The Big Ten is going to be a battle in 2025.
From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about the most important questions yet unanswered for the season. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content and our ”Burning Questions” articles here.
Ohio State is the Super Bowl for every other team in the Big Ten. When they show up on opposing team’s schedules, it’s a huge deal for those programs and universities.
Except for maybe The Team Up North, who has their fair share of back and forth with the Buckeyes, beating Ohio State can be viewed as one of, if not the greatest, moment in that program’s history.
The Big Ten is going to be ridiculously good again this season…
- The Wolverines are expected to be much better offensively with true freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood poised to be their starter.
- Oregon, despite losing quarterback Dillon Gabriel and wide receiver Tez Johnson to the NFL Draft, should still be really good with new quarterback Dante Moore and senior wide receiver Evan Stewart.
- Penn State enters 2025 with national championship aspirations with Drew Allar returning. Allar has gotten progressively better each year he has been with the Nittany Lions, and he’s got unfinished business after coming up just short in the College Football Playoff Semifinals against Notre Dame.
Michigan, Oregon and Penn State are, undoubtedly, the biggest challengers to Ohio State this season in the Big Ten. But is there another team in the Big Ten we’re not talking about that could be a threat to the Buckeyes in the Big Ten?
Could that team be the Illinois Fighting Illini?
For starters — literally — there are 16 of them returning from last year’s team. That 2024 Illinois squad went 10-3 and beat South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl. They reached as high as No. 19 in the AP Poll in September, and they were No. 21 in the final CFP rankings of the season.
Senior quarterback Luke Altmeyer is coming off a really good season, throwing for 22 touchdowns to just six interceptions. He’ll be protected up front by all five returning starters along the offensive line, and Altmeyer will also have running back Aidan Laughery and tight end Tanner Arkin coming back.
On defense, the Fighting Illini will return seven starters from last season. Illinois was 31st in the country allowing just 21.7 points per game, which was good for ninth in the Big Ten.
This is an Illinois team that is hoping to establish some consistency in 2025 — something that its program hasn’t had since the 1980s. Fifth-year head coach Brett Bielema may be establishing just that, with Illinois coming off its first 10-win campaign since 2001.
Ohio State is Illinois’s seventh game this season. Prior to that, the Fighting Illini play at Duke and Indiana, and host USC. Those are their most notable games, which won’t be easy. But if Illinois wins two of those three games and is 5-1 going into the game on Oct. 11, that is going to be a raucous crowd at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois when the Buckeyes roll in.
For Ohio State, that matchup is after the Homecoming game in Columbus against Minnesota, and before the road trip to Wisconsin. That’s not going to be an easy three-game stretch for the Buckeyes, and an Illinois team that’s going to be playing for a lot this season could be a much tougher fight than some fans may think.
The Buckeyes open the season against Texas and play both Penn State and Michigan in November. Those are three huge games. But Illinois is also a really big game, especially if the Fighting Illini live up to expectations. Similar to what the game against Indiana became in 2024, that’s what the game against Illinois can become in 2025, with this one being on the road.
Illinois is a dark-horse team in the Big Ten. Given that the Illini avoid all three of Penn State, Oregon and Michigan this season, that game on Oct. 11 could prove meaningful towards the final conference standings.