ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?! I certainly am. Hopefully we aren’t asking “Are you already looking ahead to basketball season?” by 2 p.m. on Saturday.
There is actually some semblance of — gasp! — optimism when it comes to the 2019 Fighting Illini, and they have a great opportunity to start the season with confidence when the Akron Zips come to Memorial Stadium. Akron is coming off a 4-8 campaign, with the highlight being a 39-34 upset win at Northwestern.
There are a lot of unknowns for the Zips (TCR’s Matt Rejc touched on them here) as they enter this season, but MAC teams have given Illinois trouble in recent years.