2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

The 2018 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Fighting Illini played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois, and competed in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by third-year head coach Lovie Smith. They finished the season 4–8, 2–7 in Big Ten play finish in last place in the West Division.

Previous season
The Fighting Illini finished the 2017 season 2–10, 0–9 in Big Ten play to finish in last place in the West Division.

Recruits
The Fighting Illini signed a total of 17 recruits on Early National Signing Day on December 20, 2017.

Award watch lists
Listed in the order that they were released

Schedule
The 2018 schedule consisted of seven home and five away games in the regular season. The Fighting Illini hosted Big Ten foes Penn State, Purdue, Minnesota, Iowa, and traveled to Rutgers, Wisconsin, Maryland, Nebraska and Northwestern.

The Fighting Illini hosted all three non-conference opponents, Kent State from the Mid-American Conference, Western Illinois from Missouri Valley Football Conference, and South Florida from the American Athletic Conference. The South Florida game was played at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears.


 * Schedule Source: