Auburn Tigers in the SEC.

Auburn dips into the Tim Beckman coaching tree to find their next head coach.

LIVE POSTGAME POD: Hits & misses from Illini's 20-13 win over Northwestern - YouTube Illini Inquirer's Jeremy Werner and Joey Wagner react to Illinois football's 20-13 win over Northwestern. The guys discuss a big day from the defense, offens...

WATCH: @mrwagner25 and I react to #illini football's 20-13 win over Northwestern, the defense's big day, what 8 wins means for the program and the offseason ahead

Join us and weigh in ⤵️

7-5 DUKE TO THE ACC TITLE GAME!

Thanks for following along all season. Appreciate everyone who engages. Looking forward to the bowl game.

With the regular season over, I’ll start digging into player and team stats to see who excelled, who struggled, and how Illinois stacks up in the Big Ten.

I zoomed in, but can't read the back of the jersey. The one throwing the snowball (#15) is either Andre Lovett Jr or Jershaun Newton

Some Illini players immediately started playing in the snow after the win. You can see behind JC Davis there is a snowball fight plus multiple players climbing up snow mountain.

Are you happy with 8 wins? @andrewdeffley.bsky.social

The soft defense and inconsistency of the offensive line and running backs were my major concerns this season.

Illinois finishes 8–4, which is exactly where I had them before the season. It matters tho, 7 wins would’ve felt like a disappointment heading into a rebuilding year. Still a frustrating season because of the defense. There’s a lot to fix, but the program is still moving in the right direction.