Illinois coach Bret Bielema on matchup with Michigan: 'This game means a lot to me ... excited about the opportunity'

This Saturday, Illinois is celebrating the 100-year anniversary of three-time consensus All-American Red Grange scoring 6 touchdowns in a 39-14 win over Michigan Oct. 18, 1924. The Fighting Illini will wear 1920s-themed uniforms in commemoration of the game.

Athletic director Josh Whitman — a former UI tight end from 1997-2000 — will serve as the team’s honorary captain for this weekend’s game between No. 22 Illinois and No. 24 Michigan. Despite Michigan dominating the series, 72-23-2, including winning eight of the last 10 meetings, the Fighting Illini supporters get particularly excited for these matchups.

“I know how much this means to the fan base of Illinois, and Josh being an alum here and obviously the director of our intercollegiate athletics,” head coach Bret Bielema said. “What he stands for and represents to make this game what it is has been awesome, to have it culminate this week having two ranked teams … I couldn’t believe when I saw the stat that the last time this happened was when he was a senior in college, which is amazing.”

Michigan and Illinois last met in 2022, when the Wolverines escaped with a 19-17 victory at The Big House thanks to a game-winning field goal by Jake Moody.

“I’m 3-3 against them, and I didn’t like the last one,” Bielema said. “So everybody’s got their history. This game means a lot to me. We will put our best foot forward. Excited about the opportunity.

“The last one was pretty big. The last one was big, I thought we had a good enough football team to go up there and win. Unfortunately, it didn’t [happen], and there were a lot of things that went into it, things we could’ve done better. We didn’t get the chance to rematch these guys last year, so we have the chance to rematch them this year. 

“Those things mean a lot. Even in league play — it’s changed a little bit now — but this year we have six rematch games. We’re through four of them; we’re 3-1. Last year against those same four teams, we were 0-4. I think our guys know the growth they’ve had.

“But I told them last night, there’s nothing more challenging than to have a team that’s continued to play well and continues to move forward to keep doing the same things that brought you success. Don’t get bored doing things well.”

Bielema’s team is coming off a 50-49 overtime win over Purdue, one of three one-possession victories this season, joining a 23-17 triumph over Kansas and a 31-24 overtime win over Nebraska. Bielema lauded Illinois’ ability to translate its work from the practice field to games, which helps them execute in close contests.

“I spent a lot of time, I spent I-don’t-know-how-many hours already this morning just working about Tuesday’s practice,” Bielema said. “So Michigan is a very scripted football team. They play very, very good football. They’re sound fundamentally offensively, defensively and on special teams.

“Their offense … 74 percent of their snaps have been early downs. And their defense has been 77 percent of their downs. The reason we practice early downs on Tuesday is a large part of the game — 75 percent of the game — is played on early downs. So we gotta learn to play like that.

“I think the thing that gives our guys the moment to have those things be successful is they’ve been prepared, they’ve been put in that position, they visualize it and also a little bit of some of the pain of the past. Our No. 1 season goal this year was remember the past, prepare for the future. I think literally every week that comes up.”

Illinois’ Memorial Stadium holds 60,670 fans, and Bielema is expecting a raucous environment.

“We haven’t lost a game out there all year,” Bielema said. “That place should be rocking. That place should be going crazy. To have two ranked teams, that’s what I wanna hear. They’ve been great, the student section, after the game.

“When we go to Michigan, we have to prepare for crowd noise there. I’d really like for someone to have to prepare for crowd noise coming here. That’s when we’ve arrived.”

Bret Bielema recounts experiences with former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr

Bielema played at Iowa and has taken on Michigan as the head coach at Wisconsin and Illinois. He discussed some of his experiences with the Wolverines, including former U-M head man Lloyd Carr serving as a mentor when he was a young coach.

“I’ve been in this conference a long time,” Bielema noted. “The first time we played these guys, I was a redshirt freshman. Saw [late former Michigan head coach] Bo Schembechler on the other sideline, saw him get a penalty in the first half, which brought the whole place to a crazy. Which, I thought was crazy, watching someone I idolized on TV.

“I have huge respect for who they are, what they are. Actually, Lloyd Carr, when I first came into the league as a head coach, he was the head coach of Michigan, and him and [former Wisconsin] Coach [Barry] Alvarez were very tight. So he actually kinda grabbed me after that first year. The only game I lost my first year — we went 12-1 — was to Michigan. I remember Lloyd grabbing me at spring meetings and just kinda talking about what I had in front of me and what I should be aware of. He just really kinda took a young coach aside.

“Him and [former Ohio State head coach] Jim Tressel probably treated me as well as anybody in that conference at the time. [Late former Penn State coach] Joe Pa[terno] was still trying to figure me out. But those two guys were really, really good, and I’ve tried to do that now for me as a head coach. I’ve tried to carry it forward with young coaches that have come up. I’m not saying I’m Lloyd Carr or Jim Tressel, but I’ve been in this league a long time, and I try to say those things to those coaches.

“But playing Michigan, I think from the outside world, it obviously makes it a big deal. It does to me, too, but I learned this one from Coach Alvarez — I remember when he first began to teach and instill in me some things — you don’t get ready for Michigan, you don’t get ready for Ohio State or you don’t get ready for Penn State in one week. You do it 365 days a year. And that’s what you gotta rely on. If you try to make something magical in a week, it’s never going to work, so it’s kinda what we do.”