Illinois Football Draws ACC Matchup in Latest Bowl Predictions

Week 8 Bowl Prediction for Illinois Football

Illinois Football is now 5-1, despite playing one of their worst performances of the 2024 season at home vs. Purdue. Regardless of the sloppy fashion in which it happened, a win is a win. The Illini’s dicey victory jolted them to No. 22 in this week’s AP Top-25 poll, to which Illinois has impressively been a resident for a 5th consecutive week.

A new week following an Illini win, additionally means updated bowl predictions to check in on. Lucky for Illini fans, postseason talks have been well worth paying attention to, as the national media continues to take notice of the progressing Illini Football program.

This week’s bowl predictions have Illinois facing a somewhat familiar ACC opponent. According to Brett McMurphy of Action Network, Illinois Football is predicted to face the Virginia Cavaliers in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on January 3rd.

Oct 12, 2024;  Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Notes on the Cavaliers

Head Coach: Tony Elliott

Current Record: 4-2

ACC Ranking: 5th

Best Win: Boston College, 24-14 (Home)

Worst Loss: Maryland, 27-13 (Home)

Throwback to 2022, when Illinois Football defeated Virginia 24-3 at home, in week 3 of the 2022 college football season. Chase Brown (Current Bengals RB) went off for 146 yards rushing on 20 carries, while (Current Giants) quarterback Tommy DeVito tallied up 196 yards, and 2 scores, going 17/25 vs Virginia. It was a big non-conference win for the Fighting Illini, which helped boost them to an 8-4 regular season under (at the time) 2nd-year head coach Bret Bielema.

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