⚡ CFB Dashboard

Podcast: Illini Inquirer Podcast: An Illinois Fighting Illini athletics podcast Episode: Ep. 1181 - Tom Fornelli on the state of Illini football Transcript: You know that thing where you get an amazing pair of shoes at a really great price and want to tell everyone about it? Yeah, so do we. Here at Designershoot Warehouse, we'll give you something to brag about. Like the latest styles from brands you love. Or the trends everyone's obsessing over. Or shoes that make you feel like, well, you. So go ahead and show off a little. Find shoes that get you. My prices that get your budget. That's your DSW store or DSW.com today. DSW. Let us surprise you. Today, I'm the Align Enquirer podcast. Tom Franellis, CBS Sports College, football writer, University of Illinois graduate. He joins us for our yearly check in in the spring talk Alignite football. We talk the state of the program entering year six under Brett Beomah. Where Tom ranks Brett Beomah among the coaches in the country. What he makes of how Brett has led this program to really relevance in the Big Ten and a lot of success in the Big Ten. Nineteen wins over the last couple years. Couple of bull wins over SEC opponents. And then when it gets Tom's take on the Illinois coordinators, both Barry Loney Jr. the long time now. Office coordinator of Illinois. What he makes of him and why he's had success. And what Tom thinks of the Bobby Howcayer and the new defense. The Align I will run. We talk about the schedule, his expectations for 2026 and beyond. Let me talk about some big picture topics in college football, including potential expansion of 2014s in the college football playoff potential legislation to address college football contracts, rosters, all of that. We talked to Tom about that and who he's buying and selling in the Big Ten. So fantastic conversation with Tom. As always, great insight from the national level plus an Align I guy. But before we do that, some Illinois football recruiting news the last couple of days that hasn't gone Illinois way. So a little bit of update on that. Michigan State and Pat Fitzgerald. Gonna be a little bit of a thorn in the side potentially of Illinois in recruiting because when Jonathan Smith was here, he was a West Coast guy. Didn't have a lot of ties to the Midwest and didn't recruit all that well. Well, Pat Fitzgerald, plenty of ties to the Chicago land area, the state of Illinois. And this week he landed two of the Align Iced targets at linebacker. One Henry Secales from Chicago, Nazareth commits to Michigan State on Thursday, right? As I was recording this with Tom Frinelli and Matthew Brady at a Bloomington Central Catholic committed to Michigan State on Wednesday. Both really good prospects, really intriguing players with length, athleticism, versatility, Secales played defensive back for Chicago Nazareth and Nazareth Academy, excuse me. And then Bloomington Central Catholic quarterback Matthew Brady, he played quarterback at high school, but is a big time linebacker prospect at 6'4", 220 pounds. Michigan State has a good sell with their stat for linebackers. Pat Fitzgerald, obviously, one of the great linebackers in Big Ten history. But Joe Rossi has been a really good defensive coordinator in the Big Ten, especially when he was at Minnesota and then Max Bullah, a program great at Michigan State at linebacker. So they had a good sell, but two tough takes for Illinois losing out the Big Ten battle to a program that's trying to reestablish itself under Pat Fitzgerald. So we'll see where this defensive staff goes from here. They have one linebacker commit already with Archie McDaniel able to get Sean Rice. But I do think this raises some questions about this defensive staff and how they will do on the recruiting trail. They're coming from Montana, they're coming from west of the Rockies here, right? So can this program and can these guys acclimate really well to the recruiting trail here in the Midwest in state? I think that might take some time. That's why Corey Parker, Archie McDaniel, two guys who have been here on the defensive staff are really, really important. But we'll see what they can get at safety with Rodney Bradford and Robbie Hauck, Bobby's son who's coaching some of the safeties as well as Roger Cooper at linebacker. Got here late, obviously in the cycle, but these were two late emerging prospects in Matthew Brady and Henry Secales at Illinois loses out to Michigan State. Another interesting thing here, Owen Roberts, a defensive line recruit, commits to Purdue before he was going to take an official visit. So I think Illinois had kind of gotten use to beating Purdue and Michigan State for recruits. So a couple other defensive targets off the board here. Another interesting note, Sladen Schack, the quarterback out of Mississippi who is visiting this weekend. He just got an offer from Oklahoma State, another power for offer, a coaching staff and a head coach in Eric Morris who has great quarterback development. He's going to take an official visit to Oklahoma State after his official visit to Illinois. So Illinois shown some interest in some other quarterbacks. Ryan Rakhowski out in California also came out of Michigan, a three-star prospect with some group of four offers as well. They've been showing some interest in so be interesting to see where they go at quarterback in this class to get some depth behind Carson Boyd and Michael Clayton, two guys at Brett Buma. And again on Tuesday said he's very, very high on for the long term. So still big weekend for Illinois on the recruiting trail with six official visitors now with Secales, making his commitment to Michigan State. Illinois now has six official visitors coming this weekend running back Keyon Thomas out of Indianapolis. Illinois recruiting TJ Lewis out of Bowling Brook with Thomas, six foot, 205 has burst and quickness to him. I can't see them passing on him if Keyon Thomas wants to jump on board. Don Spillers, a wide receiver out of Detroit reminds me a little bit of a bleak Turner 62, 195 physical, really athletic. Gavin Erickson-Satin out of Montini Catholic in Lombard. He's an Iowa State commit visiting Illinois. That's probably a pretty good sign for them. Ryan Paulson and Ed Druscher out of Iowa, a three-star kid just visit Iowa State. I think Illinois has got a pretty good chance there. Kate Newman, kid out of Iowa. Iowa State is his, basically hometown school, who's 30 minutes from there, grew up a big Iowa State fan, but he did not commit to the cycle and on his official visit and he have Slade and Shaq visiting this weekend as well. And then another big weekend coming up next week with