ILLINOIS at USF
Friday, Sept. 15 • 7 p.m. • ESPN
Raymond James Stadium (65,857/Natural Grass)
Tampa, Florida
Television
ESPN
Dave Lamont, Mack Brown and Jen Lada
Radio
WWBA-AM 820 (USF flagship)
SiriusXM 84 (Illinois feed)
THE GAME
Friday’s game will be the first meeting between USF and Illinois … The Bulls are looking for their first win against a Big Ten opponent, having gone 0-5 in previous matchups against that league … Illinois has won its only game against an American Athletic Conference team, a 45-17 victory against Cincinnati in 2013.
ILLINOIS
2-0, 0-0 Big Ten
Head Coach
Lovie Smith (Central Arkansas ’82)
5-9, second season
Notes
Illinois is off to a 2-0 start for the fourth time in five years after the Illini took a 20-7 win against Western Kentucky last Saturday … Illinois opened the season with a 24-21 victory against Ball State … Head coach Lovie Smith is 14 games into his collegiate head coaching career after a 21-year run as an NFL coach … Smith needs one win this year to match last season’s total, when the Illini were 3-9 … Illinois held WKU to six rushing yards … QB Chayce Crouch has completed 24 of 44 passes for 252 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions … Freshman RB Mike Epstein had two touchdowns in the season-opening win against Ball State and ran for 111 yards on 21 carries against Western Kentucky … LB Del’Shawn Phillips has a team-high 22 tackles, while DE Bobby Roundtree has registered 3.0 sacks in two games.
22/21 USF
2-0, 0-0 American
Head Coach
Charlie Strong (Central Arkansas ’82)
2-0, first season at USF
55-37, eighth season as collegiate head coach
Notes
USF takes a seven-game winning streak into Friday’s game after the Bulls picked up a 31-17 victory against Stony Brook in Week 1 … The win gave head coach Charlie Strong a combined 14-1 record as an American Athletic Conference coach, including his 2013 season at Louisville … USF trailed 16-0 against San Jose State in its season-opener, but reeled off 42 straight points in the second, third and fourth quarters to pull away … The Bulls were tied with Stony Brook 17-17 in the fourth quarter before scoring two late touchdowns … QB Quinton Flowers has completed 30 of 55 passes for 398 yards and four touchdowns with one interception … Flowers has 137 rushing yards and a TD as well … RB Darius Tice has a team-high 151 rushing yards with three touchdowns.