Illini Football 2024

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#1      

Dan

Dan
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Dan
Welcome to the Illinois Football 2024 & College Football news thread :illinois:


Schedule | Roster | Tickets

Single game tickets on sale now.



2024 Illini Football Schedule
DateOpponentTime/TV
Thu, Aug 29Eastern Illinois8:00pm BTN
Sat, Sept 7Kansas6:00pm FS1
Sat, Sept 14Central Michigan
(Homecoming)		11:00am Peacock
Fri, Sept 20@Nebraska7:00pm FOX
Sat, Sept 28@Penn State2:30pm/3:00pm/6:30pm
Sat, Oct 12Purdue
Sat, Oct 19Michigan
Sat, Oct 26@Oregon2:30pm/3:00pm/6:30pm
Sat, Nov 2Minnesota
Sat, Nov 16Michigan State
Sat, Nov 23@Rutgers
Sat, Nov 30Northwestern
(Wrigley Field)

All times CT
 
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#3      
ktal
Dog Morning GIF
 
#5      
Fighter of the Nightman
CharliedonSurf said:
What are the most likely game times for the Purdue and Michigan games?
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I'm obviously guessing here, but we play Purdue on Saturday 10/12 and Michigan on Saturday 10/19. These are the other Big Ten games those weekends (Saturday games only), roughly in order of how much I think the networks will want each:

SATURDAY 10/12 - Purdue at Illinois
Ohio State at Oregon
Penn State at USC
Washington at Iowa
Minnesota at UCLA
Wisconsin at Rutgers

SATURDAY 10/19 - Michigan at Illinois
Iowa at Michigan State
USC at Maryland
UCLA at Rutgers
Nebraska at Indiana
Wisconsin at Northwestern

PURDUE GAME
I feel 100% certain this will be 11:00 am or 2:30 pm, but which one will depend on which one of BTN, FS1 or Peacock gobbles us up. I highly doubt we are going to get the Purdue game on a big-time channel, and it will be a bit of a game of musical chairs for which of the lesser 6 slots (11:00 and 2:30 on those three channels) we might get.

MICHIGAN GAME
I'll go ahead and predict that IF we somehow have a 4-2 record or better by this game, it will almost certainly be Big Noon Kickoff. Forget for a second that we would be a bit of a "surprise story" by that point or the fact that it's Memorial Stadium's rededication game or the history of us playing Michigan in such a game ... an even more important reason is that Big Noon is obsessed with Michigan, and they only have them slated once (September 7 vs. Texas). Michigan is on NBC, BTN and CBS for their other games, and their 10/5 game at Washington will not be Big Noon due to the time zone. So, I think FOX will take any excuse to get them back on a month and a half after their last appearance ... and watching Michigan likely win handily in an away Big Ten stadium where they are likely to bring a ton of fans would make the Michigan bandwagoners happy. Hell, we might even stand a chance of getting that slot if we are 3-3 before this one and don't look like crap.
 
#6      
Chukwuwumba
Fighter of the Nightman said:
I'm obviously guessing here, but we play Purdue on Saturday 10/12 and Michigan on Saturday 10/19. These are the other Big Ten games those weekends (Saturday games only), roughly in order of how much I think the networks will want each:

SATURDAY 10/12 - Purdue at Illinois
Ohio State at Oregon
Penn State at USC
Washington at Iowa
Minnesota at UCLA
Wisconsin at Rutgers

SATURDAY 10/19 - Michigan at Illinois
Iowa at Michigan State
USC at Maryland
UCLA at Rutgers
Nebraska at Indiana
Wisconsin at Northwestern

PURDUE GAME
I feel 100% certain this will be 11:00 am or 2:30 pm, but which one will depend on which one of BTN, FS1 or Peacock gobbles us up. I highly doubt we are going to get the Purdue game on a big-time channel, and it will be a bit of a game of musical chairs for which of the lesser 6 slots (11:00 and 2:30 on those three channels) we might get.

MICHIGAN GAME
I'll go ahead and predict that IF we somehow have a 4-2 record or better by this game, it will almost certainly be Big Noon Kickoff. Forget for a second that we would be a bit of a "surprise story" by that point or the fact that it's Memorial Stadium's rededication game or the history of us playing Michigan in such a game ... an even more important reason is that Big Noon is obsessed with Michigan, and they only have them slated once (September 7 vs. Texas). Michigan is on NBC, BTN and CBS for their other games, and their 10/5 game at Washington will not be Big Noon due to the time zone. So, I think FOX will take any excuse to get them back on a month and a half after their last appearance ... and watching Michigan likely win handily in an away Big Ten stadium where they are likely to bring a ton of fans would make the Michigan bandwagoners happy. Hell, we might even stand a chance of getting that slot if we are 3-3 before this one and don't look like crap.
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I do like the matchups the week of Michigan where hopefully this game is top of pecking order.
Regarding time zone, they went to Colorado last year for big noon. But likely an outlier for Deon effect.
 
