The Fighting Illini, fresh off of dismantling the Badgers in Madison, will look to take a foothold on the Big Ten West Saturday night. Saturday should be the first sellout crowd since 2016 vs North Carolina. Fans for the first time since 2011, when Illinois was ranked as high as 16th, feel their team may have something special brewing in Champaign. There’s a tangible buzz around Illinois football that will make the hair on your arm stand. Memorial Stadium will be absolutely rocking for this Big Ten showdown. Beating Iowa will serve as affirmation to the national media and fans…
Author: Caleb Horn
Caleb Horn
Caleb Horn has recently joined the team at Gridirion Heroics. He has been in the Air Force going on six years now. Born and raised in central Illinois he grew up watching the Fighting Illini and Chicago Bears and will be covering his favorite ball clubs for Gridiron.
Former Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith will return to Soldier Field for the first time as a head coach as his winless Texans come to town. What would be sweeter for him to get his first win of the 2022 campaign against his old team. The Bears have never lost to a Lovie Smith team going 3-0 since he was ran out of Chicago. Bears fans 30 and younger had some of their best memories with Lovie at the helm in Chicago. From dominating the Packers, incredible comebacks, and multiple playoff runs including a Super Bowl appearance. If you’re like…
It feels like Illini football! It was a crisp 60 degree Fall night, “Block I” sold out, and the Illini are 3-1 for the first time since 2015. For a Thursday night game vs an FCS program Memorial Stadium was rockin’. That atmosphere paved the way for an incredible performance. The Illini offense exploded to the tune of 502 yardswhile the defense did what they do, holding Chattanooga to a measly 142 yards. Defense Wasn’t The Only Thing Cookin’ In Champaign Illinois’ offense was pedal to the metal all night. They opened up the playbook and stretched the field. Chase…
Did anyone get the license plate of that Mack truck? Another primetime game versus the Pack provided a ho-hum result many Bear fans have suffered their entire lives. The games in recent years seemingly scripted, follow the same flow; Bears start strong and hang with Green Bay for a quarter or so, the wheels temporarily fall off in the second quarter as Rodgers starts to pick on a weakness, Bears come out of halftime sluggish on offense while defense fights for their lives to, Bears catch a break and offense scores some points, bad call or missed opportunity leads to…
The Bears travel to Lambeau to take on a sputtering Green Bay Packers. Both clubs are coming off of completely different week 1 results. Green Bay struggled to do anything against the Minnesota Vikings, losing 23-7. Chicago stole a game from the 49ers in a monsoon that turned Soldier Field into a giant slip n’ slide. Bears Off To A Hot Start While Packers Stumble Out Of The Blocks Future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers failed to throw a touchdown pass and accounted for two turnovers. Rodgers’ only milestone in the game, throwing an interception vs an NFC North…
Ask the Illinois Fighting Illini defense which game they had circled on their calendar going into the season and it would be a safe bet week 3 vs Virginia would be a common response. 364 days after getting pantsed 42-14 in Charlottesville the Fighting Illini flipped the script. Bret Bielema’s team won in true Bielema fashion. A stifling defensive performance and an offense that did just enough, mainly on the back of their workhorse running back dispatched the Cavaliers. Chase Brown had his weekly ho hum performance with 146 yards on 20 carries and quarterback Tommy DeVito completed 17 of…
Here’s my ranking of NFL Head Coaches leading the way in 2022. Feel free to argue or agree, just know it doesn’t matter because this is an officially official ranking. The NFL is one of the most cut throat leagues in professional sports. At most you will be given three years to right the ship before you get the axe. Even for a league that epitomizes the “what have you done for me lately” mantra, there was an exceptional level of turnover after the 2021 season. With that being said there are some coaches who I believe will be successful,…
The Chicago Bears have countless questions heading into their week one matchup vs the San Francisco 49ers. Questions don’t necessarily have to be a negative though. Chicago is a young team that has experienced a ton of turnover in one offseason. The roster, coaching staff, and front office are all vastly different heading into 2022. A new regime that includes a first time head coach and general manager inevitably presents a multitude of challenges. Now, add a brand new roster full of relatively inexperienced players, and you have a perfect storm to finish last in the division right? Just pack…
Fighting Illini squandered every opportunity to run away with an easy win, instead come away with a frustrating loss. In one of the weirdest games I have seen in a while Illinois managed to dominate both sides of the ball and still managed to lose in heart breaking fashion. A short week and the team being a little too juiced on national television led to some less than desirable moments. I will get to the officiating later. Yes I am going to be that guy today, but only because it was that bad. If you were a fan of either…
Illinois kicks off it’s conference play this evening at Indiana after trouncing a Wyoming team last week that was clearly outmatched. The defense shut down the Cowboys offense to the tune of 30 passing yards allowed and forcing two turnovers. The offense was able to keep the play sheet vanilla while still doing their part as well. The Fighting Illini amassed almost 500 yards and scoring on short fields gifted to them by the defense. Complimentary football at it’s finest. They still have some bugs to fix in the coming weeks, but that was fun to watch. That formula of…
