Last week’s open date came at an opportune time for Illinois. The most difficult segment of the Illini’s schedule is coming up, and they haven’t fared well in their previous encounters with nationally ranked teams.
The next three games for the Illini (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten) will be against Top 25 teams. They’re home against No. 12 Penn State on Saturday and No. 19 Wisconsin on Oct. 29 and play at No. 14 Ohio State on Nov. 5. In their two games with ranked teams so far, the Illini lost 35-20 at then-No. 15 California and 61-14 at home against then-No. 17 Michigan State.
The open date gave two starters more time to nurse injuries they played with in the Oct. 8 loss at Indiana. Strong safety Morris Virgil is recovering from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the Oct. 1 loss at Iowa, and offensive tackle JJ Simmons is mending from the knee injury he suffered against the Hawkeyes.
———-
Next: Sat. vs. Penn State, 6 p.m., ESPN2