Dare we actually go ahead and put those two things together \u2014 the ever-evolving playoff and the risen-from-the-dead Illini?<\/p>\n
We do, and why not?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s certainly a swagger, a confidence, an energy behind that Block \u2018I\u2019 that we wear and represent, that catches people\u2019s eye at this point,\u201d quarterback Luke Altmyer said. \u201cWe\u2019re being talked about in a great way. We won 10 games [in 2024] and have a lot of momentum moving forward. People notice that, I think. We put people on notice, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a different kind of first day at the Big Ten\u2019s annual preseason gathering of coaches, top players and media. For one thing, this year\u2019s event is at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Vegas Strip, perhaps the only spot left on the U.S. map to which the conference has yet to officially expand. For another, Illinois \u2014 which took its turn Tuesday along with Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Rutgers and defending national champ Ohio State \u2014 has become one of the cool kids, an \u201cit\u201d program.<\/p>\n
When the preseason AP Top 25 comes out next month, usual suspects Ohio State, Penn State and Oregon will be ranked near the top. But not far behind them will be Illinois, which will be ranked better than 20th going into the season for the first time since 1990. That year, the Illini were 11th. This team almost surely will be in that neighborhood.<\/p>\n
With a 12-team playoff, that puts the Illini right in the fan and media sweet spot for spirited speculation and epic expectations.<\/p>\n
\u201cExpectations are earned,\u201d coach Bret Bielema cautioned. \u201cThey\u2019re never given.\u201d<\/p>\n
Try telling that to his players, three of whom flew to the desert along with Bielema and some deep-pocketed donors on a private jet.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Non-playoff] bowl games are starting to kind of not be as important at this point in the world of college football,\u201d Altmyer said. \u201cIf you\u2019re not in that playoff, nobody cares. \u2026 You ask Ohio State that same question, yeah, it\u2019s playoff or bust. That\u2019s where we want to be. We want to be in that playoff.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a heady time for the Illini and a gratifying moment for Bielema, who\u2019s coming off his first double-digit-win season since 2011, when he was at Wisconsin. The fifth-year, 55-year-old Illini coach, owner of a recently signed contract extension through 2031, is wearing it well, having shed approximately 75 pounds and walking around with a Citrus Bowl ring the size of a Buick on his right hand. The ring celebrates the upset of South Carolina last New Year\u2019s Eve and, in a lovely touch, is inscribed with the initials \u201cDD\u201d in honor of late assistant Dana Dimel, who died four weeks before that game.<\/p>\n
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