News: Illinois Football to play SIU Salukis in 2026

News: While Illinois Football fans are fully immersed in the 2025 season—with Bret Bielema’s highly anticipated squad rolling into Week 3 at 2-0 after a big road win at Duke—some intriguing news has surfaced about the Illini’s 2026 campaign.

Though it has not been officially confirmed, preliminary schedules suggest that Illinois will face a familiar in-state opponent next season. According to outlets like FBSchedules.com and WFCN News in Marion (IL), the Fighting Illini are set to host FCS challenger Southern Illinois University in Champaign during Week 3 of the 2026 season, just a week ahead of Illinois’ first Big Ten matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes at home.

The September 19th (2026) matchup will mark the fifth all-time meeting between the Fighting Illini and the visiting Salukis, with Illinois leading the series 4-0 (1985, 1990, 2010, and 2013). In fact, the last time Southern Illinois visited Champaign was back in 2013, when the Salukis gave Illini fans a scare, putting up their best effort against a struggling Tim Beckman-led program. Despite the loss, the 42-34 final score felt much better for SIU than it did for Illinois, which dragged its way to a 4-8 finish in 2013.

Luckily, Bret Bielema’s program has come a long way since the Beckman era. So, that said, I don’t foresee the Salukis having it as easy in Champaign this time around.

 

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