It was a great way to end the 2025 season, as the Illinois football team took down Northwestern.
This was a must-win for the Illini. Coming off a tough loss to Wisconsin, Illinois needed to get back on the right track and finish with a good taste in the mouth.
Bret Bielema only had good feelings after the game. He raved about his team, the seniors, and what lies ahead for the Orange and Blue. The press conference after the game was nothing but positive moving forward.
Here are five interesting Bret Bielema quotes from the Illinois football presser vs Northwestern
- “I know when we came here, we had lost six in a row to Northwestern. So, I think this win put us to 4-1.”
The previous regime at Illinois was a train wreck. We couldn’t win games, but moreover, the Illini continued to lose our biggest rivalry game against Northwestern.
When Bielema came into the program, that all changed. Success on the field started, and after the victory on Saturday, Illinois is now 4-1 against the Wildcats since he took over. The fact that he knows that and it is a priority is exactly what Illinois needed.
- “Wednesday is a big day, we have signing day coming in. I think this will be one of the best classes I have ever been able to assemble.”
I think this Illinois coaching staff has done a great job balancing winning and developing the team and recruiting. It is a hard game to play, but Bielema has done it well.
Illinois is closing in on not only one of Bielema’s best classes ever, but this would be the program’s best class since the rankings started coming out a couple of decades ago. The Illini currently have the No. 24 class in 2026.
- “I thought we had a plan all day long, we were just a little bit ahead of wherever we needed to be. I thought that part of managing the game was really, really good.”
I have been hard on the Illinois defense this season, and rightfully so. The Illinois defense has looked like garbage for much of the 2025 campaign.
The way we came out of halftime really made me happy. Illinois clearly made adjustments, and those worked against Northwestern. The game plan going into the game seemed solid, and this was a well-executed game plan throughout.
- “Thursday morning, I got a text from Tommy DeVito on Thanksgiving. He’s in a place right now that I don’t think he could even dream about when he came here. To see that come to fruition, I think Luke Altmyer is going to be very similar. I think he could be a starting quarterback in the NFL.”
It is crazy to think about, but Illinois has started to become a place you can go and make the NFL if you are a quarterback.
Tommy DeVito was a great resurrection project. He is now solidly in the NFL, and he has had plenty of starts the last couple of seasons. Luke Altmyer could be next in line. Without a doubt, he has an NFL arm. Bielema sees that, too.
- “His (Gabe Jacas) mom sent me a picture of them...on his official visit here four years ago. The kid looks like he’s 10 years old. He’s always looked kind of like a grown ass man, but in that photo right there, he looks so different than what he looks like now. He’s just absolutely awesome.”
It is probably the quietest great player Illinois has ever had. Gabe Jacas is a special talent who played some incredible football while he was in Champaign.
After the game on Saturday night, Jacas now leads the Big Ten in sacks this season. He notched his 11th sack, beating out Minnesota’s Anthony Smith, who finished the year with 10.5 sacks. That is an impressive stat and one that should get Jacas drafted fairly high in April.