2020 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

The 2020 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was to represent the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Fighting Illini were to play their home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois, and compete in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were to be led by fifth-year head coach Lovie Smith.

2020 Illinois Fighting Illini football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Division	West Division
2020 record	0–0 (0–0 Big Ten)
Head coach	Lovie Smith (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Rod Smith (3rd season)
Home stadium	Memorial Stadium (Capacity: 60,670)
Uniform

2020 Big Ten Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
East Division
Indiana			–							–
Maryland			–							–
Michigan			–							–
Michigan State			–							–
Ohio State			–							–
Penn State			–							–
Rutgers			–							–
West Division
Illinois			–							–
Iowa			–							–
Minnesota			–							–
Nebraska			–							–
Northwestern			–							–
Purdue			–							–
Wisconsin			–							–
Championship: TBA
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Note: Due to COVID-19, the Big Ten suspended the 2020 football season. As of August 15, 2020; Rankings from AP Poll.

On July 9, 2020, the Big Ten announced that member teams will only play conference games in effort to reduce issues related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

On August 11, 2020, the Big Ten canceled the college football season for the fall of 2020 due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The conference expressed hope that a season could be played in the spring of 2021.[3][4]

Schedule

Illinois had games scheduled against Illinois State, UConn, and Bowling Green, but cancelled these games on July 9 due to the Big Ten Conference's decision to play a conference-only schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5]

The season was canceled on August 11, 2020.[4]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3		Ohio State	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (Illibuck)
September 12		at Nebraska	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, NE
September 19		at Indiana	Memorial Stadium (IN) Bloomington, IN
September 26		Purdue	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (rivalry)
October 10		Iowa	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL
October 17		at Northwestern	Ryan Stadium Evanston, IL (rivalry)
October 24		at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, WI
October 31		Minnesota	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL
November 7		at Rutgers	SHI Stadium Piscataway, NJ
November 21		Penn State	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL
Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings (after November 3) released prior to game All times are in Central time

[6]

References

1. "Big Ten to play conference-only football schedule for 2020 season amid COVID-19 pandemic". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
2. "Big Ten cancels college football season for fall 2020, hopes to play in spring 2021". CBSSports.com. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
3. West, Jenna. "Big Ten Postpones Fall Sports, Including Football". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
4. "Big Ten nixes fall football season, eyes spring". ESPN.com. 2020-08-11. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
5. Myerberg, Paul. "Big Ten football reduces season schedule to only conference games, maybe setting stage for others to follow". USA TODAY. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
6. "2020 Illinois Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved February 28, 2020.