Game Notes: Illinois
The season opener is just four days away, as the Indiana football program will host Illinois on Friday (Sept. 2) evening at Memorial Stadium. It will be the first IU home game on a Friday night since 1995 and its third straight season opening versus a Big Ten opponent.
INDIANA(0-0, 0-0 Big Ten) hosts ILLINOIS (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten)
Memorial Stadium
Friday, Sept. 2 | 8 p.m. ET
TV: FS1 | RADIO: Indiana Hoosiers Sports Network
Setting The Scene
• Indiana kicks off its 138th season of football when it hosts Illinois to open the 2022 season on Friday, Sept. 2. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. inside Memorial Stadium (55,250; Field Turf) on FS1.
• With the season opening falling on a Friday night, it will mark the first time IU has played under the Friday night lights of Memorial Stadium since at least 1995. The Hoosiers have played just two prior Friday contests in that span.
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• Indiana has won 15-of-18 season openers, including seven straight from 2004-10 and five straight from 2012-16.
• IU will open with a Big Ten foe for the fourth time in Tom Allen's six campaigns and third straight season. Allen has faced No. 2 Ohio State (2017), No. 8 Penn State (2020) and No. 17 Iowa (2021) to open seasons with the Hoosiers.
• Indiana will kick off a campaign against Illinois for the for the fifth time in program history and the first time since 1974.
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• Illinois has won three of the four season openers with IU's lone win coming in a 20-0 blanking of the Illini on August 26, 1959. The 1960, 1973 and 1974 meetings went the way of Illinois, with the '73 contest played in Bloomington, as well.
• Indiana and Illinois are meeting for the first time since 2017 and the first time in Bloomington since 2013.
• Since 2002, Indiana has opened the season at home in 13 of the 20 seasons. The Hoosiers own a 12-1 record in those games, with the lone loss to No. 2 Ohio State (2017).
News & Notes
• Head coach Tom Allen enters 2022 on pace to join a select group of coaches in Indiana history, as he is on pace to reach the 30-win mark at the school.
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• Indiana returns the bulk of its defensive snaps from the 2021 season for new defensive coordinator Chad Wilt, while first-year offensive coordinator Walt Bell will begin his first season in Bloomington with a more fresh-faced crew.
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• Senior Jaylin Williams enters his final season with the Cream and Crimson on pace to join the top-10 list for career interceptions. The Memphis, Tennessee, native owns six picks in his career entering the campaign.
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• Don Fischer, the Voice of the Hoosiers, will begin his 50th season on the call in 2022 and will be honored by the National Football Foundation in 2022, while color analyst and IU alum, Rhett Lewis begins his first season on the broadcast crew.
Original source can be found here.
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