Illinois head coach Bret Bielema had enjoyed success in recent years, but his formerly No. 9-ranked team dropped to No. 23 after a 63-10 blowout loss to then-No. 19 Indiana.
Saturday’s defeat marked the biggest loss in college football ever for a top-10 team against a non-top-10 team according to CBS Sports.
“Obviously extremely disappointed, but first to give credit to Indiana, not only their football team, their football coaches, their staff, but to that entire stadium, to their administration,” Bielema told reporters afterward. “Anything that they did, I think this is a very impressive venue.”
“Obviously, we didn’t start off good, which added fuel to the fire. But I’ve been around this league a long time and that was a very, very impressive atmosphere to be in, to give credit to them.”
It’s usually a top-10 team blowing out a top-10 team when the rare lopsided games occur. Notable blowouts include No. 2 Texas routing No. 9 Colorado 70-0 in 2005 and No. 7 Alabama pounding No. 21 Texas A&M 59-0 in 2014.
“Well, I obviously have never had myself against two ranked opponent teams like play like that. So, that’s uncharted waters,” Bielema said. “But, I do know this. I told our guys in the locker room, like, we have to own this moment. And the thing that we do need to take in account is our response, right?”
“Like, the response is what’s going to define us,” he added. “Today happened. I get it. I understand it. It’s something that we got to live through. Very disappointed for our football team, our coaches, our fans, anybody that had supported us to get to this point.”
Bret Bielema: ‘It Looked Like We Just Didn’t Belong’
From D’Angelo Ponds’ blocked punt return for a touchdown to quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s second-quarter offensive explosion, the Hoosiers had their way. Indiana had 579 yards of total offense, and the defense held the Illini to 161 total yards.
“Well, obviously, we did a lot to get to this point,” Bielema said about his team entering the game at No. 9. “I told our guys driving over here yesterday on the bus, I was excited to see this team play and excited to play in this environment. But the way it unfolded, it looked like we just didn’t belong in that moment. And that was the concerning part to me.”
“And I think the biggest thing that we have to do is, if we have good players, which I think we do, we have to be able to let them play fast,” he added. “If we’re giving them too much and they aren’t able to perform because we’re clouding them with anything that’s in their head before the ball is snapped, I think that’s something we got to really look at closely.”
Illinois Gets Trojan Horsed-Size Task Next
Now, Illinois will need to regroup against a hot No. 21-ranked USC team (4-0) on Sept. 27. The Trojans downed Michigan State 45-31 in a late Saturday night game.