Virginia Cavaliers vs Illinois Fighting Illini Prediction, Picks and Game Preview - 09/10/2022

Game Time: 4:00 pm ET, Saturday, September 10, 2022

Venue:  University of Illinois Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL

Where to Watch:  ESPNU

DraftKings:  Point Spread:  UVA +4, Illinois -4; Over/Under:  57 points

Bet365:  Point Spread:  UVA +4, Illinois -4; Over/Under:  57.5 points

BetMGM:  Point Spread:  UVA +3.5, Illinois -3.5; Over/Under:  57.5 points

 

Virginia Cavaliers:  1-0 (5th place, ACC Coastal)

Illinois Fighting Illini:  1-1 (5th place, Big Ten West)

 

Do not miss out on our expert handicapper analysis! Will Rogers has made +$19,410 L15 MONTHS! Make sure you check out his picks and many more from the expert handicappers featured in the Shop Picks section.

 

Virginia Cavaliers:  won their last game at home against the Richmond Spiders 34-17.

Illinois Fighting Illini:  lost their last game on the road against the Indiana Hoosiers 23-20.

 

UVA is entering this game with a 1-0 record overall to start their college football season and they will be playing their 1st road game of the season here. They won against the Richmond Spiders in their last game at home 34-17. Brennan Armstrong started that game at QB and he completed 21/33 passes for 246 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Brennan Armstrong led the team in rushing with 105 yards and 1 TD on 10 rushing attempts while Perris Jones was next on the team with 104 rushing yards and 1 TD on 19 carries. Lavel Davis led the team in receiving with 89 yards and 1 touchdown on 4 receptions. Antonio Clary led the defense in that game with 6 solo tackles and 2 assisted tackles. Josh Ahern led the team in sacks with 1 while no one on the defense came away with an interception for them in that one.

 

 

 

Illinois is entering this game with a 1-1 record overall to start their college football season and they will be playing their 2nd home game of the season here as they are 1-0 in their home games this year. They lost against the Indiana Hoosiers in their last game on the road 23-20. Tommy Devito started that game at QB and he completed 21/35 passes for 232 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Chase Brown led the team in rushing with 199 yards on 36 rushing attempts. Isaiah Williams led the team in receiving with 112 yards and 1 TD on 9 receptions. Devon Witherspoon led the defense in that game with 6 solo tackles and 1 assisted tackle. Jer'Zhan Newton led the defense in sacks with 1 while Kendall Smith came away with the only interception for them in that one.

The current betting odds have Illinois listed as a 4 point favorite in this game according to Draftkings Sportsbook. Illinois just lost their last game and that was a big blow as they played really well but still lost their 1st conference game of the season. They lost on the road by just 3 points and they were even robbed on a few calls that had their touchdowns taken away when they shouldn't have been. They still played a great game though and they have a great defense this year with a good running game as well. They are going to run the ball on this UVA team and will eat them up on the ground. UVA looked really good in the 1st half of their last game against Richmond, but Richmond is only an FCS program and things really started to fall apart in the 2nd half as their mistakes piled up and what should have been a blowout win turned into a much closer game. They still won comfortably but they should not have fell apart like that and they will need to play a full 60 mins here if they want to compete with Illinois who is going to be running all over them all day. Illinois will be frustrated by the way their last game ended and they will be looking to take it out on UVA here at home. The best way to place a bet here is on Illinois to cover the spread in this game.

 

Virginia Illinois Prediction:  Our NCAAF Pick for Saturday, September 10, 2022 (4:00 pm ET start time) is Illinois 27 UVA 17.

Don't miss our champion handicappers free picks and expert football picks today. And if you enjoyed this Virginia Cavaliers Illinois Fighting Illini prediction, be sure to drop by every day for our weekly NCAAF predictions and previews.

 

 

Virginia Cavaliers: 14-9 ATS in all games. 8-1 ATS off 1 or more consecutive unders. 25-15 UNDER as a road underdog of 7 points or less.

Illinois Fighting Illini: 15-30 ATS as a favorite of 3.5 to 10 points. 13-8 UNDER in all games. 8-2 UNDER off a loss against a conference rival. 

 

 

Virginia Cavaliers:  M. Fields (WR) Out indefinitely - Foot. A. Foston (RB) out for season - Knee.

Illinois Fighting Illini:  J. Pearl (OL) Prob Sat - Undisclosed. S. Miller (WR) out for season - Undisclosed. J. McCray (RB) Mid Sept - Knee. D. Leary (QB) Out indefinitely - Undisclosed.

 

 

"In fairness to our guys - and this is a lesson that I learned and the question came up during the press conference... We had four-straight touchdown drives after the opening drive. Offensively, we were in a rhythm. Defense gets a stop. I'm sitting there like, 'okay, Des [Kitchings] - run the ball. If we have a big play, then we'll be aggressive and we'll go attack.' I probably should have just came out attacking. It set their mindset going into half... It was a learning opportunity for all of us - I should've kept my foot on the gas so that these guys can come out of the second half and get out to a fast start." - Tony Elliott on his team’s win against Richmond in their last game.

 

 

"So I was very clear with my coaches on Saturday, we got back really, really late. Early Saturday morning, late Friday night, however you want to look at it, but, I'm extremely disappointed for my roster, and for our staff, I'm not disappointed in our roster or our staff, there's a big difference, right. I think it's easy in moments like that to get caught up in the negativity and there's a lot of things that we can correct.” - Bret Bielema after his team’s very close loss against Indiana.

 

 

 

WR Wicks, Dontayvion

WR Davis Jr., Lavel

WR Thompson, Keytaon 

TE Misch, Grant

QB Armstrong, Brennan

RB Jones, Perris 

 

WR Hightower, Brian

WR Bryant, Pat

WR Williams, Isaiah 

TE Reiman, Tip 

QB DeVito, Tommy 

RB Brown, Chase 

 

 

Passing: B. Armstrong (246)

Rushing: B. Armstrong (105)

Receiving: L. Davis Jr (89)

Touchdowns: B. Armstrong (1)

 

Passing: T. Devito (426)

Rushing: C. Brown (350)

Receiving: I. Williams (138)

Touchdowns: C. Brown (2)

 

Coaches:

Virginia Cavaliers: Tony Elliott (1st season)

Illinois Fighting Illini: Bret Bielema (2nd season)