Bennett Conkey, the Geneva wide receiver. Roman Combs, the Ohio defensive back and a couple other prospects as well. So we'll see. It's going to be a small class for Illinois. This is not going to rank highly in the rankings because the quantity is going to be a bit lower, but you're losing some big 10 battles. You're coming off a class. Now last year you won a lot of big time battles. We'll see where Illinois is after June on the recruiting trail. But I do think this is a off season. After signing 29 prep prospects last year and seven JUCO prospects, I think this is going to be a class or a off season where the transfer portal is going to get a lot of work. I think that's where you got to give your new defensive coordinator, defensive staff some guys that fit their profile that can help you immediately because you're going to lose a lot of guys in the secondary. You want to add some defensive linemen that they can evaluate, some linebackers they can evaluate. So I would expect some resources both in roster spots and in money to be devoted to the transfer portal, especially on that defensive side of the ball next year. All right, let's get Tom Frenelli's thoughts. I know when I football the state of the program, Brett Beoma, Barry Loney Jr., Bobby Hoch, and the schedule ahead in 2026. And some big picture topics in college football. That's all coming up next on the online choir podcast. Guys, I'm pushing 40. I've noticed the older I get, the less forgiving, even a couple drinks can be the next morning. You feel like you're responsible. You have a couple beers. You get home at a reasonable time, drink some water. Eat some food. You do everything right that you still wake up feeling kind of off the next day. Foggy, low energy, not full of yourself. That's why I tried Cheers Restore. And honestly, I was skeptical at first, but the difference in next morning really surprised me. I slept better, woke up feeling way more normal, and actually felt productive the next day instead of dragging through the morning. This is Cheers Restore after alcohol aid. You take it up after your last drink or before bed and it works while you sleep. Cheers says you wake up feeling at least 50% better or your money back. It helps your body metabolize alcohol more efficiently and supports liver health with ingredients like DHM and Sistine. Cheers is backed by doctors, PhDs, and over a thousand verified clinicians. They've sold over 50 million doses available at Target, CVS, and Walgreens. But take Cheers Restore after your last drink or before bed and wake up feeling at least 50% off better or your money back. For a limited time, listeners are getting 20% off their order by using Code Alaini at CheersHealth.com. Just head to CheersHealth.com and use Code Alaini for 20% off. After your purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them Alaini enquirer sent you. Alright, when I thought who could bat behind bread underwood, follow them up. Nobody else than the power hitter. Tom from LACBS Sports College Football Writer. How are you, Tom? I'm good. I was a little hurt this week listening to the show how you were talking about you had a big time guest coming up. And I've seen that a whole lot. Jeremy's about to call me a big time guest. You're like, and also Tom Purnelli. I was like, man. I didn't say Tom's a pretty big guest, so it says something about the other guests. I'm like, maybe shoot Jeremy Tex, but like, you know what? Actually, I just realized I've got like a hair appointment on that day. I can't do the show, but it's good to be here. I always enjoyed being asked back on. Yeah, we appreciate you, man. It's our annual check-in. We got a check-in with you in the spring after the long football season, transfer portal, all of it. And we'll dive into the 2026 alignment. I look very different than the last two. Two years, but let's start big picture here. Through five seasons, Brett Beelma, 37 and 26 overall, 23 and 22 in the Big Ten. Comes in at number 25 in the CBS Sports coaching rankings that you guys just released last week, Tom. How are we feeling? Five years in to Brett Beelma about what he's accomplished and where he has Illinois in this new world order of College Football. I mean, I feel great. I'm loving it. It's one of those things. It's, you know, through all the years, I always talked about it. It's like, all I want for Illinois is to be like a respectable team. You know what I mean? I mean, it's like, I don't need for us to compete for Big Ten titles. I don't need for us to now compete for the playoffs. I just win games, go to Bulls, all that kind of stuff. And it's like, it's been better than that. Like, the expectations for what I could have asked for have been higher, where we've had the last two years, where we've won 19 games. We've not only gone to big bowl games, like, you know, as far as bowl games are big anymore. Like, we've played SEC teams and we beat them. And it's like, it's one of those things where it's like, Illinois is now one of the top third of the Big Ten teams. But also, if you look the last two years, we've played four non-conference games, bowls and regular season against the other powerful leagues. And we've won all four of them. We've beaten the ACC champion. We've beaten South Carolina. We've beaten Tennessee. We beat Kansas, who admittedly a little bit of a downturn in the last couple of years compared to where they first were under Lance Leipold. But just, I think of the Illinois football team. Like, when I was at Illinois, like, we had the Sugar Bowl year and that was my first year in Champaign at Illinois. And I hadn't really paid super close attention to Illinois football before I got there. And it's like, my first year, you know, Ron Turner's team, Kurt Kittner, I'm going to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. And I'm like, man, is this what it's like? This is awesome. And then the next year, no. I learned quickly that is not what it was like. And then every year after that, it was mostly, yeah, no, like, those years are very few and far between. But Brett has come in and we're at a place where you mentioned it. Like, the team this year is going to look a lot different. I don't know exactly what it's going to, you know, like how it's going to go. But there's just a level of confidence in this staff that, despite everything that they have to replace, you feel like the floor has been raised enough to where it's not going to be one of those three and nine, four and eight years, or you're just kind of waiting for it to be over with and just wishing basketball, like, you know, would start so that way you can move on. So it's