After a little teaser slate of games in Week 0, Thursday officially kicks off the rest of the college football season.
Eastern Illinois and Chris Wilkerson get their season going in Champaign, Illinois, at Memorial Stadium against head coach Bret Bielema and the Fighting Illini.
The Panthers of Eastern Illinois finished last season with a record of 8-3 at the FCS level in the Ohio Valley Conference, while the Illini finished their season with a record of 5-7, which was good for last in the Big Ten West.
Eastern Illinois will look to start this year off with a major upset win against an in-state rival, while the Illini will attempt to kick off their season with a convincing win at home to show this is not the same team as last season.
Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Prediction
- Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Pick: Eastern Illinois +28
My Eastern Illinois vs. Illinois best bet is on the Panthers spread with the best line currently available at DraftKings, according to our live NCAAF odds page.
Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Odds
| Eastern Illinois Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+27.5 -105 | 44.5 -110 / -110 | +3000 |
| Illinois Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-27.5 -115 | 44.5 -110 / -110 | -10000 |
- Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Point Spread: Eastern Illinois +27.5 (-110) · Illinois -27.5 (-110)
- Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Total: Over/Under 44.5
- Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Moneyline: Eastern Illinois +3000 · Illinois -10000
Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Preview
Eastern Illinois Panthers Betting Preview: Lots of Returnees
Wilkerson’s squad returns quite a bit of production from last year’s 8-3 team, namely senior quarterback Pierce Holley, who's in his second season at Eastern Illinois after transferring in a year ago.
Holley has already been named the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, so he'll be no joke for the Illini defense to have to handle.
Another key returnee offensively is Panthers sophomore running back MJ Flowers. Flowers finished last year with over 1,000 yards from scrimmage and earned some high praise as the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year.
The Panthers try to run a pretty balanced offensive attack that should keep this Illinois defense on its toes. The big question mark for this offense is how the offensive line will adjust to what should be a bigger and stronger defensive line relative to what they see in practice.
Defensively, the Panthers were solid last season, only allowing about 20 points per game. While the scoring defense was solid, their front seven will be put to the test in this one.
The Panthers allowed nearly four yards per carry last season, which will raise some problems when playing against the physical Illini team with a coach in Bielema who wants to run the football.
The Panthers also struggled to get sacks and force pressure in the passing game a year ago, so they'll need a big performance from the front seven to contain the Illini run game.
This Eastern Illinois defense did a great job forcing key turnovers a year ago, with a +16 turnover margin, and it'll need to force a few key ones here to take this game to the fourth quarter and potentially escape with a win.
Illinois Fighting Illini Betting Preview: New Offensive Look for Altmyer
Illinois would like to forget what happened last year and begin this year with some momentum.
The good news for Illinois is that it has more stability at quarterback with Luke Altmyer’s return. The problem for Altmyer is that his leading rusher and two leading receivers from last year have moved on, so he'll have to play with mostly new weapons.
Pat Bryant is back at receiver, so I would expect Altmyer to lean heavily on him, especially in this Week 1 matchup. Altmyer will need to be a little more careful this season, as well, after tossing 10 interceptions in nine games in 2023.
He can't make any silly throws in this one because Eastern Illinois can make you pay for critical mistakes.
The biggest story for this Illinois defense going into 2024 is how it'll deal with the loss of last year’s Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Jer’Zhan (Johnny) Newton. He led this Illini defense in sacks and disrupted a lot of running plays over the middle, so it'll need a collective effort to fill that void.
The Illini return five starters on defense — alike to the five starters they return on offense — so they'll need to figure out how to work as a unit quickly.
Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Pick & Prediction
Illinois should be able to find some room on the ground and have some success against what should be a lesser-talented Eastern Illinois team.
While Illinois should find some success on the ground, I think the experience on the Eastern Illinois sideline will help it get key stops and maintain a fair share of the time of possession to keep this a low-scoring affair.
I do think there could be some big plays in this one, with new units trying to figure out how to click together on both sides.
That being said, I'm going to stay away from the total and take Eastern Illinois +28. I believe it can keep this one close with the more experienced players in key positions.
Pick: Eastern Illinois +28
How to Watch Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Live: Start Time, TV Channel, Location
| Location: | Champaign, IL |
| Date: | Thursday, Aug. 29 |
| Kickoff Time: | 9 p.m. ET |
| TV / Streaming: | Big Ten Network |
Eastern Illinois vs Illinois Betting Trends
- Of all bets on Eastern Illinois vs. Illinois, 88% of the bets are on Eastern Illinois, while 51% of the money has landed on the Panthers.
- From a total perspective, 78% of bets have landed on the over, and 100% of the money is on the total to go over.
