Can’t Wait For Saturday | ‘Basketball school’ will provide early test for Bielema’s team | Newsletter

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Greetings from “Can’t Wait For Saturday,” your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of longtime Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He’ll give you his views each day on the game he loves.

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I spent some time Thursday with the Duke coaching staff in Durham, N.C. (More on that next week).

A quick preview: the Blue Devils are looking forward to the Sept. 6 visit from Illinois.

The matchup with Duke and hotshot transfer quarterback Darian Mensah is a big reason why the Illinois nonconference schedule ranks No. 6 among Big Ten schools.

The Blue Devils are coming off a nine-win season against 10-win Illinois. Hopes are high in Durham — as they should be — even when Cooper Flagg isn’t part of the team. That’s my obligatory reference to basketball. Last one.

For Illinois, the Duke game is sandwiched between home games with the Westerns … Illinois and Michigan.

Because of the two games that follow for Illinois at Indiana and home against Southern California, the impact of the Duke game is magnified. If Illinois hopes to make the College Football Playoff, a 4-1 start is probably a must. That gets easier with a coid performance in Durham.

In 2026, the difficulty of the Illinois noncon might rank among the best in the conference. Not only does Duke visit Memorial Stadium, but so does Missouri. Fun. And the league schedule includes Iowa, Oregon, Ohio State and UCLA. 

  

Bob Asmussen is a college football reporter and columnist for The News-Gazette. He can be reached at 217-393-8248 or [email protected].

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Publish date : 2025-03-21 14:48:00

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