Illinois-Arkansas will square off on Thanksgiving

Jun. 20—CHAMPAIGN — Brad Underwood has now tripled down on a difficult 2024-25 schedule.

The Illinois coach said in early May that his team’s slate for the coming season would be “harder than ever.”

At that point, the Illini’s schedule had just a Dec. 14 home game against Tennessee — a return trip for the Volunteers after last season’s game in Knoxville, Tenn. — and the Braggin’ Rights matchup with Missouri. That’s a rivalry game that’s officially been extended through 2029 and will be played Dec. 22 in St. Louis this year.

Since, Illinois has added a Feb. 22 game against Duke at Madison Square Garden, a two-game series with Alabama that will be played in Birmingham, Ala., on Nov. 20 and, per Illini athletic director Josh Whitman on Thursday, a Thanksgiving Day game against Arkansas in Kansas City on Nov. 28.

“That will come right out of the CBS NFL Thanksgiving Day game,” Whitman said. “I think it’s slated for 3 or 3:30 p.m. A mid afternoon start in Kansas City and a great chance for us to have a big audience on national television on a day people are watching a lot of sports.

“I think we’ve got a big-time schedule. I give Brad all the credit in the world for playing a bunch of dudes. We don’t screw around in our nonconference.”

Illinois will play six more nonconference games — almost assuredly all at home — in addition to those high-profile matchups mostly at neutral sites. Then comes a 20-game Big Ten schedule that will include trips to Washington and Oregon in the new-look conference with both UCLA and USC playing in Champaign.

“Our fans continue to be incredibly rabid,” Whitman said. “We anticipate the possibility we may sell out in season tickets this year, which would be really exciting.”