It has been a pretty special season thus far for the Illinois football team despite the result of the last contest.

If you are judging the 2024 Illini season based on the last game against Oregon, you should probably adjust your expectations a bit. The Ducks have a great program with national title aspirations. Illinois isn’t quite there yet.

That is okay, though. No one thought the Illini would compete for a national championship. Sure, two losses are never a good thing, but they are against two of the top three teams in the country. Sitting a 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Big Ten is better than what 99.9% of people thought for this team in 2024.

I have raved about what Bret Bielema has done with the Orange and Blue. This program was completely lost before he entered the picture. The turnaround has been impressive.

Moreover, you know that bottom. You know the floor for Illinois is 5-7 and, in the past, that would have been a decent season. Now that is the worst-case scenario.

Bielema has put Illinois in this position. It is called being competitive and a serious program. Another element Illinois fans need to get used to is the AP Top 25.

Since the turn of the century, Illinois has been ranked in just seven seasons. That is an ugly statistic. Bielema owns two of the seven seasons, and he has only been our coach for four years.

To take that stat further, Bielema has Illinois still in the AP Top 25. We have been ranked in the AP Top 25 for seven straight weeks. The last time an Illini team was ranked seven straight weeks in the AP Top 25 in a season was in 2001. It has been 23 years.

For some of us, the 2001 season doesn’t seem that long ago because we experienced that great run. But if you think about it, anyone who is 23 years old or younger wasn’t even alive for that season, let alone have any memory of the Kurt Kittner era.

My hope is that there will be a few more similarities between the 2024 season and the 2001 campaign.

We have already established the seven straight weeks of being in the AP Top 25. This season, Illinois has beaten three ranked opponents, No. 19 Kansas, No. 22 Nebraska, and No. 24 Michigan. In that 2001 campaign, the Illini also beat three ranked opponents, No. 25 Louisville, No. 20 Purdue, and No. 25 Ohio State.

In 1999, Illinois had a Cinderella season when the program won eight games out of nowhere. We managed to be ranked that season but followed it up with a 2000 season that had us win five games. The 2001 season followed with 10 victories.

In 2022, Illinois came out of nowhere to win eight games and cracked the AP Top 25. Following that season, in 2023, the Illini won five games. Through eight games in 2024, Illinois is 6-2 and has a chance to win 10 games.

Bielema has Illinois football looking good and playing at a level we haven’t seen in over two decades. Being ranked in the AP Top 25 for seven straight weeks is pretty special. Hopefully, we can finish the season strong and get to that 10-win mark.

High school football playoffs have arrived across the state of Illinois, with first-round games set for Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2.

On3 is tracking scores across the Land of Lincoln as 256 teams enter the postseason with one goal in mind: hoisting the state championship trophy in a few weeks.

The On3 Massey Ratings — which were officially used during the BCS era and have generated college high school sports team rankings since 1995 — rank sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule and margin of victory.

CLICK HERE to watch Illinois high school football playoffs games on NFHS Network now!

