MORE: WKU game notes | 2017 stats

Illinois is back in action Saturday night, hosting the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers under the lights at Memorial Stadium. Kick off is set for 7 p.m. CT. The game is televised on BTN.

WKU is seeking its first win in program history over a member of the Big Ten Conference. The Hilltoppers are 0-6 all-time against the conference’s current alignment.

Western Kentucky opened its season last week with a 31-17 win over in-state rival Eastern Kentucky. It was the first game for new WKU head coach Mike Sanford. Previously, Sanford served as the offensive coordinator for Notre Dame. Sanford took over for Jeff Brohm, who was hired as the head coach at Purdue. Sanford coached quarterbacks at WKU in 2010.

The Hilltoppers return just three starters on offense, but one of the returnees is prolific senior quarterback Mike White. A second team all-conference selection a year ago, White passed for 4,363 yards and 37 TD's. He was selected the C-USA preseason offensive player of the year and he is on the Davey O'Brien Award watch list.

Defensively, Western Kentucky returns seven starters from a unit that led C-USA in scoring defense last season. Junior linebacker Joel Iyiegbuniwe had 9 tackles last week in the win over EKU, including two tackles for loss.