The Illinois Fighting Illini have made a change to their 2024 football schedule, according to an announcement from the school on Monday.
Illinois was originally scheduled to host the Eastern Illinois Panthers on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024, but the game was later moved to Saturday, Aug. 24, which is Week Zero that season. However, this date change was never announced by either school, although both schools had signed an agreement for the contract amendment in March 2023.
Nevertheless, Illinois will now host Eastern Illinois in Week 1 of the 2024 season on Saturday, Aug. 31 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. The remainder of Illinois’ football schedule, which was announced back in November, remains unchanged.
Following the season-opener against Eastern Illinois, the Fighting Illini will host the Kansas Jayhawks on Sept. 7 and the Central Michigan Chippewas on Sept. 14, which will wrap up the non-conference portion of their schedule.
Illinois is slated to open Big Ten action in 2024 with back-to-back games on the road against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sept. 21 and the Penn State Nittany Lions on Sept. 28. After their first open date on Oct. 5, the Fighting Illini will open their home conference schedule with consecutive games against the Purdue Boilermakers on Oct. 12 and the Michigan Wolverines on Oct. 19.
See below for Illinois’ complete football schedule in 2024.
2024 Illinois Football Schedule
- 08/31 – Eastern Illinois
- 09/07 – Kansas
- 09/14 – Central Michigan
- 09/21 – at Nebraska
- 09/28 – at Penn State
- 10/05 – OFF
- 10/12 – Purdue
- 10/19 – Michigan
- 10/26 – at Oregon
- 11/02 – Minnesota
- 11/09 – OFF
- 11/16 – Michigan State
- 11/23 – at Rutgers
- 11/30 – at Northwestern
* Big Ten contest.