With Big Ten Media Days here, who knew that Illinois head coach Bret Bielema was going to have everyone in SEC country pretty dang upset? Bielema is no stranger to the SEC, having previously been at Arkansas from 2013-17. He also took down Tennessee in the Music City Bowl last campaign, which has him puffing his chest a bit. This now includes a wild shot at the conference.
With his opening remarks at the podium to help kick off the Big Ten event, his past of working with both conferences was brought up. In his usual fashion, Bielema responded in an eye-opening way, taking a bit of a shot at the SEC for no reason. Yup, no one is going to like this, including the good people over in Knoxville.
Illinois’ Bret Bielema: “The SEC would like it to stay 2005 forever.”
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Says the changes with NIL and portal have benefited teams like his. pic.twitter.com/SHdShI5Z98
Bret Bielema has SEC fans livid with his unneeded shade during Big Ten Media Days
Really, Bret? Let's talk about your days as head coach at Arkansas real quick. He went 29-34 in five seasons, with an 11-29 record against SEC opponents. Those stats alone should prevent him from thinking he can take a shot at inarguably one of the best conferences in football. Just because he's now in the Big Ten he thinks he can mouth off a bit? Please.
Another talking point to bring up here is that from 2006-22, 13 national titles were recorded by SEC teams. Sure, in recent years the natty winners have been Indiana, Ohio State, and Michigan (all Big Ten schools), but just ignoring what happened after 2005 is a bit silly. Bielema is getting dragged a bit for this and understandably so. He's only going to get taken down even more if an SEC school wins it all this winter.
As for Tennessee, no, the Vols aren't expected to be in the national title hunt this year, and it's going to be tough for them to get back to the College Football Playoff with true freshman Faizion Brandon potentially taking over as the starting quarterback. Despite that, UT has now been given even more motivation to take down the Illini the next time these two teams face off. Last December, Illinois unfortunately beat the Vols 30-28, with a game-winning FG as time expired.
Since then, a sour taste has been left in the mouths of Tennessee fans, but Bielema has made things worse thanks to his latest comments. It's not just the Vols, though, as SEC teams as a whole will now be ready to silence him and the Big Ten moving forward. If Bielema wanted to get people talking over this, he has succeeded, but people will surely be ready to go after him if Illinois suffers any setbacks in the future.
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