This was a season of question marks, though. It was the first year under new head coach, Lovie Smith, after a great deal of turmoil struck the program right before the 2015 season started. Illinois went through a change at the Athletic Director position, had three different head coaches and a completely new coaching staff between August 28, 2015 and March 7, 2016. For those of you counting at home, that is only a 193-day span.
So the fact this program managed to scrounge up three victories among all that uncertainty isn’t a terrible feat. They should have actually won four games that year but they fell to Purdue in overtime.