By Zain Bando
The Illinois football program is quickly turning into a sinking ship right before everyone’s eyes, and the devastation has continued to mount with each subsequent loss.
If any finger-pointing is being done, it’s toward Bret Bielema, the third-year Illini coach brought in to fix the mess and reverse the course of a losing culture that had plagued the program for over three decades.
It was no different last Friday night when Nebraska came into Champaign with an upset-minded focus. And, if they had nothing to prove on a national stage, the Cornhuskers let the Illini know they weren’t a pushover, earning their first win in Champaign since 2019.
Several red zone mistakes, including one poorly-timed interception, misconstrued Illinois’ (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten) offensive attack. The inconsistency included two attempts to keep the game close before the first half’s conclusion. Both times, the Illini fell just short.
It took six inches, but nothing went right offensively, which fell on the shoulders of Barry Lunney Jr., the offensive coordinator.
Despite Lunney Jr. and the offensive struggles, Bielema said Monday the play-calling duties will remain the same on both sides of the ball.
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“I’ve never called a game [as head coach],” Bielema said. “At this time last season, we were obviously 5-1 and the year before that we were 2-4. We’re 2-4 once again obviously it’s not where we want to be, but it is what it is. I would tell you that in all three seasons my demeanor and my approach to how we formulate a game plan and what we do hasn’t changed at all.”
Illinois will have to wipe the slate clean against Maryland
It also took until near the end of regulation for a team ranked 13th out of 14 in Big Ten offensive production to get one positive play in opposition territory the entire second half. Every team with those numbers finds a way to lose 100 times out of 100, barring a miracle.
Bielema, noticeably frustrated post-game and disheveled at his team’s performance, said “changes” were coming.
“I literally want to know that okay, we didn’t get it on this one so what’s the next one,” Bielema told reporters after the loss Friday night. “That’s what we got to get our coaches to do is to move forward. Okay, the answer wasn’t there. What are we going to do to change it? I just know that when you have failure, you have to change.”
Ahead of Saturday’s game against a Maryland Terrapins (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) team looking to rebound after a loss in Columbus a week ago, Bielema was quick to point out the minor improvements he saw in several position groups, including the performance of Ole Miss transfer quarterback, Luke Altmyer.
“This is game seven, right?” Bielema said Thursday. “So, there’s no new players, right? I get it. Luke’s the starting quarterback for the first time, but this is game seven…we shouldn’t have any newness to us. There’s gonna be something that Maryland does offensively, defensively, special teams that they’ve never done before, which will take everybody a moment to adjust to. For the guys that have been playing now, through game seven, you have to get better, right?”
Getting better is easier said than done against a Maryland team averaging 35 points per game, suitable for No. 4 in the Big Ten. If things don’t change in a hurry, aspirations of back-to-back bowl game appearances or a sniff of the Big Ten West title will be dead and gone in a hurry.
Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC, as the Illini enter College Park as a near two-touchdown underdog.
