{"id":71182,"date":"2024-12-30T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T17:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=71182"},"modified":"2024-12-30T10:37:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T15:37:28","slug":"cheez-it-citrus-bowl-preview-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/12\/30\/cheez-it-citrus-bowl-preview-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheez-It Citrus Bowl Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the more intriguing non-playoff bowl games of the 2024 season will take place on New <\/span>Year’s<\/span> Eve in Sunny Orlando, Florida. It will feature a battle between two top-twenty teams that have never played each other before. The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl will see the 20th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini face off against the 15th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both squads will enter the contest with a 9-3 record <\/span>looking<\/span> to secure their first 10-win campaign in what seems like an eternity. With so much on the line for both teams, <\/span>let\u2019s<\/span> look at who each is<\/span>,<\/span> and how it got here in this Cheez-It Citrus Bowl preview.<\/span><\/p>\n

First-Time Battle at the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl<\/h2>\n

Illinois on the Upswing<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Bret Bielema’s upstart Fighting Illini will represent the conference up north in this traditional SEC vs Big Ten match-up.<\/span> In his fourth year with the team, Illinois has a shot at just its second double-digit win campaign this century. The Illini will also be searching for their first post-season top 25 ranking since the 2001 season, where they finished as the 12th-best team in both the <\/span>AP,<\/span> and Coaches polls.<\/span><\/p>\n

Simply put, this is the most positive momentum Illinois has had in a very long time. <\/span>A founding member of the Big Ten, <\/span>the past 70 years have seen the Illini<\/span>\u00a0relegated to the bottom of the <\/span>conference\u2019s<\/span> pecking order in favor of more prestigious brands. Under <\/span>Bielema<\/span> however, things appear to be on the upswing.<\/span><\/p>\n

A win against an SEC opponent who many felt should have been included in the College Football Playoff will <\/span>certainly<\/span> offer a massive boost to the surging program.<\/span> However, knocking off the Gamecocks will be among Illinois’ most difficult tests of the season<\/span>.<\/span> The Illini have the players to pull off the upset<\/span>, it<\/span> will just require their best showing of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Illini at First Glance<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

The former Arkansas headman has reinvigorated Illinois through extensive use of the transfer portal and savvy recruiting. As a result, he has fielded his most competitive team in four years at the helm. Leading the charge has been former Ole Miss backup quarterback Luke Altmyer.<\/a> Altmyer is <\/span>in<\/span> his second year <\/span>starting<\/span> and is leading one of the <\/span>nation\u2019s<\/span> more balanced offenses.<\/span><\/p>\n

The redshirt junior has thrown for 2,543 yards, 21 touchdowns, and just five picks while completing 60% of his passes. <\/span>He will <\/span>be without his leading pass catcher <\/span>in<\/span> second-team all-conference selection Pat Bryant though. The senior recently declared for the NFL draft.<\/span> The Illini do possess several other reliable pass catchers <\/span>along with<\/span> a stout run game to rely on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defensively, Illinois ranks in the top third of the Big Ten in most metrics. The Illini are led up front by third-team all-conference selection Gabe Jacas<\/a>. The junior defensive lineman collected eight sacks and three forced fumbles in the regular season. Both of these marks were good for the top five in the Big Ten and top 25 nationally.<\/span><\/p>\n

Junior safety Xavier Scott<\/a> leads one of the <\/span>nation\u2019s<\/span> stingiest secondaries, with the junior first-team all-conference selection leading the way with four interceptions. <\/span>Overall<\/span> Illinois may not have the same talent level as Carolina, but the team plays a very disciplined brand of football and has veteran leaders at every level on both sides. <\/span>This<\/span> gives them an edge the Gamecocks would do well to <\/span>take notice of<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gamecocks on a Tear<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

On the other sideline, we have the 15th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks <\/span>who<\/span> in<\/span> year four of the Shane Beamer <\/span>era<\/span> find themselves riding a tremendous hot streak. Perhaps the hottest team in the nation right now, Carolina has won <\/span>their<\/span> past six games <\/span>with<\/span> three of these being<\/span> against ranked teams at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, two of their three losses were one-score games that came down to the wire against formidable opponents. All of this led many to believe the Gamecocks had a very solid argument for inclusion in the expanded playoff. The Selection Committee saw things in a different light, but the point remains that South Carolina is currently viewed by many as one of the <\/span>nation\u2019s<\/span> best teams. <\/span><\/p>\n

