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Oregon Football vs Illinois Fighting Illini: Summer opponent preview, prediction

Let's get ready for Oregon football by taking a quick in depth look at the Illinois Fighting Illini and the way they match up with the Ducks.

By Ethan Lee

Sep 23, 2023; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema during the second half against the Florida Atlantic Owls at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 23, 2023; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema during the second half against the Florida Atlantic Owls at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports / Ron Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
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This season, the Oregon football team will get the pleasure of hosting some folks from the Midwest for a few football games. That’s because Oregon is now in the Big Ten and the Ducks will be bringing teams like the Illinois Fighting Illini to Eugene for some games. 

As the Ducks make this move into the Big Ten, this game poses a bit of an interesting challenge given the style of football that Illinois plays. It’s very “Big Ten” branded and there weren’t many teams in the Pac-12 that played similar styles of football. 

Not that Illinois has a ton of talent or that Oregon can’t also play a physical brand of football. It’s just that this is going to be interesting to see how the Ducks will respond to what Illinois wants to do.

But, let’s examine a few other things as we talk about this game.

Historical context

The Oregon Ducks and Illinois Fighting Illini have a VERY limited history, but it is pretty interesting. The two teams have only met a grand total of three different times, but it’s been nearly 30 years since Oregon met up with the Fighting Illini.

Football has, more or less, changed drastically since the mid 1990’s. Here's a quick look at the past meetings between the Ducks and Fighting Illini:

  • 1995: Oregon 34, Illinois 31 (Eugene, OR)
  • 1993: Oregon 13, Illinois 7 (Champaign, IL)
  • 1970: Illinois 20, Oregon 16 (Champaign, IL)

Now, hopefully this contest won’t be as close as what those were. But I guess you can never really know until you actually see the game played out, can you?

Oregon vs. Illinois: Current program trajectories

They may be in the same conference, but the Oregon Ducks aren’t exactly a comparable program with the Illinois Fighting Illini. That’s because the Oregon football team is entering into the 2024 season as a national title contender with a rather loaded roster chock full of talent. For a lot of folks across the country, Oregon is a program to watch this season.

Illinois isn’t quite that prominent and the Fighting Illini are working on regularly making it to bowl games under Bret Bielema. There have been signs of improvement, but this is a team that still has a lot of work to do moving forward.

Oregon Ducks vs. Illinois Fighting Illini preview, prediction

Even though the Fighting Illini have shown improvement and boast a roster with some pretty impressive and talented players, there’s a rather sizable gap in talent between these two teams and there’s going to be an intense home field advantage at Autzen Stadium for the Ducks. 

From the way things look right now, it sure seems like Oregon has a clear edge in this matchup. Now things could change, but they’d have to change a lot.

Score prediction: Oregon 45, Illinois 17

It’s hard to imagine that Illinois will be able to consistently contain Oregon’s offensive weapons or find a way to keep up on the scoreboard.

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