Illinois football sends shockwaves through way-too-early top 25 for 2025

The Illinois football team will have a target on our backs come the 2025 campaign.

With success on the football field comes expectations. The Illini are coming off a 10-win campaign, which includes a bowl win over South Carolina. This was the first 10-win season for the Orange and Blue since Kurt Kittner helped lead Illinois to 10 wins and a Sugar Bowl appearance in 2001.

In the Bret Bielema era, winning has started to become the norm for the Illini as well. One thing that hasn’t been normal is having national expectations. Now that we are winning on the field, the national media is starting to take note.

On Monday, On3.com published their way-too-early top 25 for the 2025 season. Honestly, I expected Illinois to be ranked, but I started looking at the rankings from the bottom. I fully expected us to be somewhere around No. 20. That wasn’t the case, though. They have Illinois ranked No. 7 in the country.

I had to double-check to make sure this wasn’t a spoof account. I wanted to make sure this was On3’s honest rankings and it is. Illinois is a top 10 team in their eyes, and let me tell you, there are mixed emotions when looking at this ranking.

Illinois football being in the top 10 in the nation brings nervous excitement to the forefront

The Illini being ranked in the top 25 is a near-lock. We were a top-25 program and took down South Carolina in a bowl game. On top of that, some key players are returning to the program.

Illinois has our starting quarterback, Luke Altmyer, back under center. We have all of our running backs coming back. Illinois’ entire starting offensive line is also back for another year.

The biggest hits to the Illini offense is the loss of wide receivers Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin, but we have some good pass-catchers waiting in the wings. Bielema was able to secure a couple of solid wide receivers in the transfer portal as well.

Seeing Illinois in the top 10 brings up multiple emotions, though. It makes me nervous that this program actually has expectations. We have gone years and decades without national recognition in the preseason. Now we have expectations to live up to, and that is kind of nerve-wracking.

On3 ranking us No. 7 is also a little exciting. While other teams have more talent and depth, the fact we have so much experience and cohesion returning gives me some type of hope that we can make the College Football Playoff. Just a few years ago, this was a pipe dream. Now, it is a potential reality.