For the second consecutive year, Illinois went home with a bowl trophy. On Tuesday, the Illini defeated Tennessee 30-28 in the Music City Bowl after being predicted to lose. A 29-yard field goal by David Olano with no time left on the clock sealed the victory.
It marked the culmination of a run of historic proportions, according to head coach Bret Bielema, per Carson Gourdie Fox Illinois/WICS ABC 20. Thanks to the senior class, Illinois won 37 games over the last five years, the most since 1905.
Additionally, they achieved back-to-back nine-win seasons, the first time in program history. This season, Illinois finished 9-4, and last season, 10-3. Overall, they have compiled 13-4 in one-score possession games.
As a result, the NFL is apparently knocking on Bielema's door, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
“Here's a college sleeper … Bret Bielema,” Fowler said. “He has won 19 games over the past two seasons as Illinois' head coach, and he spent three years as an NFL assistant between collegiate head coaching stints, so I believe the pros are still attractive to him. He's an outside-the-box idea, but anything goes this cycle.”
In May, Bielema agreed to a six-year contract extension with Illinois beginning at $7.7 million a year.
Illinois has blossomed under Bret Bielema.
As a grad assistant, assistant coach, and head coach, Bielema has succeeded at different institutions. But when history is written, it will be his time at Illinois that will define him. Since becoming the head coach in 2021, Illinois has maintained a sustained level of excellence.
Both in terms of a winning standpoint and a player development standpoint. Players such as Sydney Brown, Devon Witherspoon, Jartavius “Quan” Martin, and many others have made it to the NFL. In 2024, they won the Citrus Bowl over South Carolina.
Overall, Illinois football has become inescapable in a stacked college football world.
