Joel Klatt shares strong opinion on new-look Illinois

Fox Sports color commentator Joel Klatt gave his take on his biggest surprise team in college football thus far. Through the season's first five weeks, Klatt had a lot of teams to pick from but decided to go bold with an AP Top 25 Big Ten team on the rise.

Illinois has quickly risen from the depths of irrelevancy to begin the season 4-0. It's the best start in the Bret Bielema era, culminating from a back-and-forth affair last Friday night. The Illini squeaked out a 31-24 overtime win in Lincoln, Neb., knocking off the previously unbeaten Cornhuskers and freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola.

Quarterback Luke Altmyer has thrown just one interception thus far, while wideout Pat Bryant continues to make his presence felt with six touchdown receptions. His last one was arguably his most prominent – the eventual game-winner.

The win was the second rematch game that Illinois avenged from last season. It will attempt to do the same when it travels to Happy Valley to take on Penn State. It's the Nittany Lions' first conference game of the season as they look to remain unbeaten Saturday night.

It was Illinois' first ranked-versus-ranked win since 2001, which Klatt mainly impressed with.

Joel Klatt has high hopes for Bret Bielema, Illinois

Klatt spoke to Big Ten Network ahead of the Week 5 slate and gave credit where credit was due.

"Illinois did it in an environment that I think is the most difficult against a team we all thought a lot of [in Nebraska] due to the nature of the night that it's being played," Klatt said. "And that's certainly the case with Nebraska and their 400th sellout. And Illinois just went in and had a better game plan than Nebraska and they out-executed them to end the game."

The Illini are double-digit underdogs entering their second straight road contest. After the bye week, they return to Champaign to reignite their rivalry with Purdue October 12.

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