It appears that the Illini are very excited about new coach Lovie Smith. According to Dave Wischnoff of the Chicago Tribune, Illinois sold over 1,000 new season tickets the day after the hiring of Smith.
Illinois has had a rough go of it the past few years, failing to register a winning season since Ron Zook's last year at the school in 2011. However, there is definitely palpable excitement surrounding Smith and the Illini, and it will be interesting to see if they can actually carry that into the season.