Illinois Football: Illini schedule one of the toughest to start 2021

Year one of the Bret Bielema era has the Illinois football team with one win in the first five games.

While one victory in five tries sounds awful, there is more nuance to the subject than just what the record shows. In fact, some of the national media is taking notice of what the Illini have had to deal with this early in the season.

On Thursday morning, Pro Football Focus – College, tweeted out the top five hardest schedules in college football. Wisconsin took the top spot followed by UCLA and then Miami (FL). Sitting at the No. 4 spot was Illinois. Florida followed the Illini at No. 5.

So, yes, a 1-4 start to the 2021 campaign is not what many had hoped. I also see a lot of people getting down on the Illini because of the rough start. Some are even off the Bielema bandwagon this early in the game.

PFF is saying we have one of the hardest schedules so far this season. Despite having a challenging schedule, the Illini could easily be 3-2. We should have beaten Maryland and Purdue. The fact we didn’t shows you that this team doesn’t know how to win consistently just yet. That will come with time, though.

I am optimistic about the future of Illinois football.

On top of the tough schedule and the close calls in a couple of games, I think the future of the Illinois football program is looking pretty bright.

Illinois is starting to compete with teams on a more frequent basis, and this is happening with a below-average roster. The Illini have zero depth in a lot of key positions, and when that changes, the team will start winning more games.

Bielema inherited a rough roster that had a lot of holes. He has managed to put a Band-Aid on some of those holes and has this program playing some okay football. If Illinois can tweak the offense just a little bit, then wins will start flowing.

But let’s say Illinois struggles the rest of the way out this season. That doesn’t mean give up on the program. We have a tough schedule for the final seven games of the year. The combined record of the remaining teams is 19-8. For the season, the combined record of Illini opponents is 32-11.

Take a step back. Look at what we have and what is happening with this program. We aren’t losing by 40 points per game. We had one hiccup and that was to a talented Virginia program. Even with that game, we were within a touchdown in the third quarter.

Bielema has a tough road ahead to get the Illini to a point where we are making a bowl game on a consistent basis, but I believe he can mold us into that type of program. You just have to give him time.