Oregon Carries a Three Game Win Streak Against Illinois Into Saturday's Matchup

If it feels like Oregon and Illinois never play each other, it's because they rarely have. Saturday marks the fifth game of the series that began all the way back in 1970.

Oregon currently holds a 3-1 record against Illinois and is on a three-game win streak in the series. Illinois took that first game in 1970, and then the two programs waited 23 years to meet again. It was Oregon that got the win, and then in 1995 they got another victory.

Then again, the two programs took a break, this time for 29 years, before the Ducks hosted the Illini in 2024 and Dan Lanning's bunch got a massive 38-9 victory.

Games like these are one of the very cool things about the conference realignment because these are matchups that are historically not seen, and we get them on a weekly basis.

For Oregon, this week is obviously a must-win for the Ducks if they want to keep their postseason hopes alive. Oregon's path to the postseason is an undefeated finish against some really tough teams still on their schedule.

They can't look ahead to their games against Northwestern and Ohio State because they do not have that luxury. 

Illinois comes into this game Saturday with a 3-3 record, but coming off of an overtime win over Michigan State that chilled head coach Brett Bielema's seat just a little bit. 

Illinois' losses to Duke and Purdue are the ones on their schedule that are the head-scratchers. The Duke one was a tough one at the beginning of the year that got the season off to a really tough start. Then, while Purdue is certainly trending up, that's a game that Illinois wants back.

For Oregon, this week is already off to an insane start with the news from Monday that basically their entire receiving corps got in trouble with the law. Not exactly what you want to start the week for a team that is trying to turn their entire season around.

There is a lot of work to be done as it is, and it only got so much harder with the news from their receiving room.

Regardless of it all, they just need one more point on Saturday; that's it. It doesn't matter who makes the plays, doesn't matter who is at quarterback, or how it looks. All that matters is one more point, and the season starts alive for the Ducks.