We are on the eve of the first AP Top 25 poll of the season, and the Illinois football team is already being doubted.
I fully realize that losing Luke Altmyer in the offseason will hurt the program. Altmyer spent three years improving and getting the Illini to heights we hadn’t seen in decades, if not longer.
Altmyer is gone now, and Bret Bielema had to retool the program. He has done a good job of filling the voids left by the departing players, but apparently that doesn’t matter to some people.
On the eve of the AP Top 25 poll being released for the first time during the 2026 campaign, CBS Sports released a prediction of what is to come. Where is Illinois, you may ask?
Nowhere to be found.
I was kind of expecting somewhere between No. 20 and No. 25, but that isn’t the case.
Tennessee is No. 18 in the projected top 25. We just beat them in a bowl game this past season, but by brand name, they earned a spot in the top 20.
Illinois had the same record as Washington last season. We reloaded, and yet Washington is projected to start No. 20.
You may point to Illinois losing our starting quarterback and say that is the reason. Well, we brought in a good transfer portal passer in Katin Houser. Meanwhile, Iowa lost their starting quarterback and can’t decide which mediocre passer to start behind center. They are projected No. 21.
Florida is a dumpster fire, and they somehow got No. 22 in the projected AP Top 25. That is purely based on their name.
Illinois football has had offseason additions that should put them in the AP Top 25
It is crazy that Illinois continues to be doubted. We have been ranked inside the top 20 in the AP Top 25 in three out of the last four seasons. This includes finishing No. 16 in the AP Top 25 by the end of the 2024 campaign.
Illinois won 10 games two years ago and nine games last season. We beat South Carolina and Tennessee in consecutive bowl games. Yet, here we are, getting doubted again by a projected AP Top 25.
Altmyer was a huge part of the Illini, but Bielema went out and got Houser. He was the No. 18 transfer portal quarterback in the country, which actually seems criminally underrated as I think about it.
Don’t get me wrong, Illinois has its flaws. With that being said, we are a solid team. This program has been proving doubters wrong under Bielema for a half-decade now, and it looks like it will continue on in 2026. Hopefully, the projected AP Top 25 doesn’t mirror the one that comes out on Monday.
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