One Question Mailbag: SP+ Predictions

As I said in the last post, I feel like I'm starting to get a better feel for the 2026 football team. I'm not there yet – if I had to write the preview tomorrow it would just be a bunch of guesses – but I'm starting to get a handle on things.

So this question on Slack is well-timed. Here we go:

Interested in your thoughts on Bill Connelly’s analysis of the Illini and B1G. Do his comments and ratings ring true for you? With so much secondary returning I thought the defensive was a bit lower than I thought it might be, as I understand he rates DL returning production less critical than the secondary. Even given that, predicting 4.5 conference wins, 7 wins overall and an 85% chance of going bowling looks pretty positive in a year we lost so much.
~Dan