Welcome to the Ultimate College Football Preview for 2023. Every team in FBS Football will be covered in this daily blog release. All of your favorite teams from the ACC, AAC, Big 12, Big 10, C-USA, MAC, Mountain West, PAC 12, SEC, Sun Belt & even every Independent. Think of these daily college football previews as a cheat sheet going into next year.
2022 Recap:
I enjoyed Illinois football last year and this college football preview was fun looking back on Illinois. Last year was a great year for the Fighting Illini. They would have hit their absolute ceiling if they didn’t have 3 bad losses to Michigan State, Indiana and Purdue. That being said finishing the year at 8-4, 2nd in the Big Ten West, number 1 ranked defense and going to a bowl game is about where Illinois should want to be. It is not a power football program and they never will be. Their ceiling is 10 wins and a Rose bowl and if they can hit that every ten years it is a win. If they have more consistent seasons like last year the Illini fans can’t complain. Every other year competing for the top of the Big Ten West that is a win.
Head Coach:
Coach Bret Bielema is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Illini. His hard nose, smash mouth, defense first football is perfect for Illinois. They are not some blue blood college football power. They are however a very good fan base that just wants to win some games and go bowling. Bielema wants to run the ball and play fantastic defense. That just fits the midwest, cold weather team that the Illini are. They are never going to a be a flashy, spread you out and score 50 points a game team. Illinois is a run the ball, use play action with a mobile QB to make big plays down the field and be feared on defense. With Bielema in charge of the defense, Illinois will be a top 20 team on that side of the ball. The man can just scheme and coach defenses to put guys in positions to make plays. He is now 13-12 after two years in Springfield. Under Bielema Illinois should be bowling every year and every 3 or 4 years competing for a Big 10 championship towards the end of the year. This is a perfect fit for coach, fans and team.
Key Players:
The Illini were not great on offense but did lose their best player Chase Brown to the NFL. Brown was the starting running back who had 1,883 yards from scrimmage with 13 touchdowns and averaged 5.5 yards per carry. That is a lot of production to make up. His backup last year Reggie Love III is the man who will be stepping up to take on that challenge. In a very limited role, Love averaged 4.5 yards per carry and had 2 touchdowns and 316 yards. The Illini also have to replace their game managing QB Tommy Devito who had 2,650 yards with a 69.6% completion percentage, 15 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Devito was not a world beating QB, rather he was a leader and distributor of the ball. That task this year will be Red Shirt Sophomore Transfer Luke Altmyer from Ole Miss. He was a backup at Ole Miss but was a former 4 star recruit that has a good arm and the ability to make plays outside the pocket. Maybe the playbook gets a little bigger for Altmyer with his ability to move and throw on the run. Luke does have a pair of WR coming back to the Illini offense. Casey Washington and Pat Bryant are back who combined had 759 yards on 65 catches and 2 touchdowns. They will be the leaders of a very young WR room. The defense loses their leader Witherspoon to the draft. They lost a lot of players to the draft and graduation on defense. The leading tackler back is DE Jer’Zahn Newton who had 61 tackles, 14 TFLs and 5.5 sacks. He will be the leader of a very young but talented group on defense. His opposite DE Keith Randolph JR will help cement a very good defensive line.
2023 Prediction:
Really a college football preview always comes down to matchups coming up. Looking at the Illini non-conference schedule they have games vs. Toledo and FAU at home and a game at Kansas. This maybe trickier than it looks. With all the replacing the Illini have to do on both sides of the ball this might be tough. Illinois should be Toledo, the FAU game is a toss up and the Kansas game is a loss. It they go 2-1 thats a huge win. The home conference games are Penn State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Indiana and Northwestern. That is tough and at best 3-2 is what the Illini are looking at. The Road games are Purdue, Maryland, Iowa and Minnesota. Looking at these games and their rosters they can win 3 of these games even though 2 is more likely. Putting all this information together the ceiling is 8-4 again for Illinois with 7-5 being right where I see them. I would be surprised if they slid under .500 and there is no chance this team can win more than 8.
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