wonderful. I love it. I think Brett's been the best thing that's happened to this football program besides Josh Whitman. I mean, Josh brought him in and it's just great that now at a time where there's so much upheaval and turmoil in college football that kind of make it not as much fun to be a fan. Illinois is at least carrying that flag for me now, or is it's like, there's still something I can cling to that just makes college football fun. I'm sure some fans go on that rankings list and say, well, Brett, be on, we should be higher than that, given where he's at, what he's done with where he's at. So where did you have him, Tom? And I guess, is there still like an Illinois, like, thing in there that kind of keeps him at 25 rather than being higher if he was somewhere else? I had him at 20th on my ballot. I was not the high voter chip Patterson was. He was the secret big 10 homer over the cover three podcasts. He had Brett at 18. It's funny when I talked to my other voters about it. Like, I feel like the thing that keeps Brett down is people kind of hold Arkansas against him and how things went there. But I'm always quick to point out, like, if you ask Brett, I'm sure he'll tell you that overall his Arkansas tenure was not successful. But the thing is, Arkansas's been worse since they fired him across the board. The program hasn't gotten better. So it's like you could also make the argument that maybe Brett just had them as realistically as good as you can get considering the situation that they were dealing with, especially while they were still in the SEC West and that still existed. So I think for some of our more southern based writers at CVS that have more of a knowledge of the SEC, they look at his performance in the SEC and they hold that against him when they consider how they're putting together their ballots, whereas I'm looking more at the fact that, you know, he was very successful at Wisconsin. Arkansas has been worse since he left. And he's taken an Illinois program that, frankly, was not really on the map as far as college football was concerned. And he has put it on the map. And again, I look at some of the coaches that finished ahead of him in our rankings and it's no disrespect to him because if they're all good coaches, it's just there are a lot of guys ranked ahead of Brett both in the final ranking and individual ballots that haven't accomplished half of what he's accomplished in his career. It just kind of makes me scratch my head a bit. Barry Loney Jr., I want to get your perspective on him. Fifth years as offense coordinator. I mean, stability for Illinois at OC that they haven't had. I mean, in a long, long time. You watch all these games every week. What stands out to you as an offense coordinator? Because we can all pick plays from our offensive coordinator that week that we wouldn't do in hindsight. But what stands out to you about why he's been successful and why Brett Bume was valued him so highly? I mean, I, I, I, yeah, there's a, especially when a guy's been around for five years, of course, there's going to be games in place. We're like, what was he thinking there? Because it's like the longer you're around. Of course, you're going to make mistakes. But I think overall, just that there's a plan and like there's consistency in that plan. And I think that he has, it's year over year. Like the last few years, you couldn't really tell because there was so much consistency with the team. But like you saw, like going from DeVito to Luke and then to some of the guys we've had at the receiver position and the guys that they've had at the running back position and just the overall strengths of their offensive line, he can tailor the game plan of what they're doing to what they have as far as scale and talent wise. And I think that is one of the best qualities any coordinator, whether it's defense or offense going to have is knowing what your personality is and knowing how to get the best out of it. Yeah, you're going to make some calls you regret. But most of the time, like what we consider a bad play call is just somebody on the field screwing it up. So there's definitely arguments to it. But it's yeah, I don't think you look around the country. I mean, most schools, even at the teams that are winning a lot, don't like their offensive coordinators. Like doing a national show, like it's a running bid on cover three. Georgia fans are always trying to get somebody to hire Mike Bobo away from the Georgia Bulldogs. And I'm sitting there thinking, man, he won national titles with stats and Bennett. Like, you know, it's he's got to be pretty decent with his job. But yeah, it's a situation where coordinators are always going to catch flak. But if you look at Illinois the last couple of years when they won 19 games, wasn't the offense. The problem, the offense has been pretty good the last few years. What do you make of Kate and Houser now leading that offense and the pieces around him? I'm really excited about Houser. Even before he ended up in Illinois, like when the portal first opened up, he was somebody I identified right away as a guy that I thought would be a good fit for what Illinois has typically done, both from the fact that he has the big 10 experience. But also just for the offense that he was in at ECU, like there is a lot of RPO to what ECU was doing. And I think the primary difference between him and Luke is he's not nearly as mobile as Luke. You know, not like Luke was Lamar Jackson, but Luke could move. Luke could run and Kate and Kannhouser can move. He's not like, as you'd like to say, he's not a statue back there, but he's not the guy who's looking to run very often. But I just think he's got more of an arm to push the ball vertically down the field than Luke did, at least consistently. So I think Houser coming in will open that up more with the downfield vertical passing, which we had with Luke, but it was more, you know, had to be steamed open. I think Kate and is capable of getting the ball outside the numbers down the sideline better than Luke was and to deliver it with accuracy, which could lead to bigger plays downfield. So I think that getting a guy with as much experience as he has now and the arm talented he has, like Luke is one of the greatest Illinois quarterbacks of all time. Like if you're putting together an amount Rushmore of your line-eye quarterbacks, I think Luke has to be on it. But I think that the drop off, if there even is one, won't be as significant as you might expect losing a guy who had as much experience in time in the offense. Now, there could be a little bit of an adjustment period early because, again, a