Ohio State vs. Illinois Preview: Blowout Could Ensue for Buckeyes if the Illinois Passing Attack is Smothered

Illinois

Fighting Illini

5-1

roster  |  schedule

Oct. 11, 2025 - Noon

Gies Memorial Stadium

Champaign, IL

CBSOSU -14

Ohio State’s road trip to Illinois will be a telling game for both teams.

For the No. 1 Buckeyes, it’s an indication of whether the methodical, perhaps even conservative game plan they brought to the Texas and Washington games will be indicative of how they play every contest viewed as a real challenge or if it was just about getting quarterback Julian Sayin’s feet under him. Not that the methodical strategy has been a bad one. Leaning on a (thus far) generationally good defense is never a bad play.

For the No. 17 Fighting Illini, it’s an indication of which team is their real team: The one that was embarrassed 63-10 by No. 7 Indiana or the one that’s won each of its other four games and entered the 2025 season with legitimate College Football Playoff hype thanks to key returning pieces from a 10-3 season.

Champaign, Illinois and Gies Memorial Stadium will serve as the backdrops for the informative noon kickoff.

The Headlines

Attack Downfield Again?

To make things clear from the jump, the Illinois defense has been atrocious in conference play. It’s debatable which is more of an indictment: That the Fighting Illini gave up 63 points to Indiana or 27 to Big Ten bottom-feeder Purdue.

On the season, Illinois is No. 83 nationally in opposing passing yards per attempt at 7.3. Its run defense hasn’t been any better, also No. 83 with 4.2 yards allowed per carry. With those numbers, it’s no surprise the Illini rank 93rd nationally – third-worst in the Big Ten – in total defense, allowing 387.5 yards per game. That average balloons to 507.3 in conference play, which would be the worst in the FBS right now if it were for the whole season.

After playing things methodically for the second time this season at Washington, there will be opportunities to open up the downfield passing game for the Ohio State offense, as it did against Minnesota last weekend. The way Ryan Day spoke about it on Tuesday hinted at another game plan that relied on running the ball and defense for the road bout. But the shots are likely to be there against an Illini secondary that’s been holier than 30-year-old jeans since it lost star defensive back Xavier Scott to injury.

“They're not going to beat themselves,” Day said of Illinois on Monday. “And I completely just throw the Indiana game out. I told that to the team. I said, ‘Don't look at that.’ We played Nebraska last year, they played Indiana and found themselves sideways and (then) came in here. And they were hungry the next week, and we found ourselves in a game in the fourth quarter. So throw that game out. This is a very good team. ... We know it's going to be a tough game on the road, any game in this conference on the road are difficult.”

All that being said, the run game should also be there for Ohio State if it executes. The Illinois defense has truly struggled everywhere the last three weeks.

Get After Altmyer

Easily the best part of Illinois’ team this season has been its passing attack, quarterbacked by redshirt senior Luke Altmyer. The Illini are No. 4 in the nation at 10.5 yards per pass attempt. Altmyer is also No. 4 among the conference’s quarterbacks with a completion rate of 73.6%, picking up 1,573 yards and 12 touchdowns with no interceptions through the air.

But it’s impossible to complete passes when lying on your back. That’s where Ohio State can suffocate the Illinois offense. Illinois allows the 10th-most sacks per game in the country, 3.2, losing 134 yards worth of offense to its failures in pass protection. The Buckeyes’ defense, for its part, accumulates the 21st-most sacks per game at 2.8.

Even when the Silver Bullets haven’t sealed the deal on their pass rushes this season, they’ve put severe pressure on opposing signal callers thanks to the efforts of star defensive end Caden Curry, defensive tackle Kayden McDonald and linebacker Arvell Reese. Altmyer’s hurt teams escaping the pocket to throw or run, but ask Washington’s Demond Williams Jr., Texas’ Arch Manning or Ohio’s Parker Navarro how they fared trying that tactic against Reese and fellow starting linebacker Sonny Styles. That trio of speedsters under center combined for 13 yards on 28 carries. That’s 0.5 yards per attempt. For reference, Navarro’s lowest rushing total outside his Ohio State game is 66 yards and Williams’ is 54.

The Illinois run game hasn’t been much of a complement to its aerial assault, averaging a meager 3.7 yards per carry, which is 109th nationally and fifth-worst in the Big Ten.

Rat Poison

Legendary former Alabama head coach Nick Saban famously called praise of his team “rat poison” that he didn’t want his players listening to. It’s a great mentality for a head coach to have. The instant a team starts believing it’s arrived is the instant egos grow and complacency sets in.

That’s the exact message Day had for his team this week, with the No. 1 ranking long attached to its name and talks of a generational defense one can find, oh, I don’t know, elsewhere in this article.

Ohio State looks like the best team in America right now. The Buckeyes can probably sleepwalk their way to the College Football Playoff at this point. But Day is having none of it, nor should he. If his team is heeding his words – and all indications are that they are – then it will inch that much closer to the first repeat national championship in school history.

