The Fighting Illini were 2-10 straight up and 5-6 against the college football betting pointspread in 2006. In two years as head coach, Ron Zook has gone 4-19 and disappointed football betting fans. Some college football betting experts think that Illinois could surprise this season but looking at Zook’s track record that seems questionable. College football betting players should know that Illinois returns 17 starters. Starting QB Juice Williams needs to be more accurate and he needs to get help from his receivers.
Completing under 40% of your passes is not going to get it done and is not going to make many NCAA college football betting players happy. Freshman WR Arrelious Benn is someone that could help immediately and college football betting fans should take note. The defense gave up an average of 26.8 PPG in 2006 which was not horrible. The LB unit is good, with seniors J. Leman and Antonio Steele leading the way. College football betting players remember that four of the losses were by six points or less in 2006. The team was right on the cusp for college football betting players many times in 2006.
Illinois Fighting has never been known for its defense as college football betting fans are aware. That could change this season, as nine starters return to a group that was pretty good last year and helped football betting fans win games against the college football betting spread. All-America linebacker candidate J Leman led the Big Ten in tackles last season. The big thing for Illinois is to play smart as college football betting players know. That means Williams has to make better decisions and that comes from coaching and Zook has never shown that as one of his strengths. The key point in the 2007 for college football betting players to watch is early.
The open up against Missouri and a win against the Tigers against the college football betting line would give fans reason for optimism. The Illini then get Western Illinois at home; are at Syracuse and at Indiana. The problem for Illinois is that only the game against Western Illinois is a sure win and that will not be a lined game on the football betting board. They really need to win three of their first four to have a shot at a bowl and might need to win all four. They have a four-game stretch of Penn State, Wisconsin, at Iowa and Michigan that is later in the year and all are almost certain losses straight up and many will probably be losses against the college football betting line.
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Football betting players know that the key player for Illinois other than Williams will be junior RB Rashard Mendenhall. He will be the main weapon in the backfield for football betting players to watch. He ran for 161 yards against Penn State and 94 against Ohio in back-to-back games last year. The early part of the college football betting year will decide how good Illinois Fighting will be so watch the first month of games and you should have an idea of how to gauge the Illini for the rest of the college football betting season. The Illini could get lucky and go 6-6 this season. They could also easily go 3-9.