Tim Beckman has gone from 2 to 4 wins in his first two years guiding the Illinois Fighting Illini and if that trend continues this year, then Illinois may just break their 2 year bowl drought. 14 starters and 48 lettermen back give them a real shot at doing so. Preview & schedule are below
Gone is Nathan Scheelhasse, but I feel the QB spot may have been upgraded with the addition of Oklahoma State transfer Wes Lunt, who was highly touted out of high school (#21). Lunt has a strong arm and great mobility as well and should have a solid year for the Illini. The WR corps is an area of concern, as they loss 4 of their top 5 targets from last year. Still they do have 4 players back with at least 200 yards receiving and have signed 2 WR’s (Geronimo Allison & Tyrin Stone-Davis) that are both ranked in the top 60 coming out of the Juco ranks. Josh Ferguson returns as the leading ball carrier, after rumbling for 779 yards and 7 TDs last year, while Donovonn Young is also back after putting up 376 yards on the ground last year. Not much depth in this group and it is one of the worst in the Big 10. The OL is the strength of this unit as it returns 4 starters, with 3 of them being seniors. The Illini have allowed 32.1 ppg and 35.4 ppg in Tim Beckman’s first 2 years, but with 8 starters back this looks to be his best defense yet. Still with 24 of 3 lettermen back on this side, including 9 of their top 11 tacklers back, this is still one of the weaker defenses in the league. The LB looks to be the strength, but they have the 12 rated DL in the Big 10 and the worst rated secondary in the league. They should improve over last year, but just not sure how much.
The Illini need their defense to step up if they have any hopes of getting to a bowl game. The Offense scored 29.7 ppg last year and should top the 30 ppg mark with the addition of Lunt and some solid WRs. The Illinois gets a break with their non-conference home slate as they get Youngstown State, WKU and Texas in 3 of their first 4 games this year (all at home). They also have rather manageable home slate in the Big 10 with games vs Purdue, Minnesota Iowa and Penn State). They will need to win 3 of those games for bowl eligibility, because they will not bag wins vs Nebraska, Wisconsin Ohio State and Northwestern on the road. Illinois is pointed in the right direction, but I feel that they will fall 1 game short of bowl eligibility. 5-7 at best here. KEY TREND: 1-12 ATS as non-conference favs of less than 10
2014 Illinois Football Schedule
Aug. 30 Youngstown State
Sep. 6 WKU
Sep. 13 at Washington
Sep. 20 Texas State
Sep. 27 at Nebraska
Oct. 4 Purdue
Oct. 11 at Wisconsin
Oct. 18 OPEN DATE
Oct. 25 Minnesota
Nov. 1 at Ohio State
Nov. 8 OPEN DATE
Nov. 15 Iowa
Nov. 22 Penn State
Nov. 29 at Northwestern
Info gathered From Phil Steele's CFB Preview and Athlon Sports
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