2014 Illinois Football Schedule Announced

On Wednesday night we learned what Illinois' 2014 non-conference schedule was going to look like and just this morning the Big Ten released the entire conference schedule for the 2014 season. And let's just say that it's a good thing Mike Thomas didn't go scheduling a bunch of heavyweights outside of conference because the Illini are going to need all the wins they can get if we want to go bowling in 2014.

So without wasting any more time, let's just get right to what our 2014 football schedule is going to look like.

8/30 vs Youngstown State

9/6 vs Western Kentucky

9/13 at Washington

9/20 vs Texas State

9/27 at Nebraska

10/4 vs Purdue

10/11 at Wisconsin

10/18 BYE

10/25 vs Minnesota

11/1 at Ohio State

11/8 BYE

11/15 vs Iowa

11/22 vs Penn State

11/29 at Northwestern

So there you have it. Our cross-divisional games in 2014, the first year that Rutgers and Maryland join the conference and we move to the West, are Ohio State and Penn State. So it'll be just like we're in the Leaders Division again. I like that we get Iowa and Penn State in Champaign at the end of the year, but man, look at that road schedule.

The Illini will play five road games in 2014 and they're against Washington, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Northwestern. Five teams that could possibly be ranked.

Which means winning at home will be very important.

Follow The Champaign Room on Twitter at @Champaign_Room and Like us on Facebook. You can follow Tom Fornelli on Twitter at @TomFornelli.