Illinois Football: 5 observations from the Illini win over Northwestern

5. Great way to end a great season

Just two years ago, it was hard to see Illinois football being a team that could win more than five or six games in a season. This program was in a bad spot, and we couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In steps Bret Bielema. I will be the first to admit that I’ve never been a huge Bielema fan. When he was hired, I loved his coaching pedigree but didn’t really care for him as a coach of my program. But I gave him a chance and boy howdy, Bielema has passed with flying colors.

Bielema, self admittedly, made some mistakes in the past. He is a cool, calm, and collected customer today with a new lease on life. He sharpened his coaching abilities with a couple of NFL teams, and then returned to the college ranks with the Illini. This move has benefited both parties, as he helped resurrect the Orange and Blue.

After a 1-1 start that saw a tough loss to Indiana, Illinois went on a tear. We won six games in a row and put the program directly into the national spotlight, which is something we haven’t seen in over 10 years.

At one time this season, Illinois was looked at as a dark horse for the College Football Playoff. We were ranked No. 16 in the country. We also had a contender for the Heisman Trophy in Chase Brown.

But three-straight rough losses ended all of that talk. Illinois came back down to earth a little bit, although, we about knocked off Michigan, who just throttled Ohio State on Saturday.

Sitting at 7-4, the Illini heading into the final game of the 2022 regular season. A loss to Northwestern would have made a lot of Illinois fans worried about the future, but that didn’t happen. Illinois demolished the Wildcats, 41-3.

This win moved the Orange and Blue to 8-4 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play. Overall, this was a great year. In the future, I don’t want to say that, though. I want 8-4 to be the norm. But for a program that hasn’t seen eight wins in the regular season since 2007, this was a season to remember. The sky is the limit for this program.