We are less than a month away from the Illinois football season kicking off.
After 19 wins in the last two seasons, the Illini have high expectations to keep winning. It will be tough without Luke Altmyer for the first time in three years, but Bret Bielema has the Illinois roster looking solid.
I will publish a prediction of the 2026 season at a later date, but I wanted to see what the new College Football 27 game thought about the program. How did EA Sports think Illinois would fare this upcoming campaign?
Well, it ended up being the most quintessential Illinois season you could think of.
In a simulation of the 2026 campaign, College Football 27 had Illinois finishing 9-3 overall and 6-3 in the Big Ten. The solid record got Illinois to the cusp of the College Football Playoff, but we missed the festivities, finishing No. 13 in the country.
What was a typical Illinois thing to do? The game that kept Illinois out of the CFP was a 21-16 loss to a 2-10 Purdue program in Champaign. That would obviously be the game that kept us out of our first CFP.
In the simulation, Illinois won the final five games to finish the season strong, too. At the end of the day, while it would be disappointing to not make the CFP, I think most Illini fans would take 9-3 overall and 6-3 in the Big Ten.
College Football 27 had some eye-popping numbers for the Illinois football program
Illinois shockingly had a good season in the College Football 27 game, considering we have a rating of below 80 in both offense and defense.
With that being said, there were some eye-popping numbers that Illinois players put up. The biggest shocker was from Katin Houser.
College Football 27 had Houser throwing for an Illinois single-season record 3,940 yards. He also completed 63% of his passes and threw for 27 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
It would be incredible to see Houser throw for a program record. As we move into the future, it is more likely that the single-season record will be broken. College Football 27 thinks it will be this season.
The game also had Ca’Lil Valentine go for 1,025 yards. Five different Illini had over 550 yards receiving, which included Kaden Feagin tallying 51 receptions for 649 yards and four touchdowns.
I believe all Illinois fans would love both of those players to have a big season like College Football 27 portrayals.
Defensively, Illinois also had a few big seasons. Grant Beerman led Illinois with 102 tackles, and Darrell Prater had 9.0 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks, both of which led the team.
Illinois also had Matthew Bailey and Xavier Scott go for four interceptions each, and Juice Clarke finished with three interceptions in the secondary.
At the end of the season, only two Illinois players were selected into the NFL. Bailey was surprisingly the highest pick, as he went in the fourth round. Scott was later selected in the sixth round.
I don’t put any stock into what the College Football 27 game thinks, but it is interesting to see how accurate it will be this season. When you lay all of the numbers and record out, I would sign up for this to be the 2026 campaign. The hope is still the College Football Playoff, though.
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