The 2022 Illini are on the Dean’s List

The Fighting Illini are bowl eligible after seven games.

This is not a typo. This is not a delusion. This is not a fever dream.

This is not Harry Potter and the Hallucinogen of the Orange Kool-Aid.

And most importantly, this is not a drill.

We back up.

This has been a special season thus far, and the worst case scenario is that Illinois will go to its first bowl game since 2019.

Bret Bielema’s six wins thus far tied the highest win total of the five-year Lovie Smith era.