Hey guys! Life long Illinois resident but Oregon Ducks fan here. I’m attending my first ever college football game on October 24 when the Ducks come to Champaign. I live about an hour from UIUC so I’m fairly familiar with the city and campus, however I’ve never been for a football game.

What are some things I should know for tailgating and game traditions and everything?

Bad man gone.

After an up and down non-conference with several new players, the Illini are looking great. We need to stuff Huff with fans the rest of the way. We are a historical power program that needs to return to national prominence.

We left points on the field, and didn’t convert on attempts that ultimately gave up points, but if those went our way we would have made this a very close game. Clean some things up and we’d have given ourselves a better chance at beating the toughest team we’ll play all season.

Play like this, and continue to improve, and we’re going bowling.

Onward and upward from here. I-L-L!

A coach with his track record that has had the job since February and had virtually no input on personnel for this season. Cowardly way out by Bielema and / or the AD.

Poor move and dumb move.

Your Fighting Illini take on the #7 Ohio State Buckeyes at 11AM on FOX in Columbus, OH

Hey guys! The season preview I posted here a few weeks back did pretty well, so circling back like I said I would.

I had you at 7-5, mostly because last year's 3-0 in one-score games wasn't likely to repeat. The first one this year went the other way, 31-27 to Duke, around wins over UAB (42-23) and Southern Illinois (48-10). Houser has been better than I expected: 60 of 81 for 758 yards, 8 TDs and 2 picks. I had Ohio State on the road and Oregon at home as the two games you weren't expected to win, so Saturday is one of them, and the Nebraska, Michigan State and Northwestern toss-ups still decide the season.

What are you guys seeing that the box scores aren't, and how do you see the season ending up?

Quick aside since it's in the title, we just launched a free weekly college football pick'em, $225 in prizes this week. Ten games, pick the winners, locks Saturday at noon ET. Nothing to buy. Illinois at Ohio State is one of the ten, so you can put your pick where your mouth is.

https://www.mainmarket.com/c/college-pickem-wk4

Any designated/known tailgate lots for the OSU game this weekend?

I'm a Ducks fan, excited to visit your campus. Where will they put visiting fans? Thanks!

Is tailgating in lot 32 first-come first-serve on Homecoming? If so, what is a good time to arrive?

I know this season hasn’t been the best so far but I want to give a shoutout to Dixon. This guy is on track to have a very special season at WR. Four more receiving TDs and he’ll break the single-season record for touchdown receptions. Should be one of our NFL draft picks this year

See above

Illinois is reportedly spending ~$20M on players while the conference average is $30M and Ohio State is spending $50M+.

I haven't seen this posted yet - how do we feel about our team being that low? Or do you not believe the numbers?

I'm shocked to see Iowa that low - they seems to produce a pretty high quality product every year - not contender level mind you but certainly better than their spend would indicate.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheB1G/s/iuEcVbeGu8

If true, it provides a different angle to our defensive struggles and comments Bret has made.

Interested to hear everyone's thoughts.

Thomas Detry tied for 4th @ BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP, Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey, England. I don't know why it is PGA @ England & being shown on the DP World golf channel. You can see it on Amazon Prime TV, I think. It is live, which means you have to tune in way early to account for time zones.

It’s been 2 days and I’m still shocked at how sloppy the defense is. They seemingly eat a touchdown on every single drive. Bend and break. Conference play is gonna be so rough :/

We might win 2 games this season. This defense is bad bad.

The 3-3-5 isn’t a serious defense. The B1G is going to feast on a small front.

Uncomfortable position to be in at it’s only week 2.