Joel Klatt declares Illinois will be 2025's version of Indiana

Joel Klatt is evaluating which teams could make their first College Football Playoff appearance in 2025. He believes Illinois, led by head coach Bret Bielema and quarterback Luke Altmyer, are atop the list.

“The No. 1 team most likely to make the Playoff for the first time in their program’s history is Illinois,” Klatt declared, via The Joel Klatt Show. “Bret Bielema has built this team into what he wants. Physical, tough, they won against South Carolina in their bowl game. That showed the level that they can get to. That team that won that day is essentially all back. 16 starters are back. Nine on offense, seven on defense.

“Luke Altmyer is back for his third season. We’ve seen what returning production, returning experience does, in particular at the quarterback position. Altmyer being back is huge.”

Evidently, Klatt believes the blueprint for the Fighting Illini is their Big Ten peer in the Indiana Hoosiers. The FOX Sports analyst thinks a similar run could be in Illinois’ future this coming season.

“This year’s Indiana is Illinois,” Klatt added. “Their schedule is perfect. Their roster is perfect. There’s experience in the right places, and there is a guy at the helm, in this case, Bret Bielema, who knows exactly what he’s doing. So, I like Illinois as my number one team to make their very first Playoff appearance.

“They’ve got the roster. They’ve got the schedule. Everything is aligned for Illinois this year, which generally means teams underperform, because a lot of people pump air in their tires during the off-season, including me.

“I actually saw Bret at the spring meetings for the Big Ten, and he said the same thing. He was like, ‘Hopefully our guys aren’t listening to all the publicity.’ I was like, ‘You should institute a phone ban over the summer, because the last thing they need is to hear things like what I’m saying.’

“The bottom line though? With experience generally comes perspective. That perspective generally comes in the form of knowing that nothing is given to you in college football. You’ve got to go earn it. You got to go work hard. You got to get into the process.

“You’re not going to get too high on the highs, or low on the lows. You get some stability and level-headedness, which is what comes with, as much as you can in college football, comes with experience, and they have that. They have that at the key positions.”

It won’t be easy, but all signs point towards Illinois being a problem for the college football world in 2025. Whether or not they follow through on Joel Klatt’s lofty expectations remains to be seen, but bet against the Fighting Illini at your own risk.