Aug. 24—CHAMPAIGN — No need to remind the Illinois football players “anybody can beat anybody.” Their coaches have that covered.
The fact the Illini open against FBS school Eastern Illinois has been mentioned by fourth-year Bret Bielema. A lot.
“On their schedule, this would be the marquee game of the year,” Bielema said of Chris Wilkerson’s Panthers, who make the short trip from Charleston to play the Illini at 8 p.m. this coming Thursday at Memorial Stadium in Champaign. “I think you’re always going to get an opponent’s best every week. But I think especially for them, a lot of kids on their roster are from Illinois.”
The father of one of the Panthers is a longtime friend of Bielema. Small world.
“There’s a lot of these stories,” he said. “There will be guys on this team that have people they played with in high school.”
There are 52 players from the Land of Lincoln on the EIU roster. Bielema’s team has 53.
“We always say, ‘Respect all, fear none,'” Bielema said. “The message from me as a head coach is the same if we’re playing Eastern Illinois, and it will be the same against Kansas.
“You’ve got to learn to play your opponent, but who is your opponent? We’re against Eastern Illinois’ offense, but who is the right guard? Who is the left guard? That doesn’t change no matter who we play.”
Doubtful Bielema will tell his team Illinois has never lost to an FCS school in its history (the Illini are 18-0 in those games entering their Week 1 matchup). That would be tempting fate.
Plus, Bielema has always leaned toward heaping praise on an opponent rather than pointing out potential vulnerabilities. He is very much old school that way, which given that his mentors are Hayden Fry, Kirk Ferentz, Bill Snyder, Barry Alvarez and Bill Belichick that makes sense. Not a lot of bragging from those guys.
One voice
Bielema’s sentiment when it comes to respecting opponents has obviously been embraced by his staff, starting with coordinators Aaron Henry and Barry Lunney Jr.
“Most fans when they look at a schedule, they look at the Penn States of the world, the Oregons,” said Henry, entering his second season in charge of the Illinois defense. “This is the Super Bowl for us. As much as people want to downplay it, we know this (Eastern Illinois) team is coming in here to beat us. They’ve got talented players on their roster that could have played here easily. This team is a really good football team that can put up a lot of points.”
Last time the Illinois defense took the field, it gave up 45 points in a home loss to another Illinois school, Northwestern.
That was a Big Ten team. Thursday’s opponent is from the lower-level FCS.
Why should Illinois fans take the game seriously? Lunney has a multi-layered answer.
“No. 1, you have to have blinders on to the outside world, period,” he said. “No. 2, you get 12 opportunities in a year. You better be ready for every one of them.
“No. 3, it’s your opener. And No. 4, you’ve got a real quality opponent. You’ve got a team here right down the road that plays football the right way and has got a lot of momentum going after the success (eight wins) they had last year. There’s a lot of respect from us going into this game about who Eastern is and how they play. Our guys are ready for that challenge.”
Back in the day
If EIU comes to Memorial Stadium on Thursday and pulls the upset, it will be a big deal, regionally and nationally. Though, technically it won’t be an upset because Las Vegas doesn’t set odds for games between the FBS and FCS.
I’m guessing at least a handful of FCS teams will beat FBS teams this season in so-called “money games.” The FCS school visits the big stadiums in exchange for a hefty check.
Nothing the FCS schools like better than to take the money AND the win.
The classic example came in 2007, a game they will be talking about at Michigan forever. Not in a good way.
Then-FCS power Appalachian State, the three-time national champion, went to Ann Arbor and shocked No. 5 Michigan 34-32.
There were 109,218 inside Michigan Stadium and millions more watching at home on BTN. It was the first game ever broadcast by the new network and one that will be difficult to top.
It was the kind of game where folks called family and friends to make sure they were watching. Something like “Turn to BTN” … if they had the channel (remember, it was a slow rollout).
Many Illinois fans were watching a different game that day. Their favorite team opened in St. Louis against Missouri. The Michigan-Appalachian State game was just wrapping up as Illinois-Missouri kicked off.
I can still hear the cheers from Illinois fans (and Missouri fans, too), when the Michigan-Appalachian State score was announced to the crowd.
Everybody loves an underdog. And Michigan doesn’t draw much sympathy.
Michigan later got its revenge on the Mountaineers. Sort of. In 2014, the Wolverines had Appalachian State back to the Big House and won 52-14. It marked the Mountaineers’ debut in the FBS, a move definitely helped by their shocking win in 2007.
