Twelve years and two coaching stops ago, Bret Bielema was Public Enemy No. 1 to the Gophers fan base. The then-Wisconsin coach had guided his Badgers to a 41-23 rout of Minnesota at Camp Randall Stadium, during which he called for a two-point conversion when his team went up by 25 points with 6:39 left in the fourth quarter.
The Gophers coach in that 2010 game, Tim Brewster, objected vehemently when he met Bielema for the postgame handshake, calling the two-point try "horse hockey'' or words to that effect. Brewster was fired after the Gophers' next game, and hindsight shows that Bielema might have done Minnesota a favor by running up the score.
In 2022, it's a kinder and gentler Bielema, now the coach at Illinois, when it comes to his relationship with the Gophers coach, and vice versa. Both P.J. Fleck and Bielema have thrown verbal bouquets to the other this week ahead of the Gophers-Fighting Illini game on Saturday in Champaign.
"I've got a lot of respect for P.J. and what he does,'' Bielema said. "I said it before, we're different people, but from a program standpoint, we're probably very similar in a lot of ways.''
Indeed, the Gophers (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) and No. 24-ranked Illini (5-1, 2-1) have mirror-image teams entering the game that's heavy with Big Ten West Division implications.
- Both teams are stout defensively, with Illinois allowing a nation's-low 8.0 points per game and the Gophers second best at 8.8. In total defense, Minnesota ranks first (222.0 yards allowed per game), and Illinois is second (228.0).
- Both love to run the football with an outstanding back. Illinois fifth-year junior Chase Brown ranks second in the land with 146.5 rushing yards per game; Gophers sixth-year senior Mohamed Ibrahim is fourth at 141.75.
- And both don't like the other team possessing the football. The Gophers lead the nation in time of possession with an average of 37 minutes, 59.4 seconds, while Illinois is seventh at 33:58.
"They're very physical. They play their system exactly the way it needs to played,'' Fleck said of the Illini. "They're playing at a very, very high level, a very confident football team. And we've got our work cut out for us.''
That's especially true when you see that Bielema-coached teams are 8-0 against the Gophers with seven wins coming while he was at Wisconsin and the other being last year's 14-6 upset in Minneapolis.
Two weeks ago, the Gophers were riding high like Illinois is now. Minnesota started the season 4-0, capped by a 34-7 rout of Michigan State, and earned the No. 21 ranking in the AP Top 25. Then came a mistake-filled 20-10 loss to Purdue. To attain their goal of winning the Big Ten West, the Gophers can ill afford a loss to Illinois, which would give potential division tiebreakers to both the Illini and Boilermakers, teams they are chasing.
That Illinois is in the Top 25 and sits in a tie among Purdue and Wisconsin atop the Big Ten West is a tribute to Bielema, who led Wisconsin to a pair of Rose Bowls and an Orange Bowl from 2006-2012 before going 29-34 in five years at Arkansas.
The Illini were picked to finish last in the West in the Cleveland.com preseason media poll, but back-to-back wins over Wisconsin (34-10) and Iowa (9-6) have them on the upswing in Bielema's second year in Champaign.
When the AP poll was released Sunday and Illinois made it, Bielema, a former Iowa defensive end, took a moment to reflect.
"I grew up playing for Coach [Hayden] Fry, and he used to say, 'Partner, if you done it, you ain't bragging.' ''
That Bielema swagger hasn't gone away, though he's quick to credit his players for their buy-in.
"They are just thirsty. They're hungry, they're excited,'' he said. "… It's going to be a big game on Saturday because we made it a big game. Minnesota did their part. They're a 4-1 football team, and we're a 5-1 football team. It's going to get a little buzz.''