Class 8A Bracket

Niles West — 
Lincoln-Way East — 

Minooka — 
Chicago Taft — 

Chicago Curie — 
Glenbard East — 

Sandburg — 
Stevenson — 

Huntley — 
West Aurora — 

Maine South —
Naperville North — 

Glenbrook South — 
Marist —

Belleville East —
Loyola — 

Joliet West — 
Lyons — 

Plainfield South —
Downers Grove South —

Schaumburg —
Naperville Central — 

Tinley Park Andrew — 
Fremd — 

Waubonsie Valley —
Oswego — 

Edwardsville — 
Elmhurst York — 

Warren Township — 
Palatine — 

South Elgin — 
Barrington —

Class 7A Bracket

Kenwood — 
Whitney Young —

Bradley-Bourbonnais — 
Algonquin Jacobs — 

Hoffman Estates — 
Lincoln Park — 

Lincoln-Way Central — 
Maine West — 

Collinsville —
Batavia —

Lincoln-Way West — 
Pekin — 

Wheaton Warrenville South — 
Downers Grove North — 

Brother Rice — 
Fenwick — 

Argo — 
Quincy — 

Addison Trail — 
Moline —

Willowbrook — 
Rockton Hononegah — 

Guilford — 
St. Rita — 

Rolling Meadows — 
St. Charles North — 

Chicago Mount Carmel — 
Harlem — 

West Chicago — 
Normal Community — 

Hersey — 
Prospect — 

Class 6A Bracket

Senn — 
Cary-Grove — 

Grayslake — 
Antioch — 

Kaneland —
Belvidere North — 

Fenton — 
Wauconda — 

Deerfield — 
Libertyville —

Mather — 
Lake Forest —

Amundsen —
Geneva — 

Chicago Grant — 
Burlington Central — 

Springfield — 
East St. Louis — 

Simeon — 
Normal West — 

Oak Forest — 
Kennedy — 

Crete-Monee — 
Glenwood — 

Dunlap — 
Oak Lawn Richards —

Shepard — 
Washington — 

Glenbard South — 
Kankakee — 

Lemont — 
Bloomington — 

Class 5A Bracket

Chicago Bulls College Prep — 
Sycamore — 

Westinghouse — 
Prosser — 

Sterling — 
St. Francis — 

Goode — 
Prairie Ridge — 

Marmion — 
Rochelle — 

Perspectives — 
Benet — 

Payton — 
Nazareth —

Freeport — 
Woodstock North —

Tinley Park —
Morgan Park — 

Metamora — 
Centralia — 

Morris — 
Troy Triad — 

Marion — 
Highland — 

Hillcrest — 
Peoria — 

T.F. North — 
Corliss — 

Sacred Heart-Griffin —
Mahomet-Seymour — 

Jacksonville — 
Joliet Catholic — 

Class 4A Bracket

Geneseo — 
Sullivan —

DePaul — 
Dyett — 

Sandwich — 
Wheaton Academy — 

St. Laurence — 
Richmond-Burton — 

Boylan — 
South Shore — 

Johnsburg — 
Coal City — 

Marengo — 
Dixon — 

Clemente — 
Chicago Ag. Science — 

Harrisburg — 
Breese Central — 

Murphysboro —
Macomb —

Notre Dame — 
Rochester — 

Mt. Zion — 
Carterville — 

Kewanee — 
Richland County — 

Normal University — 
Manteno — 

Taylorville — 
Waterloo —

Columbia — 
Cahokia — 

Class 3A Bracket

Prairie Central —
Byron —

Montini —
North Lawndale —

Oregon — 
Princeton —

Chicago King —
Marshall — 

Stillman Valley — 
Wilmington — 

Peotone — 
Eureka — 

Genoa-Kingston — 
Pecatonica —

Paxton-Buckley-Loda — 
Monmouth-Roseville — 

West Frankfort — 
St. Joseph-Ogden —

Tolono Unity — 
Roxana — 

Olympia — 
Nashville — 

Fairfield — 
Greenville — 

Mt. Carmel — 
Sullivan-Okaw Valley — 

Benton — 
New Berlin — 

Carlinville — 
Williamsville — 

DuQuoin — 
Monticello — 

Class 2A Bracket

Deer Creek-Mackinaw — 
Farmington — 

Pearl City —
Rockridge —

Oakwood —
Elmwood — 

Dwight —
Momence — 

Erie-Prophetstown — 
Bismarck-Henning — 

El Paso-Gridley — 
Seneca — 

Bloomington Central Catholic — 
Downs Tri-Valley — 

Illini West —
Chicago Christian — 

Red Bud — 
Johnston City — 

Carmi White — 
Warrensburg-Latham — 

Shelbyville — 
Pana — 

Sangamon Valley — 
Vandalia — 

Decatur St. Teresa — 
Maroa-Forsyth — 

Westville —
Chester — 

Flora —
Quincy Notre Dame — 

North Mac — 
ALAH — 

Class 1A Bracket

Aurora Christian — 
Le Roy — 

Rockford Lutheran — 
Annawan-Wethersfield — 

Ottawa Marquette — 
Rushville-Industry — 

Galena — 
Stark County — 

Clifton Central —
Lena-Winslow — 

Stockton —
Princeville —

Salt Fork —
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley — 

Chicago Hope — 
Sterling Newman — 

Dupo — 
Belleville Althoff — 

Carrollton — 
West Central — 

Jacksonville Routt — 
Casey-Westfield — 

Brown County —
Greenfield — 

Moweaqua Central A&M — 
Hardin Calhoun — 

Red Hill — 
Sesser-Valler —

Nokomis — 
Camp Point Central — 

Tuscola — 
Toledo Cumberland — 