lot of new faces in new places and it is a new offense for him overall, even if it's similar to what he was doing with ECU. But I just thought talent-wise, fit-wise, and like price tag-wise, he made all the sense for Illinois. So when he ended up being the online choice, I was like, hey, look at me. I actually kind of have an idea what I'm talking about. Is there anything you're buying or selling about the pieces around him? I don't know enough about the receivers, honestly. It's hard for me to really give a clear, you know, opinion on them because like the guys that have transferred in, I'm not super familiar with. So I don't really have a strong opinion there. The running backs, I'm high on. Like I think, you know, the talk about moving cadence to tight end, I think makes sense. I think he could be, I think he could flourish in that kind of H-back role. I love what we have in Valentine. He was my favorite running back on the team last year. I thought he was the best back we have and I still think that's the case. I think that's somebody who needs to be featured far more often in the running back room. I think that's good going forward. But it's just the offensive line. It's one of those things, again, where with like Brett and just what he's built, there's a certain level of confidence that like the offensive line isn't going to be bad. But you don't know how good it's going to be until you see it because there are so many guys stepping in. So that will be the one thing that like I'm more interested in that than anything as far as concerns about the offense. It's just how good can that offensive line be? I don't care who the receivers are. Your offense will be good if you have a good offensive line. The story of the year is the defensive coordinator change. I don't think anyone else had Bobby Halk on our list when we saw Aaron Enron was leaving. What do you make of this, Tom? Go into a 335 and hire a Halk who's never been a defensive coordinator before. I am intrigued, but I'm also a little nervous about it because, you know, honestly, the fact that he's never been a coordinator doesn't really concern me that much because he has been a head coach for so long that, you know, maybe while he hasn't been a primary play caller, he's been involved in the game planning for it every week for a very long time. He's clearly very familiar with the defense. He's one of the guys who's helped create the defense. So I'm not that worried about it. It's just personnel-wise. I don't know. It'll be interesting to see how it works in the Big Ten because there are a few teams that have run it. Like Iowa State has run it. Under Matt Campbell for a while now, and they've had a lot of success doing it. It's just to me, the Big 12 is different than what you're dealing with in the Big Ten. And I do worry with some of the size of the offensive lines and just the offenses you're going to see. Like we saw at Bits of It Last Year where you can run on this Illinois defense. And now some of that was by design because it was a lot of bend, but don't break to the philosophy of what they were doing. And then in the red zone, we're going to tighten up and we're either going to hold you to a field goal and maybe we'll be able to force a turnover and get off the field altogether. I do think you're still going to see some of that. It's just as you've discussed on the show. With the 335, you are far more aggressive, which does fit what I prefer in a defense rather than kind of dropping back and trying to keep everything in front of you. But the counter to that is you can give up a lot more big plays. And that's something that we haven't really been bitten by as often in the last couple of years, even with defense not being great. So you look at the schedule, you look at some of the teams we're playing, you look at some of the explosive offenses, and you do have to kind of wonder if it could lead the problems for it. But again, there's a certain level of confidence. It's just the lack of familiarity with it. Because this is a defense that I've seen, but it's not a defense I've watched a ton of that I have really in depth kind of understanding of. So for me, the exciting part is I'll be learning about this defense as the season goes along, I think, just as much as everybody else will be. Yeah, I'm excited to see it. But yes, I have no idea what it'll look like in this conference. So it's both exciting and a little nerve-wracking. I get it for Oana fans. That's the over-under in kind of a retooling year with all these questions, Tom, where you have 48% of the roster is new. Brett Puma said the other day, the over-under is at 7.5. I kind of take that as some respect for Brett Puma. Probably the schedule too, but also the fact that I use a retool year of 7.5, that was an interesting number for me. Yeah, but that's just where we are now. It's a testament to what Brett has done, but it also makes plenty of sense because we do. Yeah, we've got to go on the road and play Ohio State. Not going to be fun. We have to welcome Oregon to Champagne. I'm happy that the game's in Champagne and I'm not writing this off, but I also remember what happened the last time we played Oregon. And it wasn't like that was a very close game. So there's concerns about those two games, but the rest of the schedule, it's manageable. We're playing Iowa who's going to be Iowa, but at least they have to come to Champagne and we don't have to go to Kinning. We have to play Duke again. We were able to beat them on the road. And I don't think Duke's going to be nearly as good as they were last year. And especially if they're not going to be as good as they were at quarterback now that Mences left to go to Miami. So that's a very winnable game. Purdue's winnable. Michigan State on the road. I love the Fitzhire for Michigan State. I hate it for Illinois. Recruiting, right? Yeah, like recruiting wise, like Fitz was when he was at Northwestern. He was a very good recruiter. And he was kind of a thorn in Illinois side for a lot of guys, but he was also limited in a lot of guys he could go after because of the academic requirements that they had at Northwest. He's no longer limited in who he can go after. No offense, Michigan State, but not a lot more leeway as far as the kind of player he can go after. You look at his connections in the suburbs in Illinois. That could be a bit of a problem. But just game wise, I think that will be very interesting. Obviously, Brett Fitz are close. So that should be good. But like, yeah, this is a team that, you know, you look at the schedule, you look at what they have. Like if they go eight and four, I'm sure, and this