2023 College Football Betting: Illinois vs. Kansas Game Lines

The first game featuring two Power 5 schools this week in college football is Friday night as Illinois of the Big Ten faces Kansas of the Big 12 with the Jayhawks favored on the NCAAF odds. Of course, the two schools have a major men’s basketball tie: Current KU coach Bill Self.

2023 College Football Odds and Expert Analysis: Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Kansas Jayhawks | 2023 NCAAF Expert Analysis MyBookie Sportsbook

Regular Season: August 26 to December 9
Week 2: Thursday, September 7 to Saturday, September 9, 2023
 

How to Bet Illinois at Kansas NCAA Football Odds & TV Info

When: Friday, 7:30 PM ET
Where: Kansas Memorial Stadium
TV: ESPN2
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAF Lines: Kansas -3 (total 55)

Series History

Kansas and Illinois are set to meet on the gridiron for the sixth time in program history, including its first since 1968. Illinois owns the series advantage at 3-2. Illinois will visit Lawrence, Kansas for the first time in 131 years.

Why Bet on Illinois?

Illinois escaped its season opener at home vs. Toledo, 30-28, as Caleb Griffin kicked a 29-yard field goal in the closing seconds. Illini QB Luke Altmyer helped set up the winning field goal when he hit Casey Washington with a 33-yard pass to the Toledo 36 on fourth-and-4. The Illini had the ball on the 11 with eight seconds left when Griffin booted the winner.

Pat Bryant recorded the first two-touchdown game of his career, tallying a team-high six catches for 64 yards and two scores. Isaiah Williams and Casey Washington also each registered over 50 yards, with the latter grabbing a fourth-down catch to keep the Illini’s hopes alive late in the contest. Altmyer went 18-26 with 211 passing yards, 69 rushing yards, and two touchdowns in his Illini debut. Reggie Love III and Josh McCray both finished with double-digit carries with 58 and 30 yards, respectively, while McCray also got his first rushing score of the year.

Miles Scott, making his debut on defense, took his first-career interception to the house for a 48-yard pick six in the third quarter. Scott was the #1 graded defensive back in the nation by PFF and the #3 overall defender in the nation (#1 in the Big Ten). Illinois’ defense held Toledo to just 57 second-half rushing yards, after the Rockets rushed for 129 yards in the first half. Illinois has now recorded an interception in 13 of its last 14 games.

Illinois trailed by as many as 12 points (19-7), marking its largest comeback win since the school-record 25-point come-from-behind win at Michigan State on Nov. 9, 2019. Altmyer’s QBR of 79.2 last week was 25th in the nation and fourth among Big Ten QBs, behind only J.J. McCarthy (MICH), Taulia Tagovailoa (MD), and Drew Allar (PSU).

Bret Bielema is the fifth head coach in Illinois’ 134-year-program history to win his first three season openers.

Bet Illinois Fighting Illini to Win
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Why Bet on Kansas?

KU opened with a 48-17 win over FCS school Missouri State. Kansas quarterback Jason Bean threw for 276 yards on 22-of-28 passing and tossed two touchdowns, while running backs Devin Neal, Dylan McDuffie, Daniel Hishaw Jr., and Sevion Morrison each scored on the ground. The Jayhawks totaled 521 total yards of offense, marking the eighth time Kansas has gone over 500 yards of offense in a game in the Lance Leipold era. In the six years prior to Leipold’s tenure (2015-2020) the Jayhawks had seven games of 500+ yards, spanning 64 total games.

The Jayhawks jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a Neal 48-yard run, which was Neal’s first carry of the game. Neal has now scored on his first touch in back-to-back seasons (2021 vs. Tennessee Tech), becoming the first FBS running back since at least 2012 to accomplish such a feat. Neal scored both a rushing and receiving touchdown in the same game for the third time in his career.

Junior WR Luke Grimm recorded his 12th career touchdown reception in the second quarter. He is now tied for 10th on the KU all-time touchdown reception list with Isaac Byrd (1994-96). With four catches, Grimm now has 97 career receptions, which is tied for 18th on the KU career receptions list with Kenny Drayton (1988-91) and Quintin Smith (1987-89). With 33 receiving yards, Grimm cracked the KU top 20 for career receiving yards, currently at 1,260. Grimm passed Charles Gordon, who had 1,252 yards from 2003-05.

Returning four of five offensive line starters for the 2023 season, Kansas didn’t allow a single sack in the season opener against Missouri State. The Kansas offensive line enters Friday night’s game with 206 combined career starts, which is the 12th most in the country.

Star QB Jalon Daniels didn’t play in the opener due to back tightness but will start Friday. The dual-threat signal-caller ended the year passing for 2,014 yards and 18 touchdowns against just four interceptions, while adding 425 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground last year. He was named the Big 12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. He is Kansas’ first Big 12 Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and the second Jayhawk to be named a preseason individual award winner by the Big 12, joining Dorance Armstrong, who was the Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in 2016.

KU is 41-117 all-time against current members of the Big 10. KU’s last win over a member of the Big 10 was a 55-14 victory over Rutgers on Sept. 16, 2018 in Lawrence.

Bet Kansas Jayhawks to Win
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Expert Prediction

Kansas 27, Illinois 24

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