A giant showdown awaits because the Twentieth-ranked Illinois Combating Illini journey west to face No. 1 Oregon on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, CBS, Paramount+).
Oregon inherits the No. 1 rating after Texas suffered its first lack of the season to Georgia in Week 8. Per the Related Press, this marks the primary time the Geese have climbed to the highest of the AP ballot since 2012.
Led by Heisman contender Dillon Gabriel at quarterback, Oregon has began its first season within the Large Ten with a 7-0 report general and 4-0 within the convention. Most notably, the Geese took down No. 2 Ohio State on Oct. 12. Gabriel presently leads the nation with a 77 % completion price. He has additionally handed for 15 TDs and rushed for 4.
With street journeys to Michigan and Wisconsin, in addition to dwelling video games in opposition to Maryland and Washington, the Geese should not have one other ranked opponent on their schedule, which makes Saturday’s recreation in opposition to Illinois that rather more vital.
Coming off its third win over a Prime 25 opponent this season, Illinois brings lots of confidence into its first recreation in opposition to the top-ranked workforce within the nation since 2007, a recreation the Combating Illini gained once they defeated Ohio State on the street. Illinois’ solely loss this season was a 21-7 defeat to then-No. 9 Penn State.
Whereas Gabriel has been sensational for the Geese, Luke Altmyer has been equally spectacular for Illinois. Having thrown 15 landing passes and just one interception, Altmyer has the very best touchdown-to-interception ratio within the Energy 4 conferences. On prime of that, he’s finishing 65.9 % of his throws.
After transferring from Ole Miss forward of the 2023 season, he solely threw 13 landing passes the complete season and was picked off 10 occasions, displaying simply how exceptional of a turnaround the 2024 season has been for Altmyer and the Illinois program.
Protection has additionally performed a significant position in its success. In Illinois’ most up-to-date win over Michigan, linebacker Gabe Jacas had 13 tackles (six solo), 2.5 sacks and a pressured fumble.
Whereas the Combating Illini protection has been implausible, it has not performed a workforce like Oregon but. Together with Gabriel’s success, working again Jordan James has accounted for 717 speeding yards, eight TDs and 5.9 yards per carry.
As Illinois and Oregon put together for his or her first assembly since 1995, it needs to be fascinating to see how these two groups match up and if Illinois’ protection can restrict Oregon’s scoring alternatives.
