Projecting the rest of Illinois football 2024 season — and their bowl game

The Illinois football team is sitting pretty on its bye week, nationally ranked and well on its way to a second bowl bid in three seasons. The Fighting Illini are 4-1 and ranked No. 25 in the US LBM Coaches Poll this week and No. 24 by The Associated Press.

When returning from the bye week, Illinois has what’s likely the easiest game remaining on its schedule, a home matchup Oct. 12 at Memorial Stadium against Purdue. ESPN Analytics’ matchup predictor gives the Fighting Illini an 88.3% chance of beating the Boilermakers.

Illinois football predictions 2024: Game-by-game picks based on ESPN matchup predictor

After that game, that same predictive model has Illinois splitting its last six games in the remainder of the 2024 season. Here’s a look at each of Illinois’ remaining games and the odds that ESPN’s analytics give it of winning each contest:

• vs. Purdue 88.3%

• vs. Michigan 43.4%

• at Oregon 13.2%

• vs. Minnesota 61.6%

• vs. Michigan State 69.8%

• at Rutgers 44.1%

• vs. Northwestern (Wrigley Field) 72.6%

If the results of those games adhere to those percentages, the Illini would finish 8-4. That would likely land the Illini a decent bowl game. Last season, Big Ten teams with similar finishes played in the Music City Bowl and the Las Vegas Bowl.

Here is a look at some bowl projections from college football experts around the nation:

Illinois football bowl projections

• 247sports.com: Mayo Bowl vs. Duke

• USA TODAY: ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Missouri

• ESPN’s Kyle Bongura: Music City Bowl vs. LSU

• ESPN’s Mark Schlabach: Pinstripe Bowl vs. Pittsburgh

• Bleacher Report: Pinstripe Bowl vs. Boston College

• College Football News: Mayo Bowl vs. Duke

• CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm: Citrus Bowl vs. Texas A&M

• Athlon Sports: Music City Bowl vs. Kentucky

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: How will Illinois football finish? Which bowl game will Illini play?