Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini loss to Michigan State

5. There is still a ton of meaning to the Illinois season

Boy howdy, one sign of falter for the Illinois football team, and the bandwagon fans are already starting to jump off.

I understand feeling extremely sad after this loss. It was a loss to a below-average Michigan State team. We had an outside chance of making the College Football Playoff if the chips fell in the right place. Now that is all gone. It is going to take a while to shake this tough loss.

But let’s not give up on this Illinois football program. In the preseason, the over/under betting line for Illinois wins in 2022 was 4.5. That is right. Las Vegas thought Illinois was going to be bad this year and didn’t think we could even hit five victories.

Well, we are nine games in and have a record of 7-2. Yes, I wanted it to be 8-1 but it isn’t. Illinois has the most regular season wins since that Rose Bowl run in 2007. We are going to a bowl game this season as well. But there is still more to play for than a good record and an improving bowl game.

Illinois has a one-game lead in the Big Ten West as we speak. There is a legit shot we are playing Ohio State on December 3 for the Big Ten Championship. I couldn’t even imagine saying that just two months ago.

The Illini have business to take care of this season. Next week is Purdue. A win there would go a long way in sealing up the Big Ten West. Let’s also play spoiler to Michigan. Illinois has a chance to knock the Wolverines out of the College Football Playoff. If we can’t make it, let’s knock out teams that can.

The sting from losing to Michigan State isn’t going away anytime soon, but let’s put this season in perspective. We are 7-2 and have a legit shot at finishing 9-3 in the regular season. A bowl game is guaranteed, and there is also a legit shot at playing Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game. If I would have said this before the season, people would have drug-tested me. This is a reality, though. Let’s enjoy it.