
The Trench Report: Indiana
By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst
September 23, 2025
Well, longtime Illini fans know they should never get too comfortable when things look good. This is a program that, prior to last year, had lost the last eight games it had played in front of a home sellout crowd. So, while Saturday night was certainly painful, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's witnessed a game that was similarly painful at some point in the last 50 years of doldrums. What made this game especially painful though was that the Illini were supposed to be ready to compete for the College Football Playoff. However, as Curt Cignetti said (I'm paraphrasing) We came out stronger than them, and recognized that they couldn't match up with us on the outside, and then we took their will. That's just about a perfect summary.
Just so everyone knows, I'm not attempting to pile on by not showing any of the good Illini plays in this piece, I'm trying to show everyone what went wrong. And I'm starting with the defense this week because they were even worse than the offense.