Illinois head coach Bret Bielema, who guided the Illini to a 10-win campaign and a Cheez-It Citrus Bowl triumph over South Carolina, signed a new six-year deal that will keep him in Champaign through 2030. Illini fans have every reason to be optimistic: Bielema has made Illinois a national powerhouse, cultivated 28 wins in four years, appeared in two New Year’s Bowls, and produced a pipeline of NFL talent. He prefers a 16-team College Football Playoff and a better-balanced schedule and suggests the Big Ten and SEC play nine conference games apiece and annually meet in a challenge.
The team’s experience in 2025, with 18 starters returning and a staff with years of experience, will help them. The schedule is a gauntlet, but there are opportunities, too—chiefly when USC visits. The Trojans, guided by Lincoln Riley, are nonetheless learning how to live in the Big Ten, and their defense is a mystery. That’s where Joel Klatt, Fox’s primary college football analyst, enters the picture. Bret Bielema’s Illinois and Lincoln Riley’s USC have a captivating showdown in store for 2025, but if you peel away the glitz and glamour of the Trojans, you’ll remember a significant loophole.
Klatt has spoken openly about the big advantage Illinois has over USC this year. “Both teams could very well be 4-0 entering this game,” Klatt claims on his show on the 23rd of June. “I think that’s absolutely within the realm, and a win for Illinois would put them at 5-0, with really their only difficult game left being hosting Ohio State several weeks later.” He continues, “If they can get past USC now. All of a sudden, that Ohio State game doesn’t quite look as daunting. I think Bret Bielema is building something very special.” Illinois begins with Western Illinois and Duke, games they should win with experience. They then have Western Michigan and Indiana, with wins expected with a good performance.
USC begins with Missouri State, Georgia Southern, Purdue, and Michigan State. They are heavy favorites, particularly against struggling Michigan State and Purdue. If the Illini beat the Trojans, they’d be 5-0 and facing a schedule where, quite frankly, only Ohio State appears exceedingly daunting. Yes, road trips to Washington and Wisconsin don’t come easily, but Bret Bielema’s Illinois has the experience and personnel to overcome those obstacles, particularly with a battle-tested offensive line, a returning quarterback in Luke Altmyer, and a defense that was 31st in scoring and 35th in turnover margin last season. With steam from defeating USC, the Ohio State game no longer seems like a season-breaker obstacle.
Klatt continues, “Bielema is building something that I think is very sustainable, it’s tough, it’s defensive oriented, it’s winning the line of scrimmage, it’s winning with experience, and in a smart way. So like, could they be in the playoffs? absolutely.” He adds to that, “but I don’t think they are in that conversation if they lose this game at home week five against USC. Then the USC side, like this, is pretty obvious: they need wins desperately. Because Lincoln Riley needs to stack up some wins, he needs to stack up some goodwill.” The Illini offensive line is loaded—all five starters from last season’s stretch run are returning, including All-Big Ten left tackle JC Davis and NFL draft prospect Melvin Priestly.
They’ve got their running backs back, and although they did lose a couple of important receivers, they’ve replenished their roster with transfers from West Virginia and Ball State. The defense? Good. Now put it all together. USC will travel to Illinois for the first genuinely challenging game of the season. The Trojans continue to acclimate to life within the Big Ten, defense remains a developing entity, and Riley is under tremendous pressure to win now.
“This is the problem with losing this game if you’re USC is that you are staring right down the barrel of another seven and five season, which nobody is going to be happy with,” says Klatt. USC’s recent past is already a warning story. They were 7-6 and ninth in the Big Ten in 2024, with a defense that was among the worst in the nation in terms of points and yards allowed. If the Trojans lose at Illinois, it’s not only a poor loss; it’s a momentum stopper. Now, a team that is marketing itself as a playoff team is fighting just to be above.
How Luke Altmyer chose mission over millions
The world of college football is careening out of control with NIL cash, transfer portal madness, and players jumping ship for better climates. But in Champaign, something magical is fermenting. Bret Bielema sits down with Luke Altmyer at season’s end. The quarterback, who just took Illinois to heights not experienced in years, could have pursued the money or a return to his SEC roots. Rather, he stays, not for the dollars, but for the cause.
Bret Bielema didn’t mince words describing Altmyer’s influence. On a recent episode of George Wrighter’s CFB, he states, “I got an NFL player here that’s in college because he understands his success is driven by the people around him, and when you get kids that think about that, that’s probably when you truly win a game.”
But the thing that truly impressed was the quarterback’s selfless nature. Altmyer didn’t ask for a contract; he wanted his offensive coordinator, Barry Lunney Jr., and quarterbacks coach Artur Sitkowski to remain in place. He also urged reloading at the receiver and keeping the offensive line intact. Leadership like that doesn’t come along often in today’s sport. Altmyer might have doubled his NIL pay elsewhere, but he is staying because he is committed to Bret Bielema’s program.
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