is, I say this in a good way, I'm sure there will be fans who are disappointed in like an eight and four season. But just in a reset year, the fact that like eight and four and seven and five are viewed as the most likely outcomes when you run it all through all your fancy numbers, that's incredible to me. Great, great. And that's what brings me to the point of this sport has changed so much, Tom. It's been hard to wrap our heads around, but Illinois certainly seems to have benefited from all this, despite the Big Ten getting tougher. What is Illinois in this new era of college football? What do you think they will be moving forward in the Big Ten and college football at large with this expanded playoff probably happening even again? I don't want to put a cap on what they can be, but I do feel like what they have been the last couple of years is exactly who they could be, where they are a top third of the Big Ten program, who when they get the kind of, you know, as much as like when they have a veteran returning team, you can see they're breaking through for 10 or 11 wins and competing for a playoff spot, competing for a Big Ten title. But most, you know, than other years when like their reset years, they could be like the seven and five, eight and four, maybe a nine and three of things break really well. I think you've reached a point, or at least the hope that you've reached the point where like the losing seasons are mostly going to be gone. And it's not to say you're never going to have one because I think that one of the things that we're going to have to just, I think, is going to be unavoidable in this new form of college football is, you know, if you're relying on a transfer portal and every team is, every single team is, you know, you know, you're going to be able to get a big team. And every team is, every single season, because you know, players, as far as right now with the unlimited movement, they're going to be years where you have to go to the portal more than you were hoping to, and you're not always going to be great at assessing the kids that you bring in the portal. You have seen it like it happens in basketball more frequently, but you do see it in football where there are just a couple of big misses in your transfer class that maybe you kind of put your outlay on money-wise that don't hit, and it can sink a team. And then you give them the season. Now the good news is you can really fix it right away after the next year, but so I don't, I'm not saying there won't be down years, but I just think overall this is going to be a program that if goals still exist, we're going to be going to a bowl every single year. If they expand to 24, and I really do think that they're going to expand to 24, then Illinois is probably going to be in the playoff at least every other year. And that's the kind of the goal for what they're going to be able to do. And I think that would be an exciting thing for the program. I think it'd be a good thing for the program. So I just, you know, honestly, I said for years, I just want to be Iowa. I feel like we're Iowa. And some people will look at that as a negative because I was not winning national titles and their offense is boring. I don't mean style of play. I just mean success. Like where every single year you are expecting to win more games than you lose, and that's not something a lot of programs get to say. And that's a fun existence, Tom. I know it's not when Illinois basketball is right now. But that's like I go to Kinok every year. They're having a lot of fun at those games. And those special years, like you said, they can make a playoff. Like when it was a 14 playoff, they can make a big 10 championship game. That's a lot of fun every Saturday. When every season you can expect something like that. Yeah, we, I feel like one of the things that like people talk about expanding the playoff and how it hurts the regular season and all this stuff. I feel like the most damage that the playoff has done to college football is that it has caused like a, you know, if you're not competing for a national title, then you don't matter kind of mindset among not just national kind of coverage of the sport. But I mean, even among fans, whereas it's like, you know, if you are an Illinois fan, it's like, especially in Indiana, winning a national title certainly doesn't help these feelings. But like it's like, well, we're not competing for national titles. It's not good enough. But like you just said, Iowa fans aren't competing for national titles. They're having fun every single fall though. They still look forward to the football season. So I do think that you want to compete for national titles. Of course, everybody does. It's the goal, but it's the ultimate purpose of the sport is to enjoy it. It is to be entertained. It is to have a team to be proud of and to give you something every Saturday to look forward to. And I think that for so long, if you were in a line, I Saturday's in the fall weren't really something you were looking forward to. You were just hoping that it didn't get too bad. Hope it got to be. And now we've got to be embarrassed. Yeah. And now we've kind of crossed the Rubicon to it's like, no, I can't wait for football season to start. Like, I want to watch the line on Saturday. There was somebody like doing this job that I currently have. There were so many Saturdays where I was like, I just hope Illinois plays early so that way I can get that loss out of my day and get on with doing the rest of my job. Whereas now I get annoyed when like Illinois, it's like, oh man, Illinois is playing early. You know, it's like, I don't watch this game, but they're going on alongside Ohio State Michigan and I have to for work pay more attention to that game. It drives me nuts. So I mean, that's a great problem to have. But it's just nice to have Saturday mornings be something I'm excited about, not just for work. But because I get to watch my T-Play. Hi, it's Sierra Miller. I can't wait for you to check out my new collection of shoes and accessories at designer shoe warehouse. If you love shoes as much as I do, then trust me, I got you. From cute sea korinas to the perfect flip-flops of stunning heels, these shoes are all style, no drama. It's a girls' girl's summer and DSW has just the shoes. Shop here on Miller Collection right now at your DSW store or DSW.com. Tired of paying for channels you don't watch? Well, a new select package by Sling gives you a curated lineup of live and on-demand TV you actually want. With channels like Fox News, NFL Network, FX and more, starting in 1999 a month. There's even some 4K content and in select