This<\/span> isn\u2019t<\/span> overblown <\/span>hype,<\/span> or your typical fanfare either. Over the last seven weeks of the season, Carolina has grown into one of the scariest teams in college football. <\/span>This<\/span> is a sentiment we <\/span>haven\u2019t<\/span> been able to correlate with the Gamecocks in quite some time, but <\/span>it\u2019s<\/span> true. Now, <\/span>they\u2019ll<\/span> be looking to cap off their best season in over a decade with a bowl win against Illinois, and they have all the players necessary to do just that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Carolina at a Glance<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Leading the uber-talented Carolina roster is none other than the budding superstar at <\/span>quarterback<\/span> LaNorris Sellers<\/a>. The redshirt freshman took off over the second half of the season, leading to him being named the SEC Newcomer of the <\/span>Year,<\/span> and SEC Freshman of the Year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sellers is a true dual threat at the quarterback position, possessing both a cannon for an <\/span>arm,<\/span> and elite speed out in the open. Sellers has thrown for 2,274 yards and 17 touchdowns thus far. He has also racked up a further 665 yards and seven scores on the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019ll<\/span> be without his backfield co-star and the <\/span>team\u2019s<\/span> leading rusher <\/span>Raheim<\/span> Sanders. T<\/span>he <\/span>second-team all-conference selection has elected to opt-out to<\/span>\u00a0prepare for the NFL draft. The Gamecocks will also be without the <\/span>SEC\u2019s<\/span> Defensive Player of the Year <\/span>Kyle<\/span> Kennard<\/span><\/a>, as the <\/span>conference\u2019s<\/span> leading pass rusher has also elected to opt-out to<\/span>\u00a0prepare for the draft.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even with those key <\/span>losses<\/span> though, Carolina still possesses arguably the most talented roster top to bottom Illinois has faced outside of the top-ranked Oregon Ducks. <\/span>This<\/span> includes several other all-SEC selections on both sides of the <\/span>ball<\/span> headlined by first-team selection Nick Emmanwori<\/a>. The junior safety is the captain of an elite <\/span>Gamecocks\u2019<\/span> secondary and the <\/span>team\u2019s<\/span> leading tackler.<\/span><\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

On paper, <\/span>it\u2019s<\/span> hard to look at these two rosters side by side and not pick Carolina to win the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. <\/span>The Gamecocks are<\/span>\u00a0bigger, faster, and deeper at every level on both sides. When you add<\/span> in the fact that Illinois got blown out by the two other teams on their schedule with comparable <\/span>talent<\/span> doesn\u2019t<\/span> bode particularly well for the Illini.<\/span><\/p>\n

That <\/span>being<\/span> said<\/span>, games <\/span>aren\u2019t<\/span> played<\/span> on paper, and <\/span>they\u2019re<\/span> not called the Fighting Illini for nothing. <\/span>In the end<\/span>, this game will likely be decided by which quarterback can play the better game. Will the veteran Altmyer be able to outthrow the dynamic freshman from Carolina? Only time will tell, but <\/span>there\u2019s<\/span> a lot on the line for both programs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whoever can win this <\/span>matchup<\/span> will not only have secured its first 10-win season in over a decade, but it will also give that team a massive jolt of momentum heading into the new year.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the more intriguing non-playoff bowl games of the 2024 season will take place on New Year’s Eve in Sunny Orlando, Florida. It will feature a battle between two top-twenty teams that have never played each other before. The Cheez-It Citrus Bowl will see the 20th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini face off against the 15th-ranked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5264,"featured_media":71188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,7361,3],"tags":[35626,1894,1322,316,34255,9308,149,80],"class_list":["post-71182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","category-bowl-games","category-sec","tag-bowl-predictions","tag-bret-bielema","tag-citrus-bowl","tag-illinois-fighting-illini","tag-pat-bryant","tag-raheim-sanders","tag-shane-beamer","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks"],"modified_by":"Maggie Yarnell, Senior Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5264"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71182"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71189,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71182\/revisions\/71189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}