Illinois (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) vs. Michigan State (4-5, 2-4 Big Ten)

Day and time: Saturday (Nov. 16) at 1:30 p.m. CT
Venue: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, Illinois
TV: FS1
Stream: None
Listen: WDWS-AM 1400 (Champaign)
WLS-AM 890 (Chicago)
Illini Sports Network affiliates (other local markets)

Favorite: Illinois (-2.5 points)*
Over/under: 47.5 points*
Illinois vs. Michigan State all time: Michigan State leads the series 27-19-2
Streak: Michigan State has won one in a row against Illinois
Last meeting: Michigan State 23, Illinois 15 (Nov. 5, 2022 in East Lansing, Michigan)

(*Figures as of Friday morning)

Key stat: 3

If you thought Illinois needed this win against Michigan State – for bowl positioning, to keep hopes for a 10-win season alive, to stop the bleeding, whatever – you don’t know the half of it, buddy. Hard as it may be to believe, but the Illini have just three wins against the Spartans in the past 30 years. It has been mostly blue skies lately – two wins in the teams’ last three meetings – but that might as well be ancient history. Given the context, Saturday’s game means more to Illinois than Minnesota, Oregon or even Michigan. If the Illini want to be taken seriously as a future CFP contender – and start luring the kind of recruits and staff that make these sort of transformations possible – the buck stops with Sparty.

Quick tips:

Illinois may never get a better chance to knock off Michigan State than right now. The Spartans are in their first year under coach Jonathan Smith, and they’re teetering on the brink, having lost five of their last six. They’re also banged up – including Chiles, who was only just keeping his head above water before being knocked out of the Spartans’ Nov. 2 blowout loss to Indiana due to an apparent injury of his throwing hand. If the Illini – coming off a bye and with time to sort out their recent issues – can’t take advantage of those circumstances, 10 wins was never meant to be anyhow.

Illinois 27, Michigan State 16

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