markets, subscribers get local broadcast networks too. No long-term contract, no hassle, just a live TV you love. Sling lets you do that. Visit Sling.com to learn more. Talk about the subject already time. I want to get into the actual football this fall again. But the College football playoff expansion talks. I get why Brett Beaumbe, PJ Fleck, all of them would be so in favor of it. What do you think? Is this good for the sport? Is this good for fans? I don't know. I'm trying to be agnostic on it. For me, just personally, I was very opposed to going to 12 from 4. I was never really 4 expansion. I was somebody who during the BCS era wanted 4. Then when I got 4, I was like, I didn't really like the way it was going. So getting it larger was never something I was a fan of. A lot of the arguments against going to 24, to me, were the same arguments against going to 12. The things that you're scared of have already happened. Expanding the playoff didn't cheapen the regular season. Expanding your conferences did. Because now it's ridiculous to expect any team to have to play 9 or 8 games against these conferences if you're in the big 10 in the SEC. And not have a few blemishes on there. Just because you go 10 and 2 now shouldn't mean you're left out. Because you are playing a much more difficult schedule. You've gone from playing Minnesota and Purdue to playing Oregon and USC getting added to your schedule. Those are difficult games. So I look at it. Expansion is probably going to come. I think that 16 for me, ideally, I would be fine with 16. I'm not entirely opposed to 24. Because I do think that there is a paradigm shift in the way we look at the sport where you kind of have to at some point let go of the undefeated teams and dreams of that you grew up with thinking that was excellent. And kind of have to adopt more of an NFL mindset now where losses are going to come. You have to be more understanding of them. And I do think that there are certainly arguments for why expanding it gives more teams access and why giving those teams access is a good thing. But then at the same time, I also understand the point where some fans are like, well, then that kind of cheapens the regular season games. And maybe over the long haul, that kind of cheapens the experience for the fans. Whereas it's like that Saturday isn't as meaningful because you know if you lose, it might not mean as much. But at the same time, if the bears lose to the Packers in the regular season, it still sucks. But then when they beat them again in the playoffs, it feels great. And vice versa. So it's like you look at the NFL, people are still pretty into those regular season games when you lose. Yeah, I still think those games are going to matter plenty and you get more teams into it. I think it just matters for more games, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. And by the end of a 2014 playoff, whoever wins that's going to deserve it, Tom. Like it's going to be some fluke. Honestly, my only real hope for the playoff is that you saw this year, they released the schedule for this year's, which is the 12th team. And it starts on what, like December 15th, and then it's ending on January 25th. Like there is no logical reason to be going when you only have 12 teams until the end of January. So, for me, just whatever format you have, don't spread it out over eight weeks. If there's only three or four rounds, that doesn't make any sense. Just figure it out, put it together. If it's four weeks long, five weeks long, cool. Just do something logical and stop being scared of the NFL. The NFL is never going to go away. You're going to have to deal with it no matter what format you try to find, no matter how you try to schedule these games. So, just go. And if, you know, rating suffer a little bit, oh well, you've added like 12 games to the inventory. You're still going to make money. Tom, Illinois spending a lot of money on their football roster, but might not seem like it for Illinois fans compared to St. Oregon or Ohio State. It sounds like there's some $40 to $50 million roster. Now, in college football, I know there are some senators trying to get a bill passed, but passing anything through Congress is going to be very, very difficult. So, how do you see this playing out over the next five, ten years of how this is all going to happen? Is there going to be some kind of negotiation with the players union? So, where do we get the finish line of what a roster actually is, caps, any of that? I think that with what's going on right now with like the Protect College Sports Act, the problem for me is that they are trying to solve everything at once. Some problems that actually exist and many of which they're addressing that are perceived problems that I don't really think are problems, but somebody thinks it is, so therefore we've got to discuss it. My hope is that they focus on what needs to be done right away to kind of at least stem the tide of all the craziness, in that we need the NCAA to be given an antitrust exemption of some sort from Congress, to where they can put something in place that allows them to exist and allows them to put in rules to where they can't go to court and get told No, it can't do that. Because that's really been the problem, which you know, because for so long, we just kind of ignored how stupid a lot of the NCAA rules were and how unfair they were. And then finally, you know, somebody took it to court one and now everybody's just been piling on since and I'm not saying that's bad. I think in long run it's good for the sport that all this happened. It's just we have to figure out, they have to be given the antitrust so that way they can say listen. We don't have to unionize the players, we don't have to make them employees, but we can sign them to contracts. And then the players can agree to those contracts. And then as far as the transfer portal is concerned, well that's really going to depend on your contract, isn't it? Like you don't really need to limit how many times a player can enter the portal if he signed a four year deal. It's pretty clear in the contract, it's like you either have to, you know, pay us like just like a coach is by him. Where if a coach wants to leave, okay, well your new school has to pay us this. Like you can put that in place like you see in soccer. And I also think they have to get the eligibility thing figured out just hammer it so that way you don't keep fighting in court about, you know, can I come back to play even if I never play it in the NBA when I was in an NBA camp or that kind of stuff. Like you've got five years to play five. Once the clock