The football game between the Ilinois Fighting Illini and Arizona State Sun Devils on Sept. 8 will be going down at night, as Shannon Ryan of the Chicago Tribune writes. The two teams will play at 9:30 p.m. CST on ESPN, the seventh game time that's been announced for the Illini's upcoming 12-game regular season.
Last year, Illinois beat Arizona State 17-14 in an early season match-up in Champaign, one of six consecutive wins to begin the season. That winning streak vaulted Illinois into the national rankings before the team ultimately became the first ever to begin the regular season with six straight wins before finishing it with six straight losses. The team did end the season with a victory over UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
September's game against Arizona State will be the second game for Illinois under new head coach Tim Beckman, who was hired after the team fired Ron Zook. It's the biggest game on the team's non-conference schedule, which also includes Western Michigan, Charleston Southern and Louisiana Tech.
For more coverage of the Fighting Illini, be sure to explore Hail to the Orange. Stay tuned to SB Nation Chicago for live, in-game scores and updates.