Press release

A fire occurred Tuesday night at Memorial Stadium. It was located in the southwest corner underneath the horseshoe, away from spectator areas.

The fire was quickly contained and has been extinguished, thanks to the efforts of our local fire departments. There were no injuries reported.

The Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) thanks the many first responders for their quick action.

The Illinois football team hosts Nebraska at Memorial Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m. CT. DIA will continue to evaluate the facility over the course of the next day but early indications are positive that the stadium will be prepared to host the game, as scheduled and without interruption of seating or services, for the game on Friday.

Pushed up his commitment to 1:30 p.m. CT today. FYI.

Expect changes on the offensive line. Crisler and Gesky are questionable. Brandon Henderson and Jordyn Slaughter will likely play.

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97-yard pick-6, 7 tackles, two sacks. Unreal.

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Hopefully a new Illini !!!!

I had some conversations with a few contacts over the weekend. This is how I read the guard situation right now.

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I'm still confident in my FutureCast for Jase Butler. He's committing on Wednesday, and there have been no late minute red flags. He's the top priority for Illinois right now in 2024. They love that he's a pure point guard with size. Legit 6-foot-4, good feel for the game, excellent passer, and smooth jumper. If he was a more explosive athlete, he'd be top 50-75, IMO. I'd expect him to land in the 125-150 range this week when the rankings are updated.

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Mikey Lewis visits Ole Miss this coming weekend. If they push for him (and I'm not sure they will) then he could possibly commit. As of last week, people I've talked to thought it might be St. Mary's. Either way, I think he's plan B for Illinois at this point. Still in play, but less likely than he was a month or so ago. We'll know more after next weekend. NIL $ is a big factor / consideration for each school that's involved.

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Illinois has positioned itself pretty well with Jeremiah Fears in a couple of different ways. He would be a priority for ICON (NIL $). That's a big factor. And Fears likes how his game fits the system.

If the big boys like Arizona, Kansas, and possibly Kentucky buy in to Fears as a 2024 kid and are willing to pony up, then it gets much harder for Illinois.

Kansas is more interesting now because of losing Arterio Morris, but they still have Dajuan Harris back for another year after this season, along with Elmarko Jackson and Labaron Philon.

Right now I see Kansas' pursuit of Fears as a class of 2025 prospect, same as the other blue bloods. They very likely want him to 1. not commit anywhere else and 2. stay in 2025. That could change, obviously.

I think it all plays out before the January timeframe when Fears said he was going to commit, but Fears isn't going to jump into anything without a clear plan.

Any questions?

Both coordinator met with the media on Tuesday.

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One thing I've noticed with Underwood through the years is that his words can deceive but his demeanor often does not. (You can sense bad news coming sometimes from cranky press conferences.)

The guy looked absolutely liberated. Last year must have been coaching hell.

I'm not saying we're going to the Final Four or anything. This is not a team that is in the Top 25 or is favored to do much of anything.

I am saying that we will like this team a heck of a lot more than last year's team, which may have been my least favorite group since Jamar Smith/Brian Carlwell.

Usually I'm very active on this board even in the offseason but I've needed a multi-month detox to watch some baseball and forget about last year's team. Just watching Underwood's body language today brought me back to a better place with Illini basketball. (I hope Doug has the video posted here soon, as I'm curious if anyone else gets the same vibe.)

There is a Spoon.

Bielema press conference on Monday. We get the two coordinators on Tuesday.

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Game Time Announced for Illinois-Maryland Contest

CHAMPAIGN, Ill -- Illinois' game at Maryland on Oct. 14 will kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT on NBC, the conference office and television partners announced on Monday.

The Illini are making their first trip to SECU Stadium in College Park, Md., since 2018, while the Orange and Blue are looking for their first win over the Terrapins in their third-ever meeting.

Big Ten TV schedule -- Saturday, Oct. 14
11 a.m. CT
- Indiana at Michigan -- FOX
- Ohio State at Purdue -- Peacock
- Michigan State at Rutgers -- Big Ten Network

2:30 p.m. CT
- Illinois at Maryland -- NBC
- UMass at Penn State -- Big Ten Network

3 p.m. CT
- Iowa at Wisconsin -- FOX

Tony Adams, S, New York Jets – Started at S and participated in 32 defensive and four special teams snaps while recording five tackles in the Jets' 30-10 loss against the Dallas Cowboys.

Nick Allegretti, OL, Kansas City Chiefs – Participated in one offensive and three special teams snaps in the Chiefs' 17-9 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Chase Brown, RB, Cincinnati Bengals – Participated in one offensive and seven special teams snaps while recording a carry for two yards in the Bengals' 27-24 loss against the Baltimore Ravens.

Sydney Brown, SS, Philadelphia Eagles – Participated in four defensive and 18 special teams snaps in the Eagles' 34-28 win against the Minnesota Vikings.

Kendrick Green, OL, Houston Texans – Started at LG and participated in 84 offensive and five special teams snaps in the Texans' 31-20 loss against the Indianapolis Colts.

Jake Hansen, LB, Houston Texans – Participated in 24 special teams snaps in the Texans' 31-20 loss against the Indianapolis Colts.

Justin Hardee, CB, New York Jets – Participated in 25 special teams snaps in the Jets' 30-10 loss against the Dallas Cowboys.

Nate Hobbs, CB, Las Vegas Raiders – Started at CB and participated in 78 defensive and nine special teams snaps while recording seven tackles and a pass deflection in the Raiders' 38-10 loss against the Buffalo Bills.

Kerby Joseph, S, Detroit Lions – Started at S and participated in 63 defensive and seven special teams snaps while recording seven tackles and a pass deflection in the Lions' 37-31 win against the Seattle Seahawks.

Ted Karras, OL, Cincinnati Bengals – Started at C and participated in 60 offensive snaps in the Bengals' 27-24 loss against the Baltimore Ravens.

Jartavius Martin, CB, Washington Commanders – Not active in the Commanders' 35-33 win against the Denver Broncos.

Chase McLaughlin, K, Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Started at K and participated in six special teams snaps while converting two field goals and three extra point attempts in the Buccaneers' 27-17 win against the Chicago Bears.

Del'Shawn Phillips, LB, Baltimore Ravens – Participated in one defensive and 19 special teams snaps in the Ravens' 27-24 win against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Jihad Ward, DL, New York Giants – Started at OLB and participated in 36 defensive and five special teams snaps while recording a tackle in the Giants' 31-28 win against the Arizona Cardinals.

Devon Witherspoon, CB, Seattle Seahawks – First career start at CB and participated in 66 defensive snaps while recording five tackles and a pass defended in the Seahawks' 37-31 win against the Detroit Lions.

INJURED RESERVE (2)​

Doug Kramer, OL, Chicago Bears

Alex Palczewski, OT, Denver Broncos

PUP LIST (1)​

Dawuane Smoot, DL, Jacksonville Jaguars

PRACTICE SQUADS (1)​

Tommy DeVito, QB, New York Giants

Dominated in every way.

WOW. Offensive line which I expected to be a strength this year is Horrible. Defensive line not much better. Secondary which I also would be a strength is not very good. The biggest disappointment is the play calling on offense. You have to structure an offense and call plays that avoid your weaknesses in talent. Instead they are still trying to establish the running game, and build off of that. They needed to throw the ball DOWN FIELD. Establish a passing game right from the start, put pressure on the opponent, yet they didn't really throw until they were behind.

With the fall off of DLine and Linebacker play are we missing presence of Calvin Avery more than anticipated?

Pick 'em against the spread

Illinois @ Purdue (-1). Pick it straight up. Final score? Pick the over/under: 53.5

Penn State (-26.5) @ Northwestern

Louisiana @ Minnesota (-11)

USC (-21.5) @ Colorado

Indiana @ Maryland (-14.5)

Michigan (-17) @ Nebraska

Kansas @ Texas (-16.5)

Notre Dame (-5.5) @ Duke

Michigan State @ Iowa (-12.5)

LSU (-2.5) @ Ole Miss

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Let me know if you see any glaring mistakes.


Notes

* Kaden Feagin and Aidan Laughery are co-3's at running back. They each fit in different packages. They like Feagin in the red zone sets, but haven't really used him much yet except as a blocker.

* Henry Boyer is really coming on at tight end. He's not a deep threat, but he's a real asset in the running game and big target on the quick outs, stick routes, etc.

* Walk-on wide receiver Keion Battle is ahead of Eian Pugh, juco transfer Alex Capka-Jones, and freshman Collin Dixon. None of those three have played.

* I'm interested to see what they do at right guard. Crisler is struggling. Slaughter didn't play much against FAU. Zach Barlev is an option. It's unlikely that they move guys around again, so its a matter of replacing Crisler straight up if they feel the need.

* There's a rotation at MIKE linebacker. Dylan Rosiek is getting more snaps than Tarique Barnes, who is playing both MLB and WLB. They also gave R-Fr. James Kreutz quite a few snaps against FAU. Kreutz is the best tackler of the three, IMO.

* Nicario Harper appears to have solidified his spot at strong safety. If anything happens to him, they would rotate Clayton Bush there. Freshmen corners Saboor Karriem and Zach Tobe can also play safety in a pinch.

* Xavier Scott takes all of the snaps at nickel, so it's somewhat of a mystery who his backup is. He's played 314 snaps this season so far, by far the most on the team.

* Laughery is now the full time kickoff returner.

* Freshman PK David Olano is handling kickoff duties.