With the college football season only weeks away, we are officially in “list season”.
This time of year is dominated by "The Worldwide Leader in Sports" in ESPN, as they continually put out lists, rankings, and previews that cover college football daily. However, a team that is commonly left off many of these lists and appears low in their rankings is Illinois.
Illinois returns 16 of their 22 starters from a 10-win season and has the 4th highest returning production in the country. In the 2024 returning production rankings, four of the top five power four teams all had the same or increased their regular season win total.