On a recent school night at Mansueto High School in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood, college recruiters from around Illinois made their pitch to an unlikely audience — one whose members have every reason to believe that college is not for them. The event was the sixth annual college fair hosted by the Noble Schools charter network specifically for undocumented students.

“It’s very welcoming, because the universities are like, ‘Yes, come to us, we got you. We’ll help you pay for this. We’ll give you scholarships. We’ll build this club,’” said Brisa Angel, a college counselor, as she watched her students talk to recruiters. “It’s one thing to see it on a sheet: ‘Okay, these are your options.’ And a whole other thing is walking into a fair and talking to people who are like, ‘Yeah, we have these resources.’”

Kevin Guzman, a student at ITW David Speer Academy on Chicago’s West Side, said that before the event, he doubted college was a possibility for him because of his immigration status.

“I was originally going to do the military, because I thought that was going to be the easy way out. … I was gonna get my citizenship, and I was gonna get a whole bunch of money,” Guzman said. “Now I’m looking at these colleges out here, and I’m like, ‘Okay, maybe, maybe there’s a chance for me.’”

For years, undocumented students have been told in big and little ways that they do not belong in college. They do not have access to federal financial aid and, in most states, have to pay out-of-state tuition rates without the help of state grants.

But in Illinois, undocumented students have a better shot at getting into and paying for college. The state is one of 19 where undocumented students can apply for state funding and one of 25 where they pay in-state tuition rates.

Just as important is the network of adults working overtime to help these students navigate a maze of paperwork and find a campus where they can get the support they need to succeed. That network includes Angel, who was once an undocumented high schooler with college dreams.

“I didn’t know what it meant to really be undocumented until I came to apply to college,” Angel said about the hurdles she had to overcome to access higher education. “That was actually really terrifying, because I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, what am I going to do with my life?’ ”

Angel said her college counselor stepped in and helped her submit applications to 42 colleges.

“She was like, ‘I don’t know what it means to be undocumented, but I got you,’” Angel said. “She basically held my hand and dragged me across, and she was like, ‘You’re not gonna give up. You’re not gonna give up.’”

Now Angel is paying it forward. Three months ago, she became a college counselor at ITW David Speer Academy, the high school she attended. She wants younger generations of students to have college options too, whether or not they have legal immigration status.

Her efforts come as tuition costs and student debt are rising and more Americans are questioning the value of college. A poll published by Gallup in July found that nearly one-third of Americans have little to no confidence in higher education.

But the work of Angel and advocates for undocumented students across the state is a rejection of skepticism of college — from one of the communities with the least access to it.

“College is not the only pathway to be successful. That is true,” said Aidé Acosta, chief college advisor for the Noble network. “But are we telling all kids that? Or are we only telling Black and brown kids that? Because I refuse to revive gendered and racialized tropes about our communities, that college is not possible for them.”

Acosta, who was once undocumented, said her parents did not have college degrees and had to work long hours at physically exhausting jobs. She said they wanted something different for her.

“We often talk to students who are just finding out for the first time what their status means and feel hopeless,” she said. “And I always remind them that education is the one thing … that nobody will take away from you, no matter where you find yourself in life, in the world.”

It’s something students can hold onto, she said, when there is so much — including their legal status in this country — that is not within their grasp.

Lisa Kurian Philip covers higher education for WBEZ, in partnership with Open Campus. Follow her on Twitter @LAPhilip.