I don’t know how bold this is to be honest, but with so much confusion on who is good and who is not in the Big Ten entering the new calendar year, I’ll buy stock in the Illini right now and claim they will win the league’s regular season. I’m not a Nostradamus and can’t tell the future how far they go beyond that (they win it all), but I think they’ll pull through in a crowded Big Ten regular season.

Michael Berns: Illinois finishes second in Big Ten West in Bielema’s first season

We don’t even know the names of all of his assistant coaches, but I’m 100% on board the Bret Bielema train.