starts boom, it's done no matter what you do after that. And I think that's a good start. So I think once you get those two things in place, you can figure out how to set a crap later. Like the idea like in the Protect College Sports Act now where they're talking about pooling television rights. Why do we need to solve that through Congress? Like that is something that can't happen for another five years anyway because of the current television deal. So that's something you can't take care of until down the road. There's no reason to debate it right now. And frankly, the people who want it are the people in the conferences that aren't making the money. So it's pretty clear why they feel that way. And it's also pretty clear why the big 10 in the SEC are going to be like, what the hell are you talking about? Why are we going to pay them our money? Because more people are watching our games. We've gotten this money for a reason. So to try to solve that in Congress feels like a pointless task that nobody's going to do. And it's one of those things that you see in the government where something gets thrown into a bill that makes a whole lot of sense that everybody agrees on. But then somebody has to insist on sticking something else in there that will make sure it won't pass. And that's what it feels like it is right now with the television rights and all the other stuff that they're trying to put in. So I'm hoping that I don't think it'll be quick, but I'm hoping that we're heading to a point to where the common sense, the anti-trust exemption and the eligibility stuff gets handled. And then you can take care of the rest from there because the dominoes will start to fall and they will take care of themselves. I end with a little football, actual football talk of 2026 in the Big Ten here. We know Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, potentially yet again here. Who's the story of the Big Ten of those top teams? You could throw Michigan whoever else in there too. I mean, I do think obviously Ohio State, Oregon are favorites. I don't think Indiana is going anywhere. I think that you have to acknowledge that Josh Hoover is probably not going to be Fernando Mendoza. And Fernando Mendoza was the one key difference in that team from two years ago to last year. Their quarterback play improved dramatically. And now they were able to compete with the Ohio States and the Oregon's, where the year before they really hadn't been. They were beating up on teams that were better than, and they couldn't compete with the teams that were better than them. But Mendoza was a true neutralizer for them in that aspect. I like Josh Hoover. I don't think he's Fernando Mendoza. So I still think Indiana is going to be at the top of the league. It's going to be fighting for a playoff spot. They might be fighting for a conference title. I don't look at them as a national title favorite. The one thing you mentioned, Michigan though, and it's one of those things where I think it's easy to ignore, but you look at that team last year, right? They had a true freshman at quarterback. They had all that crap going on off. And I don't care what you say, like when the house is as messy as it was with Sharon Moore and that staff and everything that was going on. The fact that that team with a true freshman at QB, he was able to start off 9-2 with their losses being, you know, at Oklahoma in Underwood's first road start. And then another road loss to USC before they lose to Ohio State and then in the bowl game they lose to Texas. But honestly, I don't really know, bowl games are bowl games. I'm happy we won them, but I don't really hold it against the team if you lose them. And I see how good that team was with nobody in charge as an adult. Now... The schedule might prove to be too much for them. I just feel like Michigan is a team that won the national title recently. We're kind of just being a little too dismissive of going into 2026, so I think it could be really good again. I was going to ask you, one big ten team you're buying, one you're selling. Maybe it's Michigan that you're buying there. So give me, is there another one you're buying or another one you're selling? I would say I'm buying Michigan. I'm also buying USC, probably foolishly. I will say, it's always been, like I always make fun of my co-host, Chip Patterson, who's always believing in USC and then always being proven wrong. But I just feel like if you look at the quarterback situations, obviously saying that Ohio State, Morit, Oregon, reasons to be on top. Jay Mayaw, to me, is a very good player. We saw it first and foremost when he was in Champagne last year. But dropping dimes. Yeah. And they lose a couple of key receivers, but they've got a couple good ones coming back this year, too. And they still got Lincoln Riley running that offense. And I think defensively, they were trending in the right direction last year. So I look at USC as a team that I think could very much take that step forward. As far as the team that I'm selling. In 2026, I'm buying them long term, but I'm selling Penn State in 2026. I love the Matt Campbell higher. I wrote a column the day after they fired James Franklin. That Matt Campbell should have been, should be the guy that they hire. And then they took a very long circuit ist road to getting to where I told them to be at the very beginning. I love what that brings for them long term. Even though it's me, Matt Campbell is just a different James Franklin. And you just fired James Franklin. But as far as 2026, no disrespect to the Iowa State Cyclones. They were the underdog. They were punching up for all those years under Campbell in Ames. And they were a great story. But you can't import Iowa State's roster to Penn State in the Big Ten and make me think that that team is going to compete at the top of the league. Like, I feel like it's a great way to make sure that the wheels don't fall off right away. And you have a foundation set for going forward. But I don't think you see the benefits of the Campbell higher until 2027 at the earliest. So I look at the Nittany lines next year. I'm not saying they're going to go four and eight or five and seven. They're going to end up going to a bowl game. But I just don't think they're going to be competing at the top of the league. And then another team I'm just kind of selling on, period. Nebraska. I just, it's... It's not the year. It's not the year. It's the year. And I'm very publicly known as not being a Dylan Riola guy. I'm not high on Riola. Wasn't Nebraska. I mean, I'm sure now that these at Oregon, they'll get the most out of them because they always do. But I