It was all smiles after last year's regular season ended for the Illini, meeting the 8 win mark for the first time since 2011. Bret Bielema’s bunch finished 8-5 overall with 4 of those losses being one possession games.
How many games will Illinois win in 2023?
7 or more
6 or less
Both sides of the ball were solid, but the defense was the saving grace for this team, allowing less than 2 touchdowns per game, and limiting their opponents to 286.8 yards per game. The question for this year will be, can Illinois have the same success without their defensive coordinator, Ryan Walter? Walter is now the head coach of Purdue. Illinois will also be without star players Tommy DeVito (QB) and Chase Brown (RB) running their offense. A lot of questions for this squad, but I think they can move their “winning season streak” to two years in a row.
Bend Don’t Break: The loss of Tommy DeVito and Chase Brown are huge, but a change in offensive leadership is nothing new for Bret Bielema, as this will be the third year in a row there will be a different starter under center for them. This year, Luke Altmyer, transfer from Ole Miss, will be under center.
Altmyer, a former 4-star recruit, didn’t get much time at Ole Miss (hence the transfer) but there is certainly upside that comes with him. In high school, He threw for over 3,000 yards in one season, threw for 37 touchdowns, and had a 67% completion percentage. He can sling the ball, and may even be able to improve this offense, who averaged 23.7 points per game. Who will fill Chase Brown’s shoes though? Well, Reggie Love III and Josh McCray will give it a go. Chase rushed for over 1,600 yards last year and found the endzone 13 times. If Love and McCray can get anywhere close to these numbers, the fans in Champaign will be content.
Bend Don’t Break (Pt.2): The defense also suffered a major blow at the end of the season, but this one was off the field. Ryan Walters was a defensive mastermind last year, his boys lead the nation in takeaways per game, scoring defense, and were second in the nation in opponent yards per play. Who will attempt to follow that performance? Aaron Henry, an in-house hire by Bielema. Henry was the Defensive Backs coach last year, and his familiarity with the system that Walters ran will prove to be beneficial this year. He doesn’t plan on changing much (who would?) and most of the star players will be returning for this defense. I would say expect some regression here, but not much.
Prediction: Illinois will avoid playing Michigan and Ohio State this year, and they get Penn State at home. Their out of conference schedule is far from difficult and they will play a total of 7 home games this year. 7-5 season loading for the Illini.
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