“All of a sudden, everyone thinks you're the number one team in the country and you've done all these things,” Day said on Tuesday. “We haven't done anything yet. We haven't accomplished a thing. And so the only thing that's going to matter is who gets better week in and week out. And it's just easy nowadays because of the media, because of their phones, because of everything that comes with it. You can start reading your press clippings. And you can start feeling pretty good about yourself. And then all of a sudden, you get knocked out. You don't realize it. So we cannot let that happen.”

Watch Out For These Guys

Illinois WR Hank Beatty

Beatty gives Altmyer a dynamic weapon out of the slot and has emerged as one of the best wide receivers in the Big Ten this season. He has 32 receptions for 569 yards and two touchdowns in 2025, second in the conference for receiving yards. He’s fresh off the most explosive outing of his career at Purdue, where he hauled in five receptions for 186 yards and a score. He also has 170 punt return yards and a touchdown, averaging 18.9 yards per return.

Illinois EDGE Gabe Jacas

 Zachary Taft-Imagn Images.

Jacas has been one of the few highlights of the Illinois defense this season, collecting a team-high four sacks with 19 total tackles as a stand-up edge rusher. Ohio State left tackle Austin Siereveld and right tackle Phillip Daniels have combined to allow just five total pressures and one sack so far this season, per Pro Football Focus, but they’ll have another test in the Illini edge rusher.

Ohio State RB Bo Jackson

If the Buckeyes do lean on their ground game, it’ll be a great chance for the freshman Jackson to shine against a subpar run defense. He had 17 of the 29 carries among Ohio State’s running backs against Washington and 13 of their 23 against Minnesota, and is now up to 360 rushing yards on 38 carries (7.5 per carry) and two touchdowns this season.

Game Week Talk

“That was a wild game. We were down pretty big, and then we found a way to get back into it, and then took it into overtime, had a couple big plays there. It was a fun game, but obviously not as fun as if we would have ended up on top. So hopefully this time, we'll be able to walk out of there with the W.”– Ohio State TE Max Klare on his performance at Illinois last season

Ohio State and Illinois somehow haven’t played since 2017, but Klare had the biggest performance of his career while playing for Purdue at Illinois last season. He had six catches for a career-high 133 yards. There will be a revenge factor on his mind entering this year’s matchup after the Illini handed the Boilermakers a heartbreaking 50-49 loss in overtime in 2024.

“I actually referenced that team to this group back in fall camp. More to show them that this is something that, if you come to college football, these moments don’t really happen all that often. I’ve been a head coach 17 years and the amount of times where I get this moment are very few. So to realize the moment that you’re in and take advantage of it ... a special memory is created from moments.”– Illinois head coach Bret Bielema on drawing from his previous upset win of a No. 1 Ohio State team at Wisconsin

Back in 2010, current Illinois head coach Bret Bielema derailed a different No. 1-ranked Buckeye squad with national title intentions while head coach at Wisconsin. The Badgers were ranked No. 18, playing at home at the time, and the Illini will defend their home turf as the No. 17 team in the land this Saturday. It was the only loss of the season for the 2010 OSU squad, which later had its wins vacated as part of the Tattoogate scandal.

“He’s not only a threat with his arm, but he’s pretty fast. And we’re doing a good job of game planning for him. He does a really good job of operating that offense. He’s a veteran at it, and he’s good with his reads and stuff like that. We’re doing the best we can to put us in the best situations for the game. That’s just what we’re doing every day.”– Ohio State LB Payton Pierce on Altmyer

The Buckeyes are aware of the threats that Altmyer presents and are aligning their sights accordingly. Shut down the Illini quarterback, and their entire offense will be offline on Saturday.

Get Smart

• Ohio State has a 68-30-4 all-time record against Illinois with nine straight wins dating back to 2008 (including a vacated win in 2010).
• This will be Ohio State’s first trip to Illinois since 2015 and its first game anywhere against the Illini since 2017.
• Ohio State’s roster includes three players from Illinois: Starting wide receiver Carnell Tate, walk-on wide receiver Nolan Baudo and walk-on linebacker Zach Hayes.
• Illinois’ roster includes six players: Defensive linemen James Thompson Jr. (Cincinnati), Angelo McCollum (Pickerington) and Demetrius John (Columbus), linebackers Grant Beerman (West Chester) and Erik Gayle (Cincinnati) and wide receiver Collin Dixon (Tallmadge).
• Ohio State and Illinois will play for the Illibuck, Ohio State’s only rivalry game trophy.

How It Plays Out

Line: Ohio State -14, O/U 49.5

Ohio State should hold a massive advantage when its offense is on the field if recent trends hold for Illinois. If the Buckeyes’ defense continues its streak of dominance that’s opened the season, things could get ugly despite a two-touchdown spread.

As such, every staff member of Eleven Warriors has Ohio State to cover in this one. The narrowest predicted margin of victory is 18 points by associate producer Josh Poloha, while executive editor Ramzy Nasrallah has the most lopsided scoreline at 49-3.