Illinois (1-0) vs Duke (1-0)
September 6, 2025 at 12:00 PM EDT
The Line: Betting Odds: Duke +3 — Over/Under: +50.5
The Illinois Fighting Illini and the Duke Blue Devils meet Saturday in college football action from Wallace Wade Stadium. Here’s an Illinois vs Duke prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Illinois vs Duke pick. We will examine:
The Illinois Fighting Illini recent form and player performance
The Duke Blue Devils recent form and player performance
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Illinois Fighting Illini
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Duke Blue Devils
Recent betting trends in games played between Illinois and Duke
A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Illinois vs Duke game
All things considered, the Illini came up with a pretty good run last year amid a very tough conference. Illinois would end up at 10-3 overall with a fairly impressive 6-3 stretch among the Big Ten. That would put the Illini behind only Oregon, Penn State, Indiana and Ohio State in the conference standings. After consecutive losses to Oregon and Minnesota, Illinois beat Michigan State, Rutgers and Northwestern to close the regular season. In the Citrus Bowl versus No.15 ranked South Carolina, the Illini powered out a victory 21-17 to finish the season on a strong note.
In their first matchup of the 2025 campaign, the Illini faced off against Western Illinois. There was little trouble for Illinois in that one as they scored in every quarter along the way to a blowout victory 52-3. QB Luke Altmyer went 17-of-21 for 217 yards and three touchdowns. Leading the rush was Aidan Laughery with nine carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns. Hank Beatty added five catches for 108 yards as the team’s leading receiver, but Justin Bowick caught two touchdowns among his three grabs for 23 yards.
Over on the Duke side, they didn’t perform too badly in the ACC last year, but their season ended in disappointment. The Blue Devils would go 9-4 overall with a 5-3 result in the conference, putting the team in seventh place behind SMU, Clemson, Miami, Syracuse, Louisville and Georgia Tech in the standings. Duke went 1-3 during a four-game stretch in October and November, then beat NC State, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest to finish things off. Duke made the Gator Bowl against Ole Miss, where they’d eventually take a loss 52-20.
This year the Blue Devils kicked things off against Elon. Duke came out of the first half dazed with a 10-10 tie but quickly made up for it in the third quarter. The Blue Devils would ultimately come away with a 45-17 victory to start the season. Darian Mensah threw for 389 yards and three scores on 27-of-34 passing, and Anderson Castle led the rush with just three carries for 69 yards. Sahmir Hagans scored twice among five catches for 54 yards, but Cooper Barkate led the receivers on 117 yards on his five grabs.
I’ll stay with Illinois. Granted, they didn’t go up against the toughest competition in the world during the opener, but the Illini’s effort versus Western Illinois was pretty darn impressive. Illinois posted 440 total yards (209 rushing) in that one alongside 7.5 yards per play and 21 first downs. The 4-of-9 on third downs could have been better, but it hardly mattered alongside the defensive performance. Illinois gave up just 163 total yards (134 passing), 11 first downs and 5-of-14 on third downs on the other side.
Duke will mark a significant uptick in talent; they’re coming off 548 yards (389 passing) of offense themselves. That said, the Blue Devils’ slow start doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence for this weekend’s matchup. I like Illinois to take care of business here, controlling it the whole way.
The Illinois Fighting Illini recent form and player performance
The Duke Blue Devils recent form and player performance
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Illinois Fighting Illini
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Duke Blue Devils
Recent betting trends in games played between Illinois and Duke
A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Illinois vs Duke game
Illinois Fighting Illini Betting Preview
All things considered, the Illini came up with a pretty good run last year amid a very tough conference. Illinois would end up at 10-3 overall with a fairly impressive 6-3 stretch among the Big Ten. That would put the Illini behind only Oregon, Penn State, Indiana and Ohio State in the conference standings. After consecutive losses to Oregon and Minnesota, Illinois beat Michigan State, Rutgers and Northwestern to close the regular season. In the Citrus Bowl versus No.15 ranked South Carolina, the Illini powered out a victory 21-17 to finish the season on a strong note.
In their first matchup of the 2025 campaign, the Illini faced off against Western Illinois. There was little trouble for Illinois in that one as they scored in every quarter along the way to a blowout victory 52-3. QB Luke Altmyer went 17-of-21 for 217 yards and three touchdowns. Leading the rush was Aidan Laughery with nine carries for 101 yards and two touchdowns. Hank Beatty added five catches for 108 yards as the team’s leading receiver, but Justin Bowick caught two touchdowns among his three grabs for 23 yards.
Duke Blue Devils Betting Preview
Over on the Duke side, they didn’t perform too badly in the ACC last year, but their season ended in disappointment. The Blue Devils would go 9-4 overall with a 5-3 result in the conference, putting the team in seventh place behind SMU, Clemson, Miami, Syracuse, Louisville and Georgia Tech in the standings. Duke went 1-3 during a four-game stretch in October and November, then beat NC State, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest to finish things off. Duke made the Gator Bowl against Ole Miss, where they’d eventually take a loss 52-20.
This year the Blue Devils kicked things off against Elon. Duke came out of the first half dazed with a 10-10 tie but quickly made up for it in the third quarter. The Blue Devils would ultimately come away with a 45-17 victory to start the season. Darian Mensah threw for 389 yards and three scores on 27-of-34 passing, and Anderson Castle led the rush with just three carries for 69 yards. Sahmir Hagans scored twice among five catches for 54 yards, but Cooper Barkate led the receivers on 117 yards on his five grabs.
Illinois vs Duke Prediction
I’ll stay with Illinois. Granted, they didn’t go up against the toughest competition in the world during the opener, but the Illini’s effort versus Western Illinois was pretty darn impressive. Illinois posted 440 total yards (209 rushing) in that one alongside 7.5 yards per play and 21 first downs. The 4-of-9 on third downs could have been better, but it hardly mattered alongside the defensive performance. Illinois gave up just 163 total yards (134 passing), 11 first downs and 5-of-14 on third downs on the other side.
Duke will mark a significant uptick in talent; they’re coming off 548 yards (389 passing) of offense themselves. That said, the Blue Devils’ slow start doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence for this weekend’s matchup. I like Illinois to take care of business here, controlling it the whole way.