First-year Fighting Illini coach Bret Bielema is hoping his team’s routine also aligns well with the early start, but he laments that that’s not the only similarity he finds Saturday when Illinois faces Virginia with a rare 11 a.m. eastern time start to the game.
Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall hopes that his team’s practices early in the morning will help.
Bielema’s team won its opener, 30-22 over Nebraska, but lost 37-30 last week to UTSA, also an FCS program. This will be its first road game of the season.
Bielema isn’t sure how his team will respond, but said “the greatest crime we can ever commit was to have that loss not to amount to learning forward,” and that film study has been key to that learning process.
The Fighting Illini may have starting quarterback Brandon Peters back, but Bielema said Artur Sitkowski, a transfer from Rutgers, will start. Peters hurt his non-throwing shoulder against the Cornhuskers. Sitkowski was 22 for 42 for 266 yards with three touchdown passes against UTSA.
The Cavaliers and Illinois have played twice previously, both times in bowl games, and the Illini won both. This game marks Illinois’ first road game against a non-conference Power Five team since it faced North Carolina in 2015.
