Illinois has the tough task of walking into the Horseshoe this weekend and trying to take down a very good Ohio State team. These two teams could not be more different in history on the field, success in the programs, and the amount of money spent on the team.
In college football, it is starting to look like the teams that spend the most money tend to be the ones competing for National Championships. Take Indiana, for instance: the Hoosiers were historically the worst college football team in history, with the most losses by a program, but Curt Cignetti came into town and got some money for the program, and now Indiana has a championship under its belt.
That championship didn't come cheap, and neither did Ohio State's from two seasons ago, and the numbers just keep going on. In a study done by The Athletic's Stewart Mandel, he took a deep dive into how much schools are really spending on their rosters, and the numbers are astounding.
When comparing Ohio State to Illinois, it isn't even close. The Buckeyes are spending anywhere from $49 to $50 million - the most in college football, - on their roster, while Illinois is where most teams are, spending anywhere from $19 to $23 million on its roster.
Very excited to share this project.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 16, 2026
With a lot of reporting, we came up with the estimated roster budget for every P4 team.
They go up as high as $55M and start as low as $8M.
See where your team ranks. And everyone else's.
Read for free:https://t.co/JObx6x7VaI
Illinois will continue to struggle against teams like Ohio State unless they start spending
When looking at that spending chart, it is no wonder the teams at the top are the ones that are consistently making the College Football Playoff and going further. Indiana made it two years in a row, but it wasn't till they really spent the money in their championship-winning season that they made it to the mountaintop.
Miami is another prime example. The Hurricanes were really the last team in and ended up making it to the National Championship last season. Ohio State lost earlier than expected, so they went out and spent even more money, more than anyone else in the sport.
So going into a matchup against the Buckeyes this week already feels like an uphill battle because the Illini don't have the caliber of players that Ohio State has. Now, that is not to say that the talent isn't there or that Illinois has absolutely no shot of getting the upset this weekend, but the fact that the Illini are nearly a four-touchdown underdog speaks volumes about what at least Vegas thinks of their odds.
Illinois gets enough talent with the money they spend to maybe have a shot at making it to the College Football Playoff as a lower seed, but the roster isn't one that has a great chance of making it past the first or second round. If Illinois wants to play with the big dogs, they are going to have to put more money toward football, which they may not want to do with the success of the basketball program right now.
Right now, Illinois' 2026-2027 basketball roster is believed to be worth over $15 million, at least that is what CBS Sports basketball insider Matt Norlander believes. If that is the case, it makes it tough to give football anything more.
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