CHICAGO - Illinois football walked into 2025 Big Ten Media Days as one of the conference’s buzziest teams. A 10-win 2024 season, strong coaching continuity and a roster that largely stayed intact had the Illini sitting in the conversation as a Big Ten dark horse and a projected fourth-place finisher.
This year feels different.
At 2026 Big Ten Media Days at the Hilton Chicago, Illinois drew far less of the spotlight after a busy offseason that turned over roughly half the coaching staff and roster. Bret Bielema’s jab at the SEC still kept the program in the news cycle, but the broader chatter around the Illini has quieted.
Even so, the respect remains. In a Cleveland.com media poll, Illinois was picked to finish ninth in the 18-team league, and most oddsmakers have set the Illini’s win total at 7.5.
That’s a step down in expectation, but it doesn’t erase what Bielema has built. Illinois has produced five seasons of 8 or more wins this century, and three of them have come in the last four years under Bielema.
The program has also posted three winning Big Ten records since 1994, with all three arriving in the last four seasons. Over the past two years, the Illini have won 19 games, the most in any two-year stretch in school history.
Still, Bielema made it clear that none of that guarantees anything in 2026. With Luke Altmyer, Gabe Jacas, Hank Beatty, four starting offensive linemen and Miles Scott all gone, and with a full defensive scheme change coming, he said the program has to keep its edge instead of leaning on what it already accomplished.
He also said he has no desire to see Illinois football follow the path of Illinois basketball after its 2005 NCAA Tournament runner-up finish, when that program quickly lost both talent and bite.
For Bielema, the lesson is simple: the Illini’s rise in the 2020s was built on work, toughness and an underdog mentality, and that mindset has to survive the transition.
"I think kids today in our program going into Year Six are different than Year One is that now they've had success, but I don't want them to forget how hard it is to get there. …Since my time of being here through five seasons, lead the Big Ten in underdog victories, which is one of two ways: it means we haven't been very good, or we're on underdog a lot.
But our last six ranked wins all came as underdogs. And I think our kids play to that.
I think our kids play to that.
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What makes McCoy worth tracking is the blend of immediate usefulness and longer-term upside. He is expected to bring defensive value right away, with the ability to bother multiple positions, while his downhill burst and work on the glass hint at a bigger offensive role if the shot comes around. For Michigan, the question is not whether he can fit in early, but how quickly he can turn that two-way promise into something more substantial. [Read more 🡒]
Bret Bielema Just Raised A Massive 2027 Question For Illinois Secondary
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Clarke has already shown why his future matters, following up a strong 2024 with another productive season even while missing four games and still ranking among the Big Tens better ballhawks. Bielema clearly sees the possibility of another year in Champaign, but the calendar also points to a tougher question for Illinois: whether Clarke is in line to anchor the secondary again in 2027 or whether his next step comes in the NFL Draft instead. [Read more 🡒]
Katin Houser's Running Style Could Shape Illinois' Ceiling Under Bret Bielema
Bret Bielema has settled on Katin Houser as Illinois new starting quarterback, giving the Illini a different kind of option after Luke Altmyer. Houser arrives with a stop at Michigan State already on his rsum and a productive run at East Carolina, where he threw for 3,300 yards and 19 touchdowns in 2025 while also showing he can add value with his legs.
That mobility is part of what makes Houser intriguing for Illinois, especially in a Big Ten that tends to punish quarterbacks who invite too much contact. Houser talked at Big Ten Media Days about needing to stay smart with his body and not leaning on the run unless he has to, which leaves the Illini with a familiar offseason question: how much of his ceiling comes from the threat of his legs, and how much can they ask him to use it without wearing him down? [Read more 🡒]