CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Pat Embleton has heard the refrain over and over again in his 13 years here.
Typical Illinois.
Every time the program takes one step forward, it takes two steps back. Long-time fans have become accustomed to bracing for the anvil to drop from the sky once they finally let their guard down and enjoy Illinois football.
In 2001, the Fighting Illini won 10 games and went to the Sugar Bowl, only to miss a bowl the next five seasons.
Typical Illinois.
Ron Zook got it back on track in 2007, won nine games and took the Illini to their first Rose Bowl since 1984. And then typical Illinois hit and the program missed a bowl the next two seasons and largely wandered in the wilderness until Bret Bielema arrived in 2021.
You can understand then why Illinois fans might still be cautious about a team that will open the season at No. 12 in the country – their highest preseason ranking in more than 30 years – with a real chance to make the College Football Playoff if everything goes right. The hype is building and they want to believe, but they are still worried about getting hurt and have the scars to prove it.
Embleton, who is on his fifth coach at Illinois, certainly gets it. The Illinois general manager has lived it. There’s one huge difference this time around, though, he says.
“Our head football coach really doesn’t give a shit about that,” Embleton told CBS Sports. “You have to respect the history, but prepare for the future. That is a losing mindset, and we don’t have that in this building.”
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A chip on both shoulders
Decadent coach offices are nothing new. They serve a critical purpose for recruiting and entertaining beyond their normal function. But with two fireplaces and warm lighting, Bielema’s office looks like it could be the lobby of an upscale ski lodge. Even the Illinois coach has to admit it is “bougie.”
Don’t let the fancy exterior mislead you on what Illinois football really is. With Bielema at the helm, the Illini is going to physically punish opponents and make them earn every yard. They wear you down over time and rank amongst the most frustrating teams in the country to play. Every cliche adjective you can think of associated with tough — gritty, rugged, tenacious — applies to Bielema’s Illinois program.
“For me, Illinois, we don’t have to carry one chip on our shoulder,” Bielema told CBS Sports. “We got to carry one on both shoulders. That’s just kind of what we got to do.”
That mindset paid off in a big way in 2024 when Bielema guided Illinois to a 10-3 record, its first 10-win season since 2001, and a Citrus Bowl win over No. 14 South Carolina (the trophy is prominently displayed in Bielema’s office.) The Illini finished the season ranked No. 16, only the third time they’ve finished a season ranked in 25 years. It was a massive leap in the right direction after Bielema inherited a team coming off a two-win season.
Add to that a talented returning core – including three-year starting quarterback Luke Altmyer, the entire offensive line and eight defensive starters led by linebacker Gabe Jacas – and it’s easy to see why Illinois has become a trendy playoff pick. The Illini bring back 78 percent of their offensive production and 72 percent of their defense, both marks ranking in the top 15 nationally.
On paper they should be be even better. The schedule looks manageable, too, with only two preseason top 25 teams (No. 3 Ohio State, at No. 20 Indiana) on the docket. If Illinois can even just split those games, the potential path to the playoffs looks awfully promising.
But defensive coordinator Aaron Henry says is part of the challenge. Potential can be a double-edged sword. The energetic and charismatic Illinois DC says he reminds his defense, which ranked 31st nationally in scoring defense in 2024, daily of the “typical Illinois” phenomenon Embleton and others know so well.
“We had a good year but it won’t carry or have merit for next year,” Henry says. “Potentially we can be phenomenal, but historically coming off of the success that this place has had, people have poured into these guys and loved them up and now they start to feel themselves, and there’s been a year of blunder to follow up with that.
“As a coach, what could potentially happen? Potentially we can be amazing. We could be really, really, really good.”
A leader under center
If Illinois can elevate to the next level, Altmyer will be a big reason why.
Illinois is never going to blow you away scoring 50 points a game, but context makes Altmyer’s 2024 season even more impressive. While he still doesn’t get nearly the national recognition he deserves, he threw for 2,717 yards, 22 touchdowns and only six interceptions.
He built a fantastic connection with receiver Pat Bryant, connecting for 984 yards and 10 touchdowns. Bryant’s production will be greatly missed — particularly his ability to come up big when it mattered most, after he delivered three game-winning touchdowns for the Illini.
But Bryant is now with the Denver Broncos. Zakhari Franklin, Illinois’ second-leading receiver in 2024, is also gone.
Losses at receiver make his stellar season harder to replicate, but don’t try to stop Altmyer from trying. He already made a promise to Bielema: “I’ll work harder than anybody in this building, and I’ll work harder than anybody we’re going against.”
“He’s in that film room more than anybody I’ve ever seen,” Bielema says. “His preparation for end of half, end of game drives is better than any quarterback I’ve ever been around, and that’s saying a lot because I’ve had some good ones.”
It’s why Illinois fought hard to keep him when the vultures came circling. Altmyer, a Mississippi native who started his career at Ole Miss, heard through intermediaries there was a bevy of interest in his services down in SEC country. His name even popped up as a popular target for Tennessee after Nico Iamaleava left the program for UCLA.
Altmyer admits he listened to what those SEC schools had to offer. He heard about the financial numbers and opportunities that were available to him if he was willing to leave Champaign. It didn’t make sense for him to leave, not with what he and the rest of his team were building at Illinois. He wholeheartedly believed that what this team’s potential far outweighed the unknowns elsewhere.
“If we do what we do, we’re talented enough to be all-world. To be great. To be the best team that’s ever been assembled here at the University of Illinois,” Altmyer says. “We believe that, we work hard for it, and all the pieces are there.”
Altmyer’s natural confidence is contagious. He’s been in hostile road environments in the SEC and Big Ten, and knows what it’ll take to get Illinois over the hump. This is the team, he says, that will make Illinois fans shed all that painful baggage and go all-in.
“This is what we asked for, to be in a position like this and be talked about as a playoff contender and a team that can compete at the highest level, a championship-level team,” the Illinois QB says. “And that’s what we believe that we are. We work really hard for it and our expectation is to go out there and be the best that we can be, whether it’s winning 16-17 games this year, whatever it looks like, we’re just going to do our best so when the Saturdays come, we’re ready for it.”
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