Illini projected nearly unanimously to Pinstripe Bowl
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The current bowl projections are almost a national consensus prognostication of having Illinois return to Yankee Stadium for the first time in 72 years.
CBS Sports' Jerry Palm, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Athletic's Steward Mandel all have Illinois (6-4, 4-3 in Big Ten Conference) projected to play an Atlantic Coast Conference program in the Pinstripe Bowl.
The Illini are bowl eligible for the first time since 2014 after a 25-point comeback victory on Nov. 9 at Michigan State. The Illini are on a four-game winning streak for the first time since starting the 2011 season 6-0. Illinois has won four straight Big Ten Conference games for the first time since 2001 when the Illini won the league title and finished the regular season with seven straight conference victories. The four-game streak is tied for the sixth-longest current streak among Power 5 Conference programs (Clemson 26, Ohio State 16, LSU 11, Oregon 9, Utah 6, Illinois 4, Georgia 4, Texas A&M 4).
The offensive MVP trophy in the game between the Oregon Ducks and the Michigan State Spartans during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium.
Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports
College Football News and ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura has Illinois projected to the Redbox Bowl to be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, which is the home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, and would be Illinois’ first bowl game in California since 2011 when the Illini defeated UCLA 20-14 in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
Entering this week, the Big Ten Conference already has eight bowl-eligible teams (Ohio State, Penn State, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana and Illinois). Michigan State, Nebraska and Purdue stand at 4-6 overall but the Spartans are the only member of this trip who will likely be a favorite in its final two regular-season games.
Due to the fact Illinois has been absent from the bowl picture for nearly a five-year stretch, any of the bowls with Big Ten tie-ins can select the Illini without worrying about a contractual problem. Normally bowl committees are requested by the league to restrain from selecting a team twice in a five-year stretch to promote parity in its postseason games. For example, the agreement with the Big Ten Conference and the Citrus Bowl committee is for all possibilities to be exhausted to have five different teams to be selected for the game within the six-year deal. Therefore, Penn State, Minnesota or Michigan are restricted from being in this game unless the circumstances are unavoidable. The bowl committees, which want to sell as many tickets and promote the hotel and dining options in the local market, also are always intrigued at new options to select from. This is how Purdue, which went without a bowl game from 2013-16 had several postseason options the last two seasons when Jeff Brohm took the Boilermakers, with a 6-6 regular-season record, to the 2017 Foster Farms Bowl (now called the Redbox Bowl) and the 2018 Music City Bowl in his first two seasons.