Illinois isn’t flying under the radar anymore. With a veteran roster, rising expectations and a manageable Big Ten slate, the Fighting Illini enter the 2025 season eyeing a College Football Playoff berth under fifth-year coach Bret Bielema. Expert Jeremy Werner of Illini Inquirer joined Bud Elliott on the Cover 3 College Football Summer School series to preview expectations for Illinois this fall.
What are the stakes for Illinois in 2025?
Could Illinois be the next Big Ten program to crash the College Football Playoff picture — the way Indiana did just a year ago? That’s the belief in Champaign, where expectations have shifted from hopeful to ambitious ahead of the 2025 season.
But this isn’t a Cinderella story in the making. The Fighting Illini bring back serious firepower. Illinois returns 16 starters — second-most among all Power Four teams — and a core that powered last year’s 10-win campaign.
“I know everyone is looking for that dark-horse, and I believe Illinois can be that based on what they return and what they have,” Werner said. “But this is a team that’s got a target on its back. Illinois’ not sneaking up on anybody anymore.”
Breakout player everybody needs to know
Quarterback Luke Altmyer returns as a third-year starter, but with his top two receivers, Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin, no longer on the roster, Illinois faces an adjustment period in its passing game. Enter West Virginia transfer Hudson Clement, who led the Mountaineers in receiving yards last season.
“He is the guy that is proven, that I think Luke Altmyer will have the trust in,” Werner said. “They just got to gain that chemistry as they go through this.”
Clement, a former walk-on and West Virginia native, recorded 1,221 yards and nine touchdowns on 73 receptions across two seasons with the Mountaineers. His 16.7 yards per catch ranks 20th among Power Four wideouts with at least 50 receptions since the start of the 2023 season, per TruMedia.
Win total outlook
The projected win total for Illinois is 8.5, per FanDuel Sportsbook, though most of the money is on the under. That’s notable for a program with only four seasons with at least eight wins since 2000 — two of which have come in the last three years under Bielema.
The 2025 schedule sets up well for Illinois, which faces just three of the eight teams with better odds to win the Big Ten title: Indiana, Ohio State and USC. The biggest measuring-stick moment comes Oct. 11, when the reigning national champion Buckeyes come to Champaign.
“If you can get to that Ohio State game with five or six wins, they have a lot of opportunity and they should be talked about at that point like a College Football Playoff contender,” Werner said.
Illinois is listed at +570 to make the College Football Playoff this season, per FanDuel Sportsbook — tied for the sixth-best odds among Big Ten teams. The conference placed four teams in the inaugural 12-team playoff last year.
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