The Indiana Hoosiers versus the Illinois Fighting Illini, wow, what a great men’s basketball game this will be! Oh wait, hold on, this is actually football! What a time to be alive! Illinois and Indiana are playing a football game where they both have numbers next to their names. I’m old enough to remember a time where not every single college football game was televised, and back in those days, Illinois-Indiana was always a strong candidate for the 1pm CST kickoff because it was radio only.
And now here they are, in a game with massive College Football Playoff implications, on Big Ten Saturday night.
#17 Indiana Hoosiers (3-0) vs #8 Illinois Fighting Illini (3-0)
Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium (Bloomington, Ind.)
Saturday, Sept. 20 | 7:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBC | RADIO: Indiana Hoosiers Sports Network
Investing Guidance
When you look at the gaming research on this one, you’ll see that the Indiana Hoosiers are -4.5 for this one. On the money line they’re priced at -200 while the Illini are backed at +170. The total, or over/under, is 52.5 points. Remember kids, this is straight up “investment advice” that you’re getting right here, right now.
#17 Indiana Hoosiers Preview
In the words of Abba, “They were shining there for you and me. For liberty, Fernando.” IU quarterback Fernando Mendoza looks like he could be maybe the third, fourth or fifth quarterback off the boards come April’s NFL Draft. As we wrote on our NFL Draft prospect profile on USA Today Draft Wire:
“Mendoza is not, never has been and won’t ever become a 400+ yards, 15+ yards-per-attempt in a single game kind of guy. He’s a bona fide football version of a true point guard. Like a floor general on the hardwood, he distributes and gets others involved.”
Elsewhere redshirt junior wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, after he equaled the IU program record (James Hardy versus Michigan State in 2006) for receiving touchdowns in a single game last week, as the Hoosiers thrashed FCS weakling Indiana State 73-0.
IU has a lot of weapons in addition to Cooper, including Elijah Sarratt, who is known by the nickname of “Waffle House,” because he’s “always open.”
Xavier Scott, Miles Scott, Matthew Bailey and Kaleb Patterson will have something to say about that. We don’t know how good IU may or may not be right now, because they have played absolutely nobody so far.
#8 Illinois Fighting Illini Preview
The Illinois Fighting Illini football team is ranked higher in the polls than the likes of Alabama, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, USC, Michigan and another assorted blue bloods. Illinois has a great defensive line, led by Gabe Jacas, but their o-line is lacking right now.
At Duke they were able to run the ball very effectively down the stretch, to milk clock and kill the game off, but they had absolutely no running game in the first half of that game.
The fact that they were able to achieve a road win at a power conference team, despite these issues, really says something. Last week against WMU, the protection for quarterback Luke Altmyer broke down, and the OL once again looked bad.
They need to fix this ASAP in order to reach all their goals, because Illinois can reasonably expect to reach the CFP. Bowl projections are one thing, but the playoff is another animal entirely.
This could end up being a very special year in Champaign, as the Illini have not accomplished back to back winning seasons since 2010-2011. Both of those seasons only saw a 7-6 finish anyway. The Illini football program has also not accomplished consecutive 8-win campaigns since 1989-1990.
2025 could be a big year; ending all these droughts.
Prediction: Indiana Hoosiers 24, Illinois Fighting Illini 21
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter