Game notes
- Time and date: Thursday, September 3 at 9:00 p.m. ET
- Network: Big Ten Network
- Location: Gies Memorial Stadium — Champaign, IL
- Spread: Illinois (-27.5)
- Over/under: 54.5
- All-time series: No previous meetings
Setting the scene
A fresh start sounds a little different when it comes with 62 new names on the roster and a Thursday night assignment in Big Ten country.
That is the introduction awaiting UAB, which opens its first full season under Alex Mortensen against an Illinois program that has made winning considerably less of a novelty in Champaign.
The Blazers finished 4-8 in 2025, with Mortensen going 2-4 over the final six games as interim head coach. Now he gets an entire season to put his fingerprints on the program, although the opening assignment leaves little room for easing into the job.
Across the field, Bret Bielema enters his sixth season after delivering the most successful two-year stretch in Illinois history. The Illini went 19-7 across 2024 and 2025, won consecutive bowl games and posted a 12-2 record at home.
UAB has an opening-night tradition worth protecting, too. The Blazers have won 10 consecutive season openers dating back to 2014. Extending that streak will require a rebuilt roster to find its footing quickly against an opponent with plenty of confidence and a few new moving parts of its own.
UAB Blazers outlook
Mortensen does have one useful piece of evidence that his quarterback can handle an unexpected opportunity.
Ryder Burton threw for 251 yards and three touchdowns in UAB’s 31-24 upset of No. 22 Memphis last season. It was a glimpse of what the offense could become with Burton behind center, and it gives the redshirt junior something more substantial than offseason optimism to carry into his first season as the starter.
Burton appeared in nine games in 2025, completing 62-of-98 passes for 708 yards and seven touchdowns. The challenge now is to turn that promising sample into consistent production, with a supporting cast that has undergone an extensive rewrite.
UAB returns just 6.2 percent of its rushing yardage and 12.6 percent of its receiving yardage from last season. That leaves plenty of opportunity, but very little established chemistry.
The backfield offers three different transfer résumés. Ja’Vin Simpkins led Coastal Carolina with 591 rushing yards last season, while Bam McReynolds arrives after rushing for 637 yards and three touchdowns at ULM. Former Georgia back Rod Robinson II adds a 235-pound option to the mix. Together, the trio brings 2,340 career rushing yards.
For Thursday, their most important contribution might be making second down manageable. UAB cannot afford to spend the night asking Burton to solve third-and-long in front of a Big Ten crowd.
Graduate center Adam Lepkowski provides some continuity where it matters. The sixth-year Blazer started all 12 games in 2025 and enters this season on the Rimington Trophy watch list. His experience should help an offensive line still sorting through several options around him.
On the outside, Kaleb Brown gets a home-state return with a little history attached. The Chicago native caught a career-high seven passes for 71 yards against Illinois while playing for Iowa in 2023. Now UAB’s leading returning receiver after a 17-catch, 255-yard season, Brown gives Burton a familiar target. Transfer Ty Mims adds experience with 97 career receptions for 1,212 yards and six touchdowns.
The larger question lives on the other side of the ball.
New defensive coordinator Todd Grantham inherits a unit with 33 newcomers and just 9.5 percent of last season’s tackles returning. Chris Burge, who recorded 32 tackles and 3.5 sacks in 2025, is one of the few returning sources of production.
There is experience in the incoming group. Twelve of UAB’s 27 defensive transfers have played at least 20 college games, and projected starters such as nose tackle Cam Cunningham and safety Jeremiah Jordan bring substantial playing time. The task is getting all that experience to function together.
Creating extra possessions would help. UAB forced only 10 turnovers last season and finished with a minus-12 turnover margin. Against an Illinois program that has generally punished those mistakes, the Blazers need to make the football somebody else’s problem.
Illinois Fighting Illini outlook
Bielema has built a program with staying power. Now, Illinois gets to see how much of that success carries over when some of the names change.
The Illini return seven starters from last year’s 9-4 team, including only three on defense. They also replace quarterback Luke Altmyer, who finished his Illinois career with 23 victories as a starter and 57 touchdown passes.
Enter Katin Houser, a familiar name to American Conference followers, even if UAB never faced him during his two seasons at East Carolina. Houser threw for 3,300 yards and 19 touchdowns with six interceptions in 2025. He brings starting experience and a chance to keep an offense moving forward after it averaged 29.4 points per game last season.
Offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. has returning options to help the transition. Collin Dixon produced 548 receiving yards and five touchdowns in 2025, while Hudson Clement added 36 catches for 454 yards and three scores.
The backfield features Ca’Lil Valentine, last year’s leading rusher with 614 yards, and Aidan Laughery, who averaged 5.1 yards per carry on the way to 382 yards. Kaden Feagin, who scored seven rushing touchdowns in 2025, is listed at tight end on the current roster, adding another wrinkle to the offense.
That collection of weapons gives Illinois a straightforward opening plan: establish the run, keep Houser comfortable and make UAB’s new defensive pieces communicate through every formation and personnel change.
Illinois also introduces a new defensive coordinator in former Montana and UNLV head coach Bobby Hauck. The most reassuring presence in that transition is safety Matthew Bailey, who led the Illini in tackles in both 2024 and 2025, finishing last season with 76.
The limited number of returning starters gives UAB a reason to test the defense early. It also makes Illinois’ broader habits worth watching. Over the past two seasons, the Illini went 15-2 when committing no more than one turnover and 18-0 when leading at halftime.
Those numbers belong to previous teams, but they explain the standard Bielema is trying to carry into this one. Illinois has become good at making an opponent pay for falling behind.
Prediction
UAB has enough intriguing pieces to make this more interesting than a routine opening-night tuneup. Burton has already delivered an upset, the backfield has options, and Illinois is breaking in a new quarterback and defensive coordinator.
But asking 62 newcomers to become a cohesive team immediately, on the road against a program that has won 12 of its last 14 home games, is a considerable opening assignment.
The Blazers’ best chance is to run effectively, protect Burton and make Houser earn his possessions without the help of short fields. If UAB can stay within reach into the second half, it can make the home crowd work a little harder than expected.
Expect a few encouraging stretches from Mortensen’s offense before Illinois’ returning skill players and steadier program foundation create separation. There should be something for UAB to build on when it leaves Champaign, even if it leaves without its season-opening streak.
Prediction: Illinois 38, UAB 17