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The Illini coaches have commented on how past plans for Kansas, Michigan State and South Carolina could shape how the Illini defend Washington quarterback Demond Williams Jr.

No. 23 ILLINOIS at WASHINGTON

Records: Illinois 5-2, 2-2 in Big Ten; Washington 5-2, 2-2 in Big Ten

Date/Time/Place: Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025: 2:30 p.m. CST, Husky Stadium, Seattle, Washington

Surface: AstroTurf 3D3

Capacity: 70,083

Line: Washington by 4.5

Series notes: Saturday marks the 12th meeting between Illinois and Washington in the series that began back to 1950. Washington leads the all-time series 7-4. This will be the first matchup between the Illini and Huskies as Big Ten opponents since Washington joined the league prior to the 2024 season. The meeting on Jan. 1, 1964, a 17-7 Illini victory in the Rose Bowl, capped the 1963 campaign. The 1964 win over Washington marked the Illini’s last victory in the Rose Bowl. Illinois made its first appearance in Pasadena in 12 years, led by linebacker Dick Butkus and fullback Jim Grabowski, and getting a victory that saw Illinois post an 8-1-1 record, win the Big Ten Championship, and finish No. 3 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll. Illinois is 1-4 in its previous five trips to Seattle. The Huskies have won four straight at home against Illinois since the Illini captured a 27-20 road victory en route to the 1951 national championship. Since that first matchup in Seattle in 1951, the Illini have lost road games at Washington in 1956 (28-13), 1962 (28-7), 1972 (31-11), and 2014 (44-19).

Illinois is 3-1 when ranked inside the top 25 when facing Washington. The No. 8 Illini defeated the No. 20 Huskies, 27-20 in Seattle in 1951. The following year, the 13th-ranked Illini won 48-14 in Champaign, and the third-ranked Illini captured the 1964 Rose Bowl title, 17-7, vs. Washington. In 1956, unranked Washington upset No. 13 Illinois, 28-13, in Seattle.

TV: Big Ten Network; Jeff Levering (play-by-play); Jake Butt (color analyst) and Brooke Fletcher (sideline reporter)

Radio (Illinois): Brian Barnhart (play-by-play), Carey Davis (analyst), Michael Martin (sideline), and Steve Kelly (pre/half/post). The broadcast can be heard live on TuneIn online radio, SiriusXM 372, the SiriusXM App, and at FightingIllini.com/live.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

October 25, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

SEATTLE — The task of facing such a dynamic dual-threat athlete at quarterback isn’t foreign to the Illinois defense but Illini play-caller Aaron Henry may have to find the 2024 call sheets for the containment plan of Kansas’ Jalon Daniels, Michigan State’s Aidan Chiles and South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers.

Illinois went 3-0 against that type of quarterback in the 2024 season with none of those opponents scoring more than 17 points in the trio of games.

“I will tell you this...

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

October 24, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Kedric Prince/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Just before the Illinois men’s basketball team boarded a plane for a “secret” scrimmage against Florida, the program received some major recruiting news. Lucas Morillo, a 6-foot-6, 185-pound guard from The Newman School in Boston, Massachusetts, announced his commitment to the Illini.

Morillo, a consensus four-star prospect and top-75 player in the 2026 class according to ESPN, visited Champaign on September 27 when Illinois hosted USC. At the time, he told IlliniGuys, “Illinois is a place I could see myself playing. Their program has been great under Coach (Brad) Underwood.”

October 24, 2025 The Illini travel to Washington in […]

For the third straight season, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema will be on the opposite sideline with Ryan Walters, the first defensive coordinator he hired in his Illini rebuild, on Saturday.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

October 24, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Nick Wagner/Seattle Times)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When a reporter asked about the dynamic of Bret Bielema’s Illinois team facing a defensive unit led by Ryan Walters for the third consecutive year, the Illini head coach quickly corrected the accuracy of the question.

“I would argue this is five years in a row,” Bielema said Monday with a smile.

The two other years are the daily routine of first-string offense versus first-string defense in the Illini’s practice sessions in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Bielema wouldn’t script those middle-of-the-week practice sessions in a way so the Illini could see some success in the type of way where in a given scenario and the defense could rebound in another scenario. No, this was Walters and his fellow lieutenants on the defensive assistant coaches including Terrance Jamison, Kevin Kane, Aaron Henry and Andy Buh game-planning to have success and build confidence against an Illini offensive unit where Bielema says he sat in on their meetings to scheme against Walters’ bunch.

“Even when (Walters) was here, I’d probably go over to the other side of the ball and work with them to even it up and make things fair and interesting,” Bielema said in his weekly media conference inside Gies Memorial Stadium.

Since arriving as the top-ranked junior college pass rusher in the 2024 recruiting class, Illinois OLB Daniel Brown has seen injuries delay what coaches have hoped is an instant impact.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

October 23, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Even two years later, Bret Bielema still tells the story of during an October bye week in the 2023 season, the Illinois head coach visited multiple junior colleges in the Iowa and Kansas area during a five-day period where nearly all of those program’s head coaches had the same question for the Illini third-year leader.

“They all stopped me and said, ‘Oh, you have to be in on (number) 32, that edge rusher from Hutch, right?,” Bielema said Wednesday.

While wearing number 32 at Hutchinson Community College in that 2023 season, Daniel Brown had already established a reputation as one of the nation’s best pass rushers at the junior college level.

