Illinois Football: Big Ten schedules set, rivalries protected in 2024 & 25

The near future of the Big Ten is set, and the Illinois football team has a couple of new faces on the schedule.

Just this past year, it was announced that the Big Ten would be adding two teams from the PAC-12. The USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins would be saying goodbye to their long partner on the west coast and would be competing against some of the best Midwest teams in the country. This also meant that the Illini would have a couple of new teams to play each season.

USC and UCLA would be joining the Big Ten in 2024, so on Thursday afternoon, the conference released the opponents for each team for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

Illinois football is going to get to keep some yearly rivalries despite the Big Ten additions of USC and UCLA

For the 2024 campaign, the Big Ten home games for the Illini include Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, and Purdue. The away games for the Orange and Blue include Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers, and USC.

2024 First Thoughts

I am excited about the Big Ten schedule for 2024. The thing that piques my interest the most is the USC matchup. Finally, we get a rematch of the 2008 Rose Bowl. I think Rashard Mendenhall and John David Booty should do the coin toss.

The 2025 schedule has home games featuring Indiana, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, and UCLA. The away games would then be Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue, and Wisconsin.

2025 First Thoughts

Illinois plays Ohio State each of the next two seasons. That is going to be extremely tough. I would be happy if we came away 1-1 in those two games.

Big Ten Rivalries Protected

I appreciate what the Big Ten did with protecting yearly rivalries. They could have just thrown everything out the window and whenever teams played the next time would be when they played. But they didn’t do that. The Big Ten implemented “protected opponents.”

Starting in 2024, the Illini will be playing Purdue and Northwestern every season. These games will not leave the schedule and rightfully so. The Wildcats are our in-state rival. Purdue has always been a rival, and with Ryan Walters now their head coach, it adds a little more fuel to that fire.

I am excited about the future of the Big Ten. Adding USC and UCLA will only enhance the strength of the conference, and it will give fans matchups that we don’t get to see too often.