The Illinois Fighting Illini football team will find out where they are headed for it's first bowl game since the 2019 Red Box Bowl on Sunday.
The 8-4 Illini struggled down the stretch but eight wins have put Illinois on the map as a legitimate Big Ten football program under second-year coach Bret Bielema. Illini HQ beat writer Bob Asmussen says Illinois should find themselves in a terrific bowl game, perhaps a Jan. 1 or Jan. 2 game.
The Illini success this season is due in large part to superstar talents like second-team all Big Ten RB Chase Brown and Big Ten defensive back of the year Devon Witherspoon. Asmussen anticipates with those two guys having a lot on the line for draft stock, they will likely sit out the bowl game.
Coach Bielema and his family have been dealing with a difficult second half of the season as he lost his mother and father-in-law just a week apart late in November.