Hitting Snooze on Reality: Dreaming Bigger Than Ever About Illinois Football

I’ve never been more excited for an Illinois football season. I am sad the season has to start. 

Illinois football is going to be good. For the first time in my life, I am confident of that. Like they will absolutely win more games than they lose. They return 16 starters, including the entire offensive line and the best quarterback in decades. On defense, multiple surefire NFL players came back and three – yes three! – starters from Wisconsin – yes Wisconsin – transferred because Illinois football – yes, Illinois football –  seemed like a better opportunity. Illinois is no. 12 – yes, No. 12 – in the country! 

So why am I sad the season is going to start? The offseason is the time of dreaming, and with this newly found confidence, I’m allowed to go places in dreams I’ve never gone before. And now I have to wake up for a reality check.

Unlike in past years, where I dreamed of the flukes adding up and us sneaking in a win against Ohio State or Wisconsin, there’s a real opportunity Illinois could just win those games because the Illini are good enough without needing a fluke. The possibilities are infinite. Illinois to the College Football Playoff? Gabe Jacas is the second coming of Whitney Mercilus? Luke Altmeyer sets Kurt Kittner’s touchdown record? Kaden Feagin wins the Heisman? Rose Bowl???

This is all possible, at least until the season starts.

Part of being an Illinois football fan for the past three decades has been accepting that even our biggest hopes and dreams seemed trivial to “real” programs. Hoping for an appearance at a Detroit bowl game seems sad, unless it’s been almost entirely unattainable for your team for most of your natural-born life. My hope for years was: Let’s win four non-conference games and sneak out two wins against, like, Purdue and Northwestern. Tell that to an Iowa fan or a Penn State fan and they’d pity you. But that was our reality. 

Last year, when doing the annual preseason vibes check, I wasn’t sure Illinois would be good. I just hoped for a bowl game. But reality proved better than those dreams; the Illini won 10 games for the second time in my 32 years on this earth. In fact, reality has surpassed expectations almost every year in the Bret Bielema era, and now I, like probably many of you, am starting to have expectations. 

So now that I’ve accepted the team is going to be good, and me talking about it will not curse them, what do I do? I don’t know how to process this information. Do I get excited? Do I get nervous? 

I feel like my brain is paused. 

Well, I bought season tickets. That was one thing I did for the first time since Undergrad.

I’ve been wearing my Citrus Bowl shirt to do yard work because I figured I’m allowed to break it in because we’ll go to another bowl game this year. That’s another thing I did. 

I got my hair cut. I don’t know why this matters, but I felt like I wanted to look good, so that was another thing I did.

I am listening to national college football podcasts to hear what people think about Illinois and Luke Altmeyer. I’m looking at lists of top Big Ten players and Gabe Jacas and Xavier Scott and JC Davis are all over them. I’ve never done this before. 

I bought NCAA Football 26 and played as the Illini and won the National Championship in the first year. It was easy because we are good, and it didn’t even feel that absurd. That was another thing I did. 

In this annual preseason vibe check, I’m usually getting jokes off about how miserable we all are as Illinois football fans. But this year, we don’t have to be miserable (at least yet). We might actually just be a serviceable-to-good college football team. And that will be enough. 

With the games fast approaching, I feel like my first alarm is going off and I’m starting to sense reality, and I’d like to acknowledge that I think our collective dreams might be getting a little big – though I’m not mad we’re having them! 

I think the most likely outcome of this season is 8-4 (which is absolutely something to celebrate!!!), not 11-1 and the College Football Playoff. 

The schedule isn’t that easy. In any other season, I’d be skeptical of a bowl game at all. If we can go 2-4 in away games against Duke, Indiana, Washington and Wisconsin and home games against USC and Ohio State, that would be an unthinkable accomplishment in every other season of my life. This year, that’s my floor.

Even though Altmeyer is good, I’m not entirely sure who will catch the ball. Still, I feel confident that there is enough talent at the receiver position that someone will catch the ball. They just might not singlehandedly win us a game like Pat Bryant, or do whatever the hell this is:

I’m also a bit skeptical of our defensive line, but so far in the Bielema era, that seems like it’s been fine. 

Illinois has been exceptionally good in close games. Will that luck continue?

But these worries seem trivial compared to AJ Bush or Jeff George Jr. being your quarterback or starting freshmen in the secondary or having recruiting classes that don’t have any other Power Five offers.

For a few more hours, I can hit snooze and return to my dream land. I really do hope Illinois makes the College Football Playoff. It seems possible, but I don’t expect it. 

My dreams are endless, and I also think they will continue after this season. It seems like things are rolling. Bret Bielema said almost every single freshman is on a redshirt plan. Next year’s recruiting class is the best since Ron Zook (and unlike Zook, Bielema seems to really know how to develop players). 

So even though I don’t want to wake up, I feel like when I do, things are going to be OK. 

I think it’ll be better to know who we are than to be stuck in disillusionment. The thing is, we might not be disillusioned.

You can follow Johnathan on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram. 

He can be reached at jhett93@gmail.com

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