Even after Illinois football broke through with 10 wins and a Citrus Bowl victory in 2024, plenty of skeptics chalked up the results as a fluke – a season-long stroke of luck – while others have forecast more success ahead for an Illini program that returns 16 starters in 2025 and has been red-hot on the recruiting scene.

Count Joel Klatt among those in the latter camp.

In fact, Klatt, a top FOX Sports college football analyst, recently went so far as to declare the Illini as his No. 1 choice among programs most likely to make their first College Football Playoff appearance in 2025. Klatt clearly views Illinois as a team on the rise, but he also notes that the program is catching the sort of wave that doesn’t come around very often.

“Here’s what benefits them, is that they’re so experienced,” Klatt said, noting the Illini’s 16 returning starters. “So they can handle early games, big games. … Meanwhile, Luke Altmyer is in his third year as a starter and gets to play in September as an experienced player in those big games. That’s gigantic.”

The schedule is another huge boon for Illinois, according to Klatt, who points out that the Illini avoid Penn State, Oregon and Michigan, and will take on their most formidable opponent – Ohio State – in Champaign.

“Even if they don’t beat Ohio State, their next-biggest game is probably Washington on the road,” Klatt said. “Not saying that that’s easy, but you can take an experienced team and win that game potentially. And even if they don’t win that one, at 10-2 I think that Illinois probably goes [into the CFP].”

Bielema, Altmyer and the Illini still have to go out and get it done on the field, of course, but the ceiling has never been higher for the program. Given Illinois’ resources in 2025 and relative margin for error, the College Football Playoff should be the goal.

Not even Illini fans with the rosiest-colored glasses could have imagined as much just a few years ago.

“This year’s Indiana is Illinois, a team that their schedule is perfect, their roster is perfect,” Klatt said. “There is experience in the right places, and there is a guy at the helm – in this case, Brett Bielema – who knows exactly what he’s doing.”

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