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Published Oct 28, 2024
Minnesota Opponent First Look: Illinois Fighting Illini
Dylan Callaghan-Croley  •  Gophers Nation
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@RivalsDylanCC

The Minnesota Golden Gophers will enter November with a 5-3 record and riding a three-game winning streak ahead of a matchup against the No. 24 Illinois Fighting Illini this weekend in Champaign.

The Illini will enter week 10 with a 6-2 record and managed to stay inside the top-25 despite a blowout loss to the Oregon Ducks. The Illini previously ranked as the No. 20 team in the country, fell four spots in this week's ranking.

Despite heading on the road to face a top-25 team, the Gophers are currently the favorite over the Illini. The spread originally opened at 1.5-points in favor of Minnesota but has since moved to a 2.5-point spread on some sportsbooks.

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Game/Broadcast Details:

WHERE: Champaign, Illinois

STADIUM: Memorial Stadium (60, 670)

TIME: 11:00 A.M. CT

TELEVISION: FS1

ODDS: Minnesota oepned as a 1.5-point favorite, over/under was set at 45.5 points.

Illini surpassing expectations in 2024

Entering this season, Illinois was expected to have struggles. Last season, the Illini took a big step back from their 2022 season, going 5-7 and seeing a once dominant defense allow nearly 30 points per game. However, the Illini have surpassed expectations already for the season and enter this weekend with a 6-2 record.


The Illini this season have three wins over ranked opponents, defeating No. 19 Kansas in early September, beating No. 22 Nebraska in late September and then earlier in October defeating No. 24 Michigan. Now, Kansas has obviously struggled massively, Nebraska is up-and-down any given week and Michigan is a far cry from the program that dominated college football the past three seasons. That being said, Bret Bielema's program deserves credit for how they've played this season especially against quality opponents.

Outside of those three wins they also had a quality effort against the current No. 3 team in the country Penn State, before the Nittany Lions pulled away in the second half. The only other loss for the Illini this season came to the No. 1 team in the country, the Oregon Ducks this past weekend 38-9.

The Illini this season may not have a great offense, only averaging 27.0 points per game but their defense has returned to form, only allowing 20.6 points per game, good enough for No. 32 nationally.


Bret Bielema's dominance over Minnesota

10-0.

That is Bret Bielema's record as a head coach against Minnesota in his career. The 54-year old head coach of the Illini is 3-0 against the Gophers at his current institution and was 7-0 against the Gophers as the head coach of the Wisconsin Badgers.

Last season, the Illini narrowly escaped Minneapolis with a 27-26 victory over the Golden Gophers after scoring the go-ahead touchdown with under a minute remaining after backup quarterback John Paddock entered the game on the Illini's final offensive drive following an injury to Luke Altmyer.

Luke Altmyer has developed into a very good quarterback

Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer has developed into one of the Big Ten's best quarterbacks. The redshirt junior signal caller this season has been great for the Illini, completing 63.1% of his passes for 1,667 yards and 15 touchdowns in eight games. He's also only thrown three interceptions this season. Altmyer is never going to be a quarterback that instills fear into opposing defenses but he's a quarterback that has to be respected. The former Ole Miss quarterback is notably coming off his worst game of the season, completing 17-of-35 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns. We'll see if his struggles from week nine carry over into week ten or if he can get back onto the right track against the Gophers secondary this upcoming weekend.

The Illini also have a quality pair of wide receivers to go with Altmyer's arm in Zakhari Franklin and Pat Bryant. Franklin this season leads the Illini in receptions with 36 for 444 yards and one touchdown while Bryant leads the team in yards and touchdowns, bringing in 34 receptions for 510 yards and seven touchdowns.

Series history

Saturday's matchup will be the 77th matchup all-time between the Gophers and Illini. Minnesota holds the advantage in the series with a 40-33-3 record, that being said, as mentioned above, the Illini have won each of the previous three matchups. However, since 2000, the Gophers have been the dominant team in the rivalry winning 13 of 21 matchups and 13 of 18 matchups before Bret Bielema's arrival in Champaign.

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