2015 Illinois Fighting Illini football team

On August 28, 2015—one week before the start of the regular season—head coach Tim Beckman was fired after an internal investigation found that he had made efforts "to deter injury reporting and influence medical decisions that pressured players to avoid or postpone medical treatment and continue playing despite injuries." He was replaced by offensive coordinator Bill Cubit on an interim basis for the season.[1]

A few hours before the final game of the season, Cubit had the "Interim" removed from his title and was named permanent head coach. It was an appointment that would last only one game, as Cubit was removed during the following off-season by new Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman, on the day Whitman officially assumed the role, in favor of former Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith.

Illinois announced their 2015 football schedule on June 3, 2013. The 2015 schedule consist of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Fighting Illini will host Big Ten foes Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, and Wisconsin and will travel to Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State, and Purdue.[2]

The Fighting Illini hosted three of their four non conference games against Kent State, Middle Tennessee and Western Illinois. Illinois traveled to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and faced the North Carolina of the Atlantic Coast Conference on September 19.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 5	2:00 pm	Kent State*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 52–3	36,693
September 12	11:00 am	Western Illinois*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 44–0	37,733
September 19	11:00 am	at North Carolina*	Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC	ESPN2	L 14–48	41,000
September 26	3:00 pm	Middle Tennessee*	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	ESPNews	W 27–25	44,366
October 3	3:00 pm	Nebraska	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	W 14–13	40,138
October 10	11:00 am	at No. 22 Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA	ESPN2	L 20–29	66,693
October 24	2:30 pm	Wisconsin	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL	BTN	L 13–24	45,438
October 31	11:00 am	at Penn State	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA	ESPN2	L 0–39	94,417
November 7	11:00 am	at Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, IN (Battle for the Purdue Cannon)	BTN	W 48–14	40,197
November 14	11:00 am	No. 3 Ohio State	Memorial Stadium Champaign, IL (Battle for the Illibuck)	ABC	L 3–28	51,515
November 21	11:00 am	at Minnesota	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis, MN	ESPNews	L 23–32	47,976
November 28	2:30 pm	No. 17 Northwestern	Soldier Field Chicago, IL (Battle for the Land of Lincoln Trophy)	ESPNU	L 14–24	33,514
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Central time

Schedule Source:[3]