With game one in the books, the Illinois football team looks to pounce on a promising Duke squad.
The Illini, for the most part, looked good against Western Illinois last weekend. The Leathernecks had no answers, and the 52-3 score is exactly what I wanted to see.
Now, the Duke Blue Devils await. This is a scary team, as they have a good quarterback with a ton of potential.
Here are the Illinois football vs. Duke Blue Devils betting odds for week two
- Moneyline: Illinois -150, Duke +125
FanDuel is favoring Illinois on Saturday. The Illini have a moneyline of -150 compared to Duke, which sits at +125 for the game.
We know what Illinois brings to the table, as 16 out of 22 starters returned from the 2024 campaign. Duke brings a new quarterback to the table who threw for 389 yards and three touchdowns in week one against Elon.
I will say this: Duke hasn’t played a defense like Illinois has this season. We should be able to contain their run while holding Darian Mensah to a much tougher game.
Offensively, Elon was able to run the ball on Duke to the tune of 44 carries for 163 yards and two touchdowns. Coming off a big week running the ball, look for Illinois’ three-headed monster to be effective.
- Spread: Illinois -2.5 (-120), Duke +2.5 (-102)
While the moneyline favors Illinois by a solid margin, FanDuel thinks this is going to be a close game on Saturday. The Illini are only favored by 2.5 points. This pays out -120, while taking Duke at +2.5 will pay out -102.
If this game were in Champaign, Illinois would be somewhere around -5.5 to -7.5, but the fact that it is in Durham, that usually helps the home team by a field goal.
Illinois hasn’t been terrible on the road against power-four programs since Bret Bielema took over the program. The program is 9-10 overall in these games, which includes going 2-2 last season.
- Total: Over/Under 49.5 points
Illinois vs. Duke is starting off with an over/under of 49.5 points. This over/under feels like an intriguing bet.
As I mentioned earlier, the Blue Devils gave up a ton of yards on the ground against Elon. They also allowed Elon to score 17 points. Illinois has a better running game than Elon, so we should see more production on the ground.
Even though Illinois only gave up three points against Western Illinois, the Leathernecks seemed to have a few big plays. We also allowed South Carolina to throw on us in the bowl game last season.
I think both Illinois and Duke will be able to put up points on Saturday. I have the score somewhere in the range of 35-28 in favor of Illinois.