Illinois College Football Preview 2008

Ron Zook and his University of Illinois football team open the season against Missouri on August 30th in St. Louis. They then entertain Eastern Illinois University on September 6th and Louisiana-Lafayette on September 13th. After a week off, the Illini then hit the road for road games at Penn State on September 27th and Michigan on October 4th. They continue their schedule with two homes games. On October 11th they play Minnesota and on October 18th they play Indiana. On October 25th, they play their play at Wisconsin. Then they have their next door neighbor Iowa at home to open the month of November on the 1st. Next up is a game,e with Western Michigan in Detroit on November the 8th. Illinois finishes their season at home with a game against Ohio State on November 15th and road game at Northwestern on November 22nd.

Illinois had a very good season last year. they lost to 6th ranked Southern California in the Rose Bowl 49-17. They finished the year 9-4. One of the highlights of the season was defeating topped rank Ohio State on the road. They also had upset wins over Penn State and Wisconsin.

Earlier in the year on opening day, the Fighting Illini battled the Missouri Tigers in a close ball game that Missouri finally won by a score of 40-36. That rivalry will be resumed this fall on opening day again.

In early May, the Illini were ranked 16th by Athlon Sports. They also picked Illinois to finish second in the Big Ten conference.

Juice Williams returns at quarterback for the Illini. He is backed up by 6-4 sophomore Eddie McGee. They also return eleven players that were either mentioned on All-Americans or All Big Ten teams. Wide receiver Arrelious Benn and cornerback Vontae Davis were named to the third team All American teams. Other returning players expected to make an impact this season is All Big Ten performers, are Xavier Fulton, Britt Miller, Juice Williams, Bryan McDonald, Will Davis, David Lindquist, Jon Asamoah, Derek Walker, and Martez Wilson.