Plenty of goodies left on Illini's football plate

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Nov. 25—CHAMPAIGN — Two days later, the disappointment hadn't faded much for the Bret Bielema.

Underdog Wisconsin controlled the second half of a 27-10 victory against Illinois at Camp Randall Stadium. Not the Saturday night Bielema or his team had in mind.

But …

"As always, you learn more in moments of adversity than in moments of success," Bielema said during his Monday press conference. "This game is all about your response. Within this year, I kind of told our guys this morning, it's kind of been the year of responses."

Like the next game after a 53-point loss at Indiana. Never mind that the Hoosiers are now ranked No. 2.

"The loss at Indiana was one that everybody was worried about how we were going to respond and we beat a USC team with a walk-off field goal," Bielema said. "I liked their response there."

After a loss at Washington in late October, Illinois bounced back to take its next two, clinching a second consecutive winning season. That hasn't happened at Illinois since 2010-2011.

Next up for 7-4, bowl-eligible Illinois? A home game Saturday night against bowl-eligible Northwestern (6-5). It will be first chance for Illinois to host at night in November. Probably not the last.

The teams are playing for the Land of Lincoln Trophy (aka The Hat), which is currently in Illinois' possession.

The teams might also be playing, in part for postseason pecking order. Illinois is one game up on the Wildcats, but would slide into a tie with a loss.

There are other goals to reach. Illinois is trying to put together back-to-back eight-win seasons for the first time in 35 years.

"There's all kinds of these little trinkets that are out there floating," Bielema said. "Hopefully, we'll get them."

Holiday plans

The team will celebrate Thanksgiving together on Thursday.

"We kind of have a set routine," Bielema said. "Completely different prior to me coming here. I did look at the schedule five years ago when I took over, how teams handle this week."

Of course, the program today doesn't look anything like the mess he inherited going into 2021.

"I don't know what the win-loss record was the five years prior to me being here," Bielema said, "but I promise you it's not even close."

He is right. In the five seasons B.B. (Before Bielema), Illinois was 17-39 (30 percent). In his fifth season, Bielema is 35-26 at Illinois (57 percent).

"Anybody that's worried about where we're at or what we're doing, I get it," Bielema said. "There's things I've got to get straightened out and corrected, but enjoy the boat that you're on. It's a pretty good boat right now. It's not taking on water, it's cutting through water. We'll be in good shape."

Bielema is excited about the future of the program.

"We have in the neighborhood of 25 kids committed to us," Bielema said. "I would say that's there probably 10 players in that class that in my opinion are difference-makers," Bielema said. "I think there's a couple guys that will walk through the building in January that might start as true freshmen."

Bielema has been in the Big Ten long enough to remember a time when the conference season was completed before the turkey and pumpkin pie were served. Of course, there were only 10 teams in the Big Ten compared to 18 now.

"This has kind of been an evolution," Bielema said.

Wear layers

On Senior Night, looks like the weather might be an issue. The forecast at 6:30 p.m. for kickoff calls for temperatures in the high 20s with snow and wind.

"We're going to have some weather challenges at the end of the week," Bielema said. "Looks like Saturday is going to be a unique weather-preparation game, so some things we've got to take into account for that. I would tell everyone to bring their mittens, bring their hats."

Sign him up

Bielema is all for the "College Football Playoff or bust" mentality that has become part of the sport.

"I want to be in it," he said. "To say I didn't think we had aspirations of doing it, absolutely. We just didn't talk about it when it was going on.

"We'll get there. It will be a lot of fun when we get there."

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