Duck Dive: Illinois Football 2025 Preview

Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty ImagesSpecial thanks to Steve Braun of Off-Tackle Empire for joining me to discuss Illinois’ roster on this week’s podcast:

The Illini were to many the biggest surprise of the Big Ten in 2024 (the Hoosiers notwithstanding, though better informed readers saw that one coming), as they won nine regular season games plus the bowl when they were projected to go 5-7 again just like 2023. Part of that had to do with facing a softer schedule (with the right timing) than it looked during the offseason; Steve and I discussed Kansas, Nebraska, and Michigan as paper tigers, at least at the moment when Illinois played them.

But the more perplexing thing is that on a…