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But after witnessing Illinois’ decisive victory over the Huskers
30-22, maybe knowing and getting a read is over-rated! IF first
impressions are worth anything to you, I report to you loyal and
faithful LDN readers-I liked what I saw. Sometimes football is
complex like zone blocking principles. Sometimes it’s easy like do
your job. All I can tell you is that the Illini played one of the
best games I have witnessed in years. They were not perfect and
certainly have plenty of things to work on. But beating Nebraska was
a beautiful and wonderful way to start.
I have lived in Illinois most of my adult life arriving here as
precocious 19-year old. I didn’t know much about Illini sports in
general then but knew of both Illinois’ hey days and their struggles
in the revenue sports. Being an experiential type of person I’m an
in the moment type of guy and so I adopted them as my team thinking
we’d be together for a while. What an omen-four and a half decades
later I found myself in Memorial Stadium Saturday along with 41,000+
patrons who deserve an award for bearing that kind of heat. And they
were treated to a wildly entertaining football game…unless you’re a
Nebraska fan.
When I first moved to the Midwest as a younger teen-Nebraska never
lost. They were the Alabama of my generation with a gentlemanly
coach in Tom Osborne at the helm. I didn’t care any for their team
but have had greater respect for few coaches than Osborne. They used
to throttle and obliterate teams. So, please forgive me for being
squeamish and jittery for starting the season and a new coaching era
playing them in the home opener…then dealing with near 100-degree
heat, then our starting QB Brandon Peters goes down with a
game-ending injury just 13 minutes into the ballgame. Forgive me for
not having and holding high hopes at that juncture of the contest.
In fact, I looked at LDN correspondent Greg Taylor and said, is this
happening to us again? How many injuries have we had over the last
decade? How many costly and untimely turnovers? How many silly, or
inexcusable penalties? How many questionable calls and weird video
review conclusions and explanations have we dealt with? How many
mental miscues? How many times has the ball just not bounced our
way? But I forgot one thing-Coach Bielema is on OUR sideline now.
For those of you too young to remember, it wasn’t that long ago that
Coach Bielema was patrolling the sidelines for the Wisconsin
Badgers. I still have nightmares about playing his teams back then.
I think the Illini went a whopping 1-4 against Bielema coached teams
during that era and a rare lucky schedule rotation quirk, allowed us
to avoid 2 other beatdowns. I just remember shuddering as I looked
on the field and saw their bevy of steamrollers, locomotives, and
giant transformers roll over our smaller Illini teams. Illinois
seemed helpless to stop them. They pounded the Illini into
submission. Fast forward to this year-Illinois AD Josh Whitman makes
a great call to make this hire. I have said and written to anyone
who will read and listen-when it comes to hiring Illini coaches in
football and basketball, I want coaches who have won championships
before! I want guys who have won bowl games-I want coaches who know
how to take teams deep into the post season. Is that too much to
ask?
There is absolutely no substitute for experience. We’ve seen that
since the day Coach Bielema arrived on the scene: He met with all
the players and offered and welcomed all the seniors back=Illinois
has the most Super Seniors in the country! He immediately called all
the recruits in the hopper and began to foster and develop those key
relationships=some of them have already accepted offers. He
contacted high school coaches especially those within our state to
introduce himself to those who somehow didn’t know him yet and
welcomed them all into the Illini family [as a former basketball and
football coach here in Lincoln, I love being courted by big-time
coaches who are sincere and made me feel a part of the process and
who genuinely want to help our kids]! He got out and hustled all
over campus to get the support of the general student body=…did I
mention that the Illinois student section was sold out Saturday in
all of that heat?
I could tell you many more factoids that I’ve learned over the last
several days, but my observation=this is a high-level coach who
knows how to get it done and knows how to win. If this keeps up,
maybe he’ll be governor soon! [sorry…I should have never gone
there]!
And look at how his football work was demonstrated Saturday:
*He’s encouraged our linemen on both sides of the ball.
*Our offensive linemen worked and got better as the game progressed
and then had to deal with a new quarterback.
*Said QB, Artur Sitkowski, the transfer from Rutgers was so poised
and game-ready, he looked like a multi-year starter instead of a
nervous newcomer in his first game as an Illini. [Bielema was asked
in the presser what all he told Art when he put him in the game,
Coach said I told him, “good luck!” =that’s quality coaching right
there!
*He’s empowered our assistant coaches and they dialed up some great
plays on offense.
*The defensive coaches ran stunts and blitzes, changed formations
and mixed up things nicely.
*He’s given ‘The lads,’ kicker James McCourt and punter Blake Hayes
the freedom to just get better. They were a big part of Illinois’
dominating performance in this contest-look it up. [to top of second column] |
Illini players celebrate
the win singing Alma Mater
What we liked:
*I love our line on both sides of the ball making an impact and
pushing the pile.
My observation=a lot of games can be won or lost on physicality.
*I think Illinois was only whistled for 3 penalties [this is not a
misprint] …it seems like we averaged 3 penalties a quarter the last
several years.
*Eight players logged a rushing attempt and 7 receivers caught at
least one pass=I love that because it creates a lengthy scouting
report and makes future opponents waste time.
*Because of the rotation and because he brought back so many players
& recruited some others, Illinois’ depth was a plus for the first
time in a while.
*Clock management= [something I’m a stickler for & think it is a
glaring weakness today]. It started by winning the pre-game coin
toss and electing to defer. I like having the ball and wind when we
want it.
*Near the end of the first half, Illinois had the Huskers in 2nd &
3rd & long situations-Bielema hustled down the sidelines and forced
a timeout-maybe innocuous, maybe not.
When Illinois scooped up a fumble and ran it back for a touchdown
just before half maybe it had something to do with that timeout
[maybe it didn’t]-I just know it didn’t hurt anything & you get no
bonus points for carrying timeouts with you into the halftime locker
room.
*Deferring the coin toss meant that Illinois would get the 2nd half
kickoff going against the wind.
I leaned over & told Greg=we need a long, time consuming drive to
put up some more points= Enter an 8-minute 16-play 75-yard drive
that culminated with a TD that put Illinois up by 2 touchdowns!
[does Bielema have a hidden microphone by GT & me?] Sometimes it’s a
simple game.
*I could share many more but the bottom line=these things all point
to very smart football!
Not beating yourself makes you competitive on most occasions.
I think it also helps you create opportunities-I’ve never believed
in a lot of luck-you make it!
[With all that being said, I do think the ball bounced the Illini’s
way some on Saturday…but isn’t it about time?]
Other things we liked:
The QB Club luncheon was a great start to this weekend-Thank you
John Coady for taking us.
I loved the student section being sold out.
I loved our band and the call to go causal in all that heat.
I love that we controlled the pace and the tempo and dominated in
time of possession.
I love our guys-and I love that they seem to like each other-you
could see that on the field.
I love that Illinois was 3-for-3 in the red zone.
I love starting a season 1-0! And starting the Big Ten season 1-0!
And most of all…
I love beating Nebraska!
Welcome to Illinois Coach Bielema…
I N I
Illini AD Josh
Whitman celebrates the 1st win of a new era with Coach Bret
Bielema! [By JEFF MAYFIELD
Photos by GREG TAYLOR]
Respond to the writer at
jeffqmay@gmail.com.
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