CHAMPAIGN — Before Bret Bielema took over at Illinois, the Fighting Illini football program had nine losing streaks of three games or more in five seasons.
In four years since, Illinois has lost three or more games just twice with the last time coming in November of 2022. Since then, the Fighting Illini are 21-14 and looking to avoid a three-game losing streak when they host the Rutgers Scarlet Knights today at Gies Memorial Stadium.
“The last time we lost two games back-to-back was last year with Oregon and Minnesota. It’s not a feeling that we want to get used to,’’ Illinois coach Bret Bielema said. “We took forever to get the feeling out of our building, not failure, but that losing was acceptable, setbacks were okay.’’
Bielema has no plans to go back to those days and he is hopeful that his Illini (5-3 overall, 2-3 in the Big Ten) can get things turned around at home against a very good football team in the Scarlet Knights (4-4 overall, 1-4 in the Big Ten).
“I have a lot of respect for Greg (Schiano) and their staff,’’ said Bielema, who is 1-1 at Illinois against Rutgers, including a 38-31 last year in Piscataway, N.J. “Their quarterback (Athan Kaliakmanis) has a lot of experience. We have played against him a couple different times at a couple of different places.’’
Kaliakmanis, a transfer from Minnesota, has lost all three meetings against Illinois in his career with two coming when he was playing for the Golden Gophers and last year’s game. He comes into Saturday’s game completing 63.2 percent of his passes for 2,223 yards and 12 scores.
Last week in Seattle, Washington quarterback Desmond Williams Jr. threw for 280 yards and four scores, while also running for 66 yards on 10 carries as the Huskies defeated the Illini 42-25.
It was the fifth straight conference game where Illinois gave up 27 or more points and the Illini defense is allowing an average of 39.6 points per game in league play. That has prompted Bielema to get a little more involved in the defensive preparation for Rutgers.
“I started off my (Monday) morning with defense,’’ Bielema said. “I put together a presentation about how I see the game. I don’t want to force what I see on them, but the more views on the same scenario is beneficial.
“I put together a feeling what I saw from Rutgers offensively. I wanted to do that before they jumped into their true game plan.’’
Defensive struggles have led to three losses in the past five games for Illinois, as Luke Altmyer and the offense have only been held under 25 points by top-rated Ohio State and No. 2-rated Indiana this season.
Altmyer has completed 71 percent of his passes for 2,020 yards and 15 scores, but he did have two interceptions in last week’s loss to Washington.
His leading receiver is Hank Beatty with 45 receptions for 690 yards and two scores. Beatty also had a rushing touchdown, a passing touchdown and a touchdown on a punt return this season.
The Illinois ground attack is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry with Kaden Feagin the team’s leading rusher with 370 yards and five scores.
Today’s game is set for 11 a.m. kickoff at Gies Memorial Stadium. It’s the fourth straight sellout for Illinois for the first time since 2008. Television coverage will be provided by NBC, while the game can be heard on the Busey Bank Illini Sports Network, including Danville stations WDAN-AM 1490 and WDNL-FM 102.1.