Illinois' Bret Bielema achieves unthinkable milestone in Music City Bowl win vs. Tennessee

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Illinois' Bret Bielema achieves unthinkable milestone in Music City Bowl win vs. Tennessee originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl was a game of momentum. Luckily for Illinois, coach Bret Bielema had the last laugh.

A David Olano game-winning field goal opposite the Tennessee Volunteersas time expired Tuesday night in Nashville was the fitting final chapter of a two-year program stretch that can best be described as remarkable.

A 19-7 mark in the last two seasons, alongside finishing 13-4 in one-score games, shows just how far Bielema has taken the Illini. Better yet, he is the first coach in school history to lead Illinois to two seasons of nine wins or more back-to-back and finish the year with consecutive bowl wins when all is said and done.

Bielema told reporters the come-from-behind win, which saw senior quarterback Luke Altmyer engineer a 13-play, 64-yard drive while nearly eating the final five minutes of regulation, was bigger than just help from the Naperville, Illinois, native.

"I remember dealing with some adversity with both these guys, but also a lot of success," Bielema said, "I think as a head coach, one thing that really, it does define your success is after they leave you, what do they do, right?"

Bielema said he is excited to see where Altmyer and defensive back Miles Scott end up, should they get drafted next spring.

"But I'm going to watch both these guys play in the NFL and I'm going to smile a lot, right?" Bielema said. "Because you were with them on their journey."

The "journey" saw highs and lows for an Illinois team that remained in the College Football Playoff mix through mid-November, a feat unachievable just five years ago.

Bielema said he wants this year's team to be remembered as a group where togetherness was the main catalyst while also taking a swipe at the SEC.

"I know I think SEC is now 0-4 and we'd be 5-0 in the Big Ten," Bielema said. "I'm going to take that every day, right? Uh, so, um, little propaganda there, but propaganda is good propaganda."

Now, the off-season officially begins in Champaign.

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