2017 Illinois Fighting Illini Football Schedule & Analysis
Breaking down and analyzing the 2017 Illinois Fighting Illini football schedule
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2017 Illinois Fighting Illini Football Schedule
Realistic Best Case Scenario
The defense starts to work like it’s supposed to in the Lovie Smith era, holding down high-powered Western Kentucky and South Florida teams on the way to a 3-0 start. The week off to prepare for the Friday game with Nebraska helps coming up with the big home win before having to go to Iowa. The Illini split the road games with the Hawkeyes and Gophers, and rise up to stun Wisconsin. They take care of the winnable games, and take over the rivalry game at home against Northwestern for a terrific 8-4 regular season.
2017 Illinois Fighting Illini Football Schedule
Realistic Worst Case Scenario
The Illini lose to WKU and USF, and the week off doesn’t matter in a loss to Nebraska. Follow that up with a loss at Iowa, and it’s a 1-4 start before getting back on the winning side against Rutgers. They lose at Minnesota, at home to Wisconsin, and to Ohio State on the road. Losing two of the three winnable games against Purdue, Indiana and Northwestern doesn’t help in a disastrous 3-9 season. Realistically. It’ll be 4-8 at worst.