1. Player development, especially at QB and DB. Luke Altmyer is much better. Miles Scott, Xavier Scott, Pat Bryant, Josh Kreutz, Te'Rah Edwards. All improved.

2. Embracing the portal. Transfers have played a huge role. Zakhari Franklin, JC Davis, Melvin Preistly, Torie Cox, Dennis Briggs.

3. Strength of schedule. ESPN currently ranks the Illini schedule 58th. The teams that were supposed to be good are mediocre or worse. Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska. Only Penn State is playing well. They have also played 5 of their 7 games at home. You still have to go out and win the games, and Illinois has taken care of business.

4. Upgrades on the coaching staff. Corey Parker, Clint Sintim, Justin Stepp. All upgrades. Archie McDaniel will be too eventually. He just needs to land some recruits.

5. Luck. TeamRankings.com ranks Illinois the 6th luckiest team in college football. You need some luck when rosters are relatively equal. Luck has played a role in the close games. Opponents are averaging 6 penalties per game for 53.6 yards. Of course, Illinois also has something to say about that with clutch plays and forcing mistakes by the opponent.

6. Special on special teams. ESPN ranks Illinois the No. 6 most efficient team on special teams. That can make all of the difference in close games. Illinois is 3-0 in games decided a touchdown or less, 2-0 in OT games. 13-16 FG's and 2.3 FG per game. No. 1 in the Big Ten in punt returns (14.67). Hank Beatty averages 16.63.