#7      
Fighter of the Nightman
Chukwuwumba said:
I do like the matchups the week of Michigan where hopefully this game is top of pecking order.
Regarding time zone, they went to Colorado last year for big noon. But likely an outlier for Deon effect.
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True, but Washington is even an hour earlier. They could always just go there to broadcast at 10 am CST for a later game, but that still leaves 11 am CST on FOX open for the Illini.
 
#13      
Fighter of the Nightman
ptgrd23 said:
Will they have to switch directions at 50 yard line like last time?
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Nope, haha, they fixed that. Also, to anyone who poo-poos the idea of playing at Wrigley, I have two comments:

1. It's NU's home game they are giving up, so you cannot complain from that angle!

2. I went the last time we played there in 2010, and I cannot describe how cool the atmosphere in Wrigleyville was. It was awesome, and I don't want to hear anyone crapping on the idea of playing in a baseball stadium if you were not there! Plus, this time there will not be as many NU fans, as they tried so desperately to keep us out the first time around. Judging by their crowd vs. Iowa last year, they appear to have stopped that, haha.
 
#14      
Chukwuwumba
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Nope, haha, they fixed that. Also, to anyone who poo-poos the idea of playing at Wrigley, I have two comments:

1. It's NU's home game they are giving up, so you cannot complain from that angle!

2. I went the last time we played there in 2010, and I cannot describe how cool the atmosphere in Wrigleyville was. It was awesome, and I don't want to hear anyone crapping on the idea of playing in a baseball stadium if you were not there! Plus, this time there will not be as many NU fans, as they tried so desperately to keep us out the first time around. Judging by their crowd vs. Iowa last year, they appear to have stopped that, haha.
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They really should make this a neutral game at the end of the year. Who knows what will happen will bowls in the future, at least each team will have an enjoyable game to end the season.
 
#16      
Ander1345
Chukwuwumba said:
They really should make this a neutral game at the end of the year. Who knows what will happen will bowls in the future, at least each team will have an enjoyable game to end the season.
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There's no such thing as neutral. Our fandom dwarfs theirs in a landslide.
 
#17      
BZuppke
I’m having a hard time thinking we’ll have fewer than 8 wins which includes a big win over scUM and in the season finale.
 
#21      
Chukwuwumba
BZuppke said:
I’m having a hard time thinking we’ll have fewer than 8 wins which includes a big win over scUM and in the season finale.
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Illinois football has achieved 8 wins in only 8 seasons in the past 60 years. No reason to setup expectations like this before the season.
Biggest gap in conference championships in their history right now (23 years).
Year 4 (or 5?) of a 10 year rebuild in my eyes. Looking for progress this year.
 
#22      
Fighter of the Nightman
Dan said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1813982558092251157
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While I think we all have covered the "good" reasons why Illini fan support has eroded over the years, we really should be able to fill a 60K seat stadium, at least for big conference games. Our positive attendance trend the last two years has been AWESOME compared to the Lovie years, but I think it is important for recruiting and revenue that we don't see a backslide. For comparison, these are some schools that I think are comparable from a historic "futility" perspective and surrounding population:

ILLINOIS
2024 Record: 5-7
Top 3 Attended: 54,205 - 53,512 - 53,157
MSA Population: 236,000
Undergrad Population: 35,000
Total Enrollment: 56,000

PURDUE
2024 Record: 4-8
Top 3 Attended: 61,441 - 59,993 - 59,529
MSA Population: 227,000
Undergrad Population: 39,000
Total Enrollment: 52,000

Sorry, but winning 4 games instead of our 3 and lucking into one Big Ten Championship Game should not be enough for Purdue to consistently outdraw us. They're in a similar situation to us as far as being a distance from major metro areas, the only difference is we have way more fans in Chicago (over 200k alumni and many non-alum fans like me) than they have in any of their metros. Wins will help, but our baseline school/team spirit is a bit depressingly low.
 
#24      
mhuml32
Fighter of the Nightman said:
While I think we all have covered the "good" reasons why Illini fan support has eroded over the years, we really should be able to fill a 60K seat stadium, at least for big conference games. Our positive attendance trend the last two years has been AWESOME compared to the Lovie years, but I think it is important for recruiting and revenue that we don't see a backslide. For comparison, these are some schools that I think are comparable from a historic "futility" perspective and surrounding population:

ILLINOIS
2024 Record: 5-7
Top 3 Attended: 54,205 - 53,512 - 53,157
MSA Population: 236,000
Undergrad Population: 35,000
Total Enrollment: 56,000

PURDUE
2024 Record: 4-8
Top 3 Attended: 61,441 - 59,993 - 59,529
MSA Population: 227,000
Undergrad Population: 39,000
Total Enrollment: 52,000

Sorry, but winning 4 games instead of our 3 and lucking into one Big Ten Championship Game should not be enough for Purdue to consistently outdraw us. They're in a similar situation to us as far as being a distance from major metro areas, the only difference is we have way more fans in Chicago (over 200k alumni and many non-alum fans like me) than they have in any of their metros. Wins will help, but our baseline school/team spirit is a bit depressingly low.
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Since 2017:

Purdue 40-43 (.492)
Illinois 32-50 (.392)

The Brohm era missed only one bowl by not qualifying. There are always exceptions to the rule, that said: Winning brings attendance, not the other way around.
 
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