5. This was the start Illinois needed
I was excited for the start of the Illinois football season because, well, it’s Illinois football. But there is always a little piece of me that remembers some of the past seasons when we struggled against teams that were worse than us.
Eastern Michigan comes to mind a few years back. That was a game that Illinois should have won easily, but we fell to Eastern Michigan. If we win that game, we would finish the 2019 season 7-5 instead of 6-6.
But it is little games like that which put a seed of doubt into my brain. That doubt quickly diminished in the first quarter against Wyoming. This is a different Illinois squad. This is a different Illinois coaching staff. I not only believe we aren’t that type of team anymore, but I believe Illinois is a program that can consistently win seven games, minimum, per season.
I needed this win against Wyoming. I needed to see Illinois jump out early and never look back. From the first kickoff, we were the best team and we showed that throughout the game. Any sign of struggle from the program would have been bad because Wyoming is not a good team. They shouldn’t have competed against the Illini, and at the end of the day, they didn’t.
Illinois moved to 1-0 on the season, and I look for more wins to come consistently. This team is poised to have a good year. I might be overdoing it a little bit here, but my prediction of eight wins earlier this week is something I feel pretty good about right now.