think Anthony Calandria is a better fit for what they do on offense than Dylan Riola was. It's just, I don't think the talent level of that team is nearly good enough as it needs to be. And I feel like you're going into what this is, rules fourth or fifth year now. I just, I wonder, like, I don't know if they have the things in place that they need to get to where they want to be. At least not without a larger kind of financial commitment. And again, that's not saying Nebraska is cheap because they're not. But for whatever reason, they just have not figured out how to break through since joining the Big Ten. And I just, the longer this goes on, the less confident I am that Mayor Rules is going to be the guy to figure that out for him. It's a tough job. We should get to that point, right? That we're talking about that. Like, I know the fan base, maybe as good as there is in the country, the history that is there. It's proven to be a tough, because I think Matt Rules is a pretty good coach. I don't think Scott Frost was very good there. And obviously, good moments at UCF before that, maybe you can win now. But I think we're starting to learn that that's a tougher job than people probably imagine once they got to the Big Ten. And there was so much optimism two years ago when they got the right Ola commitment and Matt Rules. Because you look at Rule and what he's done at the college level and he seemed like a perfect fit because he was a builder. He was able to take programs that were in like a distressed situation and get the most out of them. And just going into it like, oh man, it's finally starting to come together. And then the fact that he just didn't, it's like, I don't know, they might have missed their moment here. And that's the thing that kind of leads me back to, makes you appreciate what Preppy Oma is done, Tom. Because this is not easy, what he's done. Nope. No, it's, we're lucky. If you're an Align I fan, I mean, I don't know, like, if you're a young Align I fan and you think this is, you don't understand. You have been through the boards and Jeremy and I grew up going through. But like, yeah, this is, it's the best time to be an Align I football fan, probably ever. I mean, outside of like the 40s. Maybe the 80s with Mike White were fun. Right? It's a big quarterback play. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah. Tom, for now, CBS Sports College football writer are yearly checking with you. Tom, you are the goods man and you did knock it out of the park after Brad Underwood. So, nice job. Take that Brad. Enjoy your vacation buddy. I'm here working. Okay. Thanks, Tom. Thank you, Jeremy. All right. Great stuff as always from Tom from Nelly CBS Sports. Listen to the cover three podcasts. It's the go to for college football nationally. You're part of the CBS Sports Network. We appreciate Tom as always. Great insight. It's been a busy week on this podcast. I can't, I don't know when I'm going to publish it. It could be early next week, but we are going to catch up with the athletic CJ Moore. He had Illinois as the number one team in his preseason college basketball poll, following the NBA draft withdrawal date. CJ knows this staff pretty well, knows Keaton Woggler's story pretty well because he grew up in the same town as Keaton Woggler. So, I think he'll be have some great insight into this team, why he's so high on them, and what he makes for the rest of the Big Ten in college basketball going in next year. So, that'll be either on the weekend or early next week. We'll have CJ Moore on this podcast. You can listen to that. At some point, it's going to be on the lookout for that in your feeds. We have plenty at a line on choir right now on Illinois football recruiting. We've got the official visit primers up there right now. Kyle had a great story based on our interview with Brad Underwood here on this podcast. About the back court and his thoughts on that. I got a story coming out about retention, Andre Stoyakovic and the Balkan brothers, obviously, with what that can do for the program. Joe is going to have a calm coming out on that and we'll get some basketball recruiting stuff coming up as well. So, plenty of content coming up at a line on choir and right now you can get 60% off of VIP membership at a line on choir. So, if you're not a VIP member, sign up now. It's a great time to save some money and get access to the best Illinois football team. We appreciate you guys listening to the Alana Enquirer podcast. Give us a follow rating review wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching us on YouTube, hit that like button down below. Subscribe to us and hit the notifications bell. But for top of our Nelly, I'm Jeremy Warner. Everybody have a great day. Take care of each other. We'll talk to you next time right here on the Alana Enquirer podcast. Bye everybody! Hey Ontario, come on down to Bedm.G.M. Casino and see what our newest exclusive, The Price's Right Fortune Pick has to offer. Don't miss out. Play exciting casino games based on the iconic game show only at Bedm.G.M. Check out how we've reimagined three of the show's iconic games, like Plinko, Cliffhanger and The Big Wheel into fun casino game features. Don't forget to download the Bedm.G.M. Casino app for exclusive access and excitement on The Price's Right Fortune Pick. Pull up a seat and experience The Price's Right Fortune Pick only available at Bedm.G.M. Casino. Bedm.G.M. and game sense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to Wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600. To speak to an advisor free of charge, Bedm.G.M. operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Show notes: CBS Sports college football writer Tom Fornelli, a U of I graduate, joins Illini Inquirer's Jeremy Werner to discuss his thoughts on Illinois football entering Year Six under Bret Bielema. Fornelli discusses what Bielema has accomplished, how new QB Katin Houser fits Barry Lunney Jr.'s offense, the hiring of defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck and 2026 expectations. Fornelli also discusses his thoughts on the state of college football and who he's buying and selling in the Big Ten in 2026. SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR Cheers Health: For a limited time our listeners are getting 20% off their entire order by using code ILLINI at CheersHealth.com . Just head to CheersHealth.com and use code ILLINI for 20% Off. Follow the Illini Inquirer Podcast on: Apple: https://apple.co/3oMt0NP Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2Xan2L8 Other: https://bit.ly/36gn7Ct Go VIP for just 50% OFF: https://tinyurl.com/2fkhmjdz