Illinois football vs Western Michigan Broncos – Saturday, September 13, 6:00 p.m. CT/7:00 p.m. ET
After a tough game against a solid ACC program, Illinois heads back home to take on the always-annoying MAC. Western Michigan is our matchup this season, and they are never an easy team to beat.
Western Michigan is coming off a 6-6 season where they gave Wisconsin, on the road, a tough test only falling to the Badgers 28-14.
For the third straight game, Illinois will take on a team that doesn’t return their starting quarterback from 2024. Hayden Wolff graduated after throwing for 2,410 yards, 18 touchdowns, and eight interceptions last season.
The quarterback competition isn’t set in Kalamazoo either. Broc Lowry, a former Indiana transfer, is in year two with the program. He is competing for the starting job with incoming JUCO transfer Brady Jones. There hasn’t been a quarterback announced yet.
Illinois’ defense should be drooling over the fact that the Broncos are going to put a quarterback out there with little to no FBS experience. Western Michigan could struggle this season, and Illinois gets them early on in the campaign. Much like against Western Illinois, I fully expect there to be multiple turnovers, and Western Michigan’s quarterback to have a completion percentage under 50% for the game.
Western Michigan took some hits on defense, too. Their leader in sacks transferred to Wisconsin. The program was sub-No. 75 in the country in pass defense, but I think this is an opportunity for Illinois’ running backs to run wild.
The Broncos gave up 196.9 yards per game on the ground in 2024. That was bad enough to rank No. 112 in the country. On top of that, their top two defensive linemen both transferred out of the program. This should be a massive game for multiple Illinois ball carriers.
Final score: Illinois 42 – Western Michigan 10