Illinois defensive coordinator Aaron Henry believes his unit needs to become more focused on creating takeaways that have led to their five wins in 2025.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

October 23, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Just because it’s been almost 15 years since he graduated with as a consumer trends major while playing at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Aaron Henry hasn’t forgotten what a mathematical trend looks like.

So, when the third-year Illinois defensive coordinator is shown a spreadsheet or statistical analysis split, it won’t take him long to identify during the five Illini wins in 2025 is when his defense and the Illinois special teams unit has produced 10 takeaways. It will likely take Henry even less time to find that in the two losses, Illinois has produced a single momentum-shifting turnover from the opposing offense.

Henry’s assessment of his defensive unit through the first seven games in an internal self-scout that his boss and former head coach at Wisconsin, Bret Bielema, requires of all his three coordinators during a off week produced a simple conclusion.

By Kedric Prince Staff Writer

October 22, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Kedric Prince/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Fighting Illini men’s basketball team is gearing up for what is expected to be another exciting season. Last week’s Big Ten Media Day offered an early glimpse into expectations for 2025-26, as the conference’s preseason rankings were released.

The media selected Illinois to finish fourth behind, in order, Purdue, Michigan, and UCLA. KenPom.com’s preseason rankings were equally high on the Illini, placing them at No. 6 nationally, the second-highest Big Ten team behind the No. 2 Boilermakers.

Illinois assistant coach Zach Hamer spoke about his expectations for the upcoming season and the energy surrounding the program.

October 23, 2025

IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst Kedric Prince shared the following insider notes earlier this week following Illinois' 92-65 exhibition win over Illinois State on Sunday.  He gives an intriguing glimpse inside the program, looking at how players are developing 

What I learned yesterday at the State Farm Center, where Illinois defeated Illinois State 92-65 in front of 15,180 fans, goes beyond the final score.
Let’s start with what happened off the court. Recruiting is nowhere near what it used to be or how it’s done, and Illinois has adjusted its approach accordingly. In Brad Underwood’s early years as head coach, he had to sell his vision. Now, with the success he’s built, the Illini approach things differently.

By IlliniGuys Staff October 22, 2025 (Cover photo courtesy […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

October 22, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Kedric Prince/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Fighting Illini men’s basketball program welcomed several visitors to campus this past weekend, including committed forward Landon Davis from Waukee, Iowa, 2026 4-star guard prospect Adam Oumiddoch; and Ben Wade, a 6-foot-9, 205-pound small forward from Iowa City, Iowa, in the Class of 2028.

Wade doesn’t yet hold an offer from Illinois, but he told IlliniGuys that the Illini are high on his list, especially with Davis already committed, adding extra appeal to the recruitment. The two sat together inside the State Farm Center to watch Illinois roll past Illinois State 92-65.

By Zeno Jo - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

October 21, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – At this time, it seems as though one of the key cogs in the Illinois offense this season will be point guard Mihailo Petrovic. Head coach Brad Underwood has harped on the 6-foot-3 Serbian point guard’s pace, a key strength as the Illini are looking to play faster and more downhill than ever.

Petrovic made the flip to college basketball after a strong campaign in the Adriatic League, where he averaged 14.3 points, 7.3 assists, and 2.8 rebounds per game and became a potential MVP candidate. At just 22 and beginning to establish himself as one of the top players in a league that’s produced the likes of Nikola Jokic, Dario Saric, and Goga Bitadze, Petrovic explained why he made the move from the Balkan Peninsula to Champaign.

Mike Cagley, Co-Host IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular October 21, 2025 […]

With 12 FBS job openings before Halloween, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema acknowledges Monday his profession “is a hard deal” and he’s reached out to some of the terminated men in this 2025 season.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

October 20, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Every time he sees that somebody in his coaching fraternity is terminated, Bret Bielema can’t help but recall the one and only time he was terminated from a job.

After a 48-45 loss to Missouri, Bielema was walking off the playing surface of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas when his interim boss, Julie Cromer, handed him termination papers immediately ending his five-year run as the Arkansas head football coach before he got to the tunnel of the home locker room of the season finale.

“Some of these guys (who have been fired) are guys I would consider friends. I know that when I was handed papers saying I was no longer wanted, I know I liked hearing from people even though I really, at the time, didn’t want to hear from them,” Bielema said Monday.

By Kedric Prince/IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

October 20, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Kedric Prince/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Landon Davis, a 6-foot-8 power forward from Waukee, Iowa, made the trip to Champaign with his family for his official visit as Illinois hosted Illinois State in an exhibition game at the State Farm Center.

We caught up with Davis to get the latest on his visit and what stood out the most during his time in Champaign.

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema has repeatedly said he and his staff are using this off week to answer questions about specific problem areas of a his football team after seven straight games.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

October 20, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Let’s immediately start with what would have to be considered encouraging news for Illinois fans from regarding the running game.

According to his Wednesday afternoon Zoom media conference, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema confirmed he expects all personnel from his running back room to be healthy for its next game on Oct. 25 at Washington following this current off weekend. This would obviously include Ca’Lil Valentine, who injured his leg/ankle in the first half of the 34-16 loss to No. 1 Ohio State, along with Kaden Feagin, who injured his shoulder in the first half against the Buckeyes but returned to action after halftime and Aidan Laughery, who had been slow to fully recover from a severe ankle injury in the win at Duke over a month ago.