College football: Predicting the last-place team from every Power Five conference

Big Ten: Illinois

The reign of terror of Ohio State, Penn State, and in another era Michigan, has deemed most of the Big Ten obsolete. Teams like Northwestern and Iowa have had strong showings in recent years, but it hardly matters with the usual school controlling the top, especially for the conference title game.

Illinois isn’t even in a division with three of those four teams, but rarely have they found daylight. With three winning seasons since 2001, only one of which was above seven victories, it’s been a struggle, to say the least. 2021 will not prove any easier in the Big Ten West, after escaping the Lovie Smith era.

Bret Bielema has a strong resume from his time at Wisconsin, building a run-centric winner before bolting for years of obscurity and mediocrity at Arkansas. Expectations are high for him to bring the Fighting Illini to relevance, but it will take years to even build a different culture. Year One might be the toughest ride since it’s the first season of his players trying to perfect a new system.

Illinois is in the weaker of the two divisions, but that won’t matter. Between a lot of new faces, many outgoing transfers and a plethora of question marks, 2021 won’t be pretty.

As for the Big Ten East, Rutgers and Michigan State are candidates for the bottom of the barrel. The former has been miserable in the conference since arriving from the Big East. The Spartans usually have steady footing, but a 2-5 record in Mel Tucker’s first year left something to be desired.

A lacking 2021 recruiting class has Michigan State behind the other Big Ten behemoths. They are years behind in returning to relevance and facing some of college football’s most difficult teams guarantees them continuous defeats until further notice.

Rocky Lombardi has no expectations after a mediocre, interception-laden start to Tucker’s tenure. There can’t be anywhere to go but up, and newcomers at running back should ease some of the pressure, but this team has growing pains ahead.

Michigan State might not be as bad as Illinois, though, with a competent ground game and a promising defense to potentially defy expectations. The Fighting Illini just doesn’t have much going for themselves.