Believe it or not, Illinois football has never played these FBS teams
Mid-American Conference (MAC)
- Buffalo Bulls
There aren’t a ton of MAC programs that Illinois hasn’t played, but Buffalo is one that you can mark down. The Bulls were FBS for about a decade in the 1960s but then left. They rejoined the FBS ranks in 1999 and entered the MAC. Since then, they have become a solid team, making four bowl games in the last five seasons.
- Bowling Green Falcons
A MAC team that Illinois has never played but needs to is Bowling Green. They are a bad-to-mediocre program that has only made one bowl game in the last seven seasons. Despite joining the FBS ranks in 1962, the Illini have not run into the Falcons.
- Toledo Rockets
Toledo is always a football team that is competitive no matter who is on the roster. They are one of those teams that I want to avoid playing in the MAC. The Rockets have made a bowl game in 10 out of the past 13 seasons, and they are consistently winning games. If the Illini would have played Toledo in the non-conference in years past, that game probably wasn’t going our way.
- Central Michigan Chippewas
The final team out of the MAC is Central Michigan. This is a program that does a lot of winning, but none of those wins have come against Illinois, as we haven’t played the Chippewas. Central Michigan has made a bowl game in 11 out of the last 17 seasons.