Of all of the men to take over the Illinois Fighting Illini… Lovie Smith? The excommunicated coach of the NFL's Buccaneers decided to try his hand at the collegiate level at Illinois, and this could end up being a real disaster or a real success. One thing is for sure. At least the Illini are going to be a lot more interesting now than they have been in recent years.
Illinois Fighting Illini Regular Season Win Total Odds at BookMaker.eu
Illinois Over 4.5 Wins ( +125 )
Illinois Under 4.5 Wins ( -165 )
Smith's first order of business is going to be to make sure that Wes Lunt is legitimately a starting quarterback. He didn't have a particularly stellar season last year, but he did a nice job of not turning the ball over. Smith is a proponent of ball control and avoiding those tremendously negative plays, and Lunt is going to be asked to do less as a result.
Expect to see plenty out of Ke'Shawn Vaughn who returns to the Illini after leading them in rushing last year with 723 yards. He's had some explosive moments in his career, and getting him to 1,000 yards should be a priority for an offense which doesn't have a boatload of talent elsewhere.
On defense, it'll be up to another NFL castaway, Hardy Nickerson to try to coach this squad up. The Illini always seem to have problems on this side of the ball, but an experienced defensive line and the addition of Nickerson's son (also named Hardy Dickerson) should help out dramatically.
2016 Illinois Fighting Illini Football Schedule
September 3 – vs. Murray State
September 10 – vs. North Carolina
September 17 – vs. Western Michigan
October 1 – at Nebraska
October 8 – vs. Purdue
October 15 – at Rutgers
October 22 – at Michigan
October 29 – vs. Minnesota
November 5 – vs. Michigan State
November 12 – at Wisconsin
November 19 – vs. Iowa
November 26 – at Northwestern
The schedule isn't tremendously daunting for Illinois, but there are some games on here which have to make Smith and the Illini cringe. A home date with North Carolina out of conference was the last thing this team needed. Ohio State is dodged, but a trip to the Big House is impossible, while a home date with Michigan State and road test at Wisconsin feel the same sort of way.
Winning a road game at either Rutgers or Northwestern would be really nice, and taking home games with Minnesota, Iowa and/or Purdue would be a good boost as well towards the potential of bowl eligibility.
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NFL coaches don't end up coaching in college for a reason, and we think Smith is going to learn this the hard way. He wasn't a great decision-maker in the NFL, and now he's got to do a lot more with a lot less at the college level in a conference in which he's really overmatched by teams with tremendously superior talent.
Though the schedule certainly has six games on it which can be won, bowl eligibility is just too far out there for Year 1 of the Smith era. Expect to see Lunt have yet another rather unspectacular season, and if that turns out to be the case, the Illini will end up with an equally unspectacular result with three or four wins on the campaign.
College Football Odds: Illinois Fighting Illini Under 4.5 Wins
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