There is no positive spin for this one.
Well, Luke Altmyer and Gabe Jacas’ final season in Champaign is going out with a bang, not a whimper. The 27-10 drubbing at the hands of Luke Fickell’s Badgers sealed their fate.
Regardless of what happens when a spry Northwestern squad closes the regular season against the Illini, this roster and staff did not live up to expectations.
2025 was not “the year.” It is going down as just another decent year from a program that has learned how to tread water.
They
tantalize with occasional operational brilliance. And then they perform as if they already won the game.
The performance against the Badgers is the impetus for moving day.
I’m not going to wave the flag for someone to lose their job. But at some point, executive leadership must decide what it wants the program to be.
Do you want to retain a team that got worse with more experience?
Do you want to bring back a coaching staff whose weaknesses persist year over year?
Do you want to be the program that looks at the Pinstripe Bowl as a positive outcome, an expected outcome, or an abject failure?
While I was writing that last passage, Wisconsin got another quarterback pressure on Luke Altmyer.
On a night where Melvin Priestly got two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties within five actual minutes, the Illini offensive line failed their starting quarterback.
The running backs failed in chipping and blitz pickup.
This should have been a showcase game.
It could have been the penultimate demonstration of the chemistry, talent, and fight that fans were promised before the season.
Instead, the Illini were full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
(Thank you, Stuart Scott, for making me want to read more Shakespeare.)
Yes, Bret Bielema clearly saw a dagger before him. It was wielded by the same Luke Fickell, who wasn’t even supposed to be coaching this game because he had been so putrid as Paul Chryst’s big-money replacement.
Wisconsin had nothing to play for. And they came out and pistol-whipped the Illini as if it were the Lovie Smith era.
There was a missed field goal. There was a botched punt that led to a Wisconsin touchdown. Special Teams matter, and Robby Discher’s crew, respectfully, wet the bed.
Illinois managed one touchdown: a run by Luke Altmyer. Luke looked like Luke…when he wasn’t running like he was being chased by Austin Simmons’ seat on Lane Kiffin’s bench.
Gabe Jacas had 2 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. It didn’t matter. A true freshman quarterback deployed a strong whip hand on senior night. It wasn’t quite Graham Mertz, but it was embarrassing enough.
This team had a chance to recover from the Washington beatdown by running the table. They did not close. So there they sit, sans caffeine.
There will be some ugly conversations in the Smith Center. When a 3-win team storms the field on you, you’re the proverbial “sucker at the poker table.”
The bipolar express that is Illinois football had another massive crater in the 608. This one is going to sting all offseason. It will sting when Ethan Hampton is getting destroyed in a bowl game with at least four reserve offensive linemen sitting out to preserve draft health status.
It will sting when the portal haul inevitably disappoints.
Hey, look on the bright side. Maybe Illinois will just steal a bunch of portal departures from the Badgers team that just drank their milkshake.
An Illini team that took a bunch of players and coaches from the University of Wisconsin. What could possibly go wrong?
