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Illinois Football: Game-by-game predictions for the 2019 season

By Rees Woodcock

EVANSTON, IL - NOVEMBER 24: An Illinois Fighting Illini flag is seen during a game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Northwestern Wildcats on November 24, 2018, at Ryan Field in Evanston, IL. (Photo by Patrick Gorski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
EVANSTON, IL - NOVEMBER 24: An Illinois Fighting Illini flag is seen during a game between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Northwestern Wildcats on November 24, 2018, at Ryan Field in Evanston, IL. (Photo by Patrick Gorski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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GREENVILLE, NC – NOVEMBER 17: Connecticut Huskies helmet sits on the sidelines during a game between the UConn Huskies and the East Carolina Pirates at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, NC on November 17, 2018. (Photo by Greg Thompson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
GREENVILLE, NC – NOVEMBER 17: Connecticut Huskies helmet sits on the sidelines during a game between the UConn Huskies and the East Carolina Pirates at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, NC on November 17, 2018. (Photo by Greg Thompson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

W – Illinois @ UConn – September 7

After a solid week one win, the Illini then go on the road to take on the UConn Huskies. There have been times where UConn has been competitive in the past but that isn’t the case anymore. They have been struggling over the last half-decade or so.

UConn is now in year three of the Randy Edsall tenure. If that name sounds familiar, Edsall was the Maryland head coach but was fired in 2015. He went 3-9 in his first year with the Huskies followed by a bottom out year of 1-11 in 2018.

There isn’t much to this game. UConn is a really bad team. They scored 22.2 points per game in 2018, which ranked No. 112 in the nation. Their defense was even worse, though. They were giving up 50.4 PPG, which ranked dead last in the country.

Honestly, at this point, it doesn’t matter who is returning or who they added to the program. This should be a sweeping victory for the Orange and Blue. If you thought the game against Akron was going to be a tune-up game, you haven’t seen how bad UConn is as a program.

I would like for this to be a continuation of week one. Brandon Peters needs to use this week to focus on the miscues from the game against Akron. This also needs to be a game where Reggie Corbin racks up a bunch of years and touchdowns in the first half, and then he can sit the second half. That keeps him in the Big Ten Player of the Year race but still gets him rest. This is an easy victory for the Illini.

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