Illinois Fighting Illini College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Bret Bielema is an interesting hire.
He’s going to stir the pot, he’s going to be boisterous, and he’s going to give the program an identity it so desperately needs.
The Lovie Smith experiment should’ve worked better.
He was a great coaching name with a strong resumé for putting together big-time defenses, but it’s college football – the super-cool, calm demeanor with no rah-rah only works if you’re winning.
The big, bold brashness of Bielema isn’t exactly the polar opposite of Smith’s personality, but it’s close.
Under Smith, the program was in a constant state of rebuild, there were too many thoughts and prayers hoping a few quick-fix transfers and a sprinkling of star recruits could turn things around, and there just wasn’t enough production.
The defense was inexcusably mediocre, the offense never had a decent identity, and now the program is on a run of nine straight losing seasons and 11 in 13 ever since Ron Zook took the team to the 2008 Rose Bowl.
However, Smith deserves credit for building things up enough to go bowling in 2019, and he left a good slew of veterans in place for Bielema to work with.
Set The Illinois Fighting Illini Regular Season Win Total At … 5
Lost in the Bielema era at Arkansas is that he actually won. He might have finished with a 29-34 record, but he took the Hogs to three straight bowl games after a rough 3-9 first season.
His first year at Illinois will be better than that. The Illini will get by UTSA and Charlotte at home, and they should be able to win two of the three against Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers.
They’ll get an upset somewhere along the way – like Northwestern or, perish the thought, Wisconsin at home – they don’t have to play Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana or Michigan State, and they should at least flirt with the possibility of six wins and a bowl appearance.
At the very least, Illinois football isn’t going to be boring this year.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– Illinois Schedule Analysis