Jul. 24—INDIANAPOLIS — Seth Coleman didn’t have to stress to dip into his memory of the final minutes of last season’s game against Wisconsin and the one moment that he felt changed the outcome.
Coleman might have been nine months removed from that late October showdown with the Badgers at Memorial Stadium, but the memory was fresh as the veteran outside linebacker recalled it Tuesday afternoon at Big Ten media days.
It was an example of the type of in-game scenario — a seemingly minor detail — that had significant consequences.
A late substitution between Coleman and Ezekiel Holmes in the closing minutes of the game forced Illinois coach Bret Bielema to call a timeout. The impact was two-fold.
Wisconsin was able to draw up a play to extend a series that ended in the go-ahead touchdown pass from Braedyn Locke to Nolan Rucci. It also ensured Illinois was out of timeouts, as it tried to piece together its own, ultimately unsuccessful, scoring drive.
The end result? A 25-21 Wisconsin win. Another game decided by a touchdown or less in the Bielema era.
“That was a critical moment in the game,” Coleman said. “We go over situational football a lot with Coach B. in our team meetings. Those small details, they really, really matter. For real. I can’t stress it enough. They really do.”
That’s something Bielema said he didn’t feel like he stressed enough to his team last fall. The Illinois coach thought that lesson had been learned — ingrained enough — in 2022 after the team’s 7-1 start was followed by an eight-point loss to Michigan State, a seven-point loss to Purdue and a two-point loss at then-No. 3 Michigan. A three-game stretch that cost the Illini a Big Ten West title.
“Last year I don’t know if, for players and coaches, I put the fundamentals of what we really are in them hard enough,” Bielema said. “I just thought it was going to happen. So one of the things I’ve really stressed to our players and coaches is we have to make sure, fundamentally, every year we stress what we believe makes us win games.
“That’s what we’ve been doing since January. I think that’s part of my direction as a head coach is let them know that every game — Eastern Illinois to the last game against Northwestern — has to be won. No one is going to give you anything. That’s a big change.”
Nearly half of Illinois’ games the past three seasons have been decided by seven or fewer points. That the Illini are 8-10 in those games can be spun as a positive. There’s games among those eight wins where the expectation wasn’t a victory until the final seconds.
“We won one against Minnesota that no one thought we would,” Bielema said about last year’s John Paddock-to-Isaiah Williams heroics. “There’s a little give and take, but bottom line is we haven’t done enough. Those close games, that’s what drives me nuts. We put ourselves in those situations, but we haven’t been able to prevail.”
Getting in close games, though, was the first step. It was part of a needed evolution in the program Bielema identified when he took the Illinois job in December 2020.
“When I first came in here, we had to teach guys not to lose the game,” the Illini coach said. “That was a huge part of what I believed we needed to do. Once you stop putting yourself in a position to lose it, now you can win it.”
Bielema is counting on the experience of this season’s roster to be a positive if his team finds itself in more close games this fall. He made a point during Big Ten media days of mentioning how many Illinois players have double-digit starts.
Coleman is part of that group among Illinois’ returning players. Other key players that qualify include the other two players that represented the Illini in Indianapolis — wide receiver Pat Bryant and outside linebacker Gabe Jacas — along with quarterback Luke Altmyer, defensive back Xavier Scott and offensive lineman Zy Crisler.
The influx of transfers this offseason also bolstered that number. Wide receiver Zakhari Franklin has more than 40 starts under his belt between stops at Texas San Antonio and Mississippi. Cornerback Terrance Brooks started 13 games last season for a Texas team that reached the College Football Playoff, and fellow cornerback Torrie Cox Jr. arrived with even more career starts at Ohio. Illinois’ likely pair of starting offensive tackles, J.C. Davis and Melvin Priestly, both made double-digit starts at New Mexico and Grambling State, respectively. And seventh-year defensive lineman Dennis Briggs Jr. got to 10 starts when healthy during his six seasons at Florida State.
“I have a meeting with guys and, for me, guys specifically we acquired through the portal that came out of big programs,” Bielema said about his offseason process. “I ask them specific things, like what’s different? I want to learn. I want to grow. Unequivocally, most of those guys have referenