Bret Bielema showed it again today- he just knows how to get his team to respond. He knows how to motivate his team, after a demoralizing defeat, to come out and make a response.
#24 Illinois pulled off a 6.5 point upset on Saturday, over #21 USC, by winning 34-32 on a last second field goal.
Stellar USC quarterback Jayden Maiava threw his first interception of the season today, with Illinois linebacker Dylan Rosiek getting the first pick of his career on the play..
“It got a little air-y in there,” said Rosiek. “It looked like they were running an RPO, so I was in a half-drop, half above the run, and then I just saw the ball and put my hands on it.”
This play helped provide an utterly thrilling result for the elated crowd, which sold out the place on Homecoming.
This came on the heels of a 63-10 loss, on national television no less, at Indiana last week.
“The one thing I knew I could control is what comes out of my mouth,” Bielema said during his post gane press conference.
“You can’t control what others think…this is what college football is all about.”
When he opened his presser, Bielema got straight to the point:
“We responded internally, externally, showed me a lot about who they were. I think I know more about my roster than anyone in the country. I saw them hurt, I felt myself hurting, but I knew they would respond…They are very resilient group. They don’t get phased much.”
Bielema is right- this IS what college football is all about. Days like this are exactly what the program needs.
University of Illinois football still needs a figure that is comparable to what Deron Williams is to men’s basketball.
As pointed out on RG.org, “Among the Illini faithful, “D. Will” will always be the guy that hit “the shot.”
The highest drafted player in Illini men’s basketball history, he also had the most memorable NBA/pro career (two All-NBA 2nd-team honors, three All-Star appearances, two Olympic Gold Medals) of any former Illinois player.
Football has never really had anything like that, in the modern era. Dick Butkus was larger than life, but that was more than a half-century ago. Red Grange was the Babe Ruth of football (pretty much literally, we’re not joking) but that was actually a full century ago now.
Jeff George was a star quarterback who went first overall in the 1990 NFL Draft, but he was the epitome of “million dollar arm, ten cent head” and he never came close to living up to his potential.
Simeon Rice won a Super Bowl and made three Pro Bowls (the football first ballot Hall of Very Good, like D. Will is) but in order to be a truly household name, you got to do even more than that.
Bret Bielema can become that, if he can produce 7-9 win seasons on a consistent basis. If Bielema, or “Bert” as some call him affectionately, can make decent or better bowl games most of the time, he’ll be “that guy” for the Illini football program.
He just needs to win more games than he loses, and he would truly become that icon. Replicate what he did at Wisconsin, and U of I will nearly build a statue for him.
Illinois boasts being one of the first universities to celebrate Homecoming, a tradition on almost every college campus. It was conceived in 1909 by students C.F. Williams and W. Elmer Ekblaw, members of the Shield and Trident senior society. They joined with another society, Phoenix, to organize the three-day event.
The first Homecoming celebrated on Illinois’ campus was on Oct. 15, 1910, which the Illini won 3-0 over Chicago.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter