Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini win over Iowa

5. Illinois continues to be a legit contender

There were multiple times in the game on Saturday night where I thought to myself if this was a different coaching staff, I believe Illinois would have not just lost the game, but we would have lost it by double-digits.

Some of the bad mistakes that were made in the game gave me flashbacks of years past. Those things used to snowball into points for the opposing team, which would put us down in the game to the point we couldn’t recover.

But with the Bret Bielema era of Illinois football, that isn’t the case at all. The coaching staff stayed strong and steered the ship in the right direction. Despite two fumbles and a really bad interception, Illinois managed to come out with a victory.

This type of win, ugly, is something that we didn’t use to have. That is why I truly believe Illinois is a contender in the Big Ten West.

As of this moment, the Illini are on top of the Big Ten West. We have a 2-1 record in the conference and are tied with Purdue and Nebraska for a trip to Indianapolis on December 3. On top of that, Illinois has the best overall record in the Big Ten West at 5-1.

I have never been able to say this, but six games into the season and three games into the Big Ten schedule, Illinois controls their own destiny. If we win out, the Illini will represent the Big Ten West in the Big Ten Championship game. That is something I didn’t think I would say for a long time.