​Aug. 6—Illinois football training camp is underway. But that isn’t the only Illini team building up to the start of their seasons. Beat writer Scott Richey spotlights three other Illini programs before they get going in the 2026-27 school year:Saturday evening’s exhibition at Marquette will mark the only time between now and the end of the month Illinois will play away from Demirjian Park. Katie Hultin’s second season as coach will officially begin with four straight home matches. None bigger, of course, than the Aug. 13 season opener against No. 19 Georgia, which will pit Illini junior forward Cayla Jackson against her old team in the Bulldogs’ return of a 2024 match in Athens, Ga. Georgia won 2-0, with Jackson scoring her first career goal in her collegiate debut for the Bulldogs.The Big Ten’s move to a 17-match slate, where each team plays every other conference member once puts more emphasis on the nonconference portion of the schedule. League play will serve as its typical résumé booster, but 11 nonconference matches now have more weight. Illinois will play twice at home — Aug. 28 against Cincinnati and Aug. 30 against Syracuse at Huff Hall — to start the season, but key matches loom with a Big Ten/SEC Challenge showdown at Tennessee on Sept. 1 and a home-and-home with Marquette (Sept. 11, Sept. 13).Both Illinois’ men’s and women’s teams boast the same fall schedule, starting with the Fighting Illini Invitational on Sept. 4 at the Orange and Blue Golf Course in Savoy. Three weeks later, the Illini will head to Columbia, Mo., for the Gans Creek Classic and close out their regular season slate on Oct. 16 at Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. Those three meets will serve as postseason preparation for coach Eric Johannigmeier’s teams, with the Big Ten championship scheduled for Oct. 30 in Madison, Wis., at Thomas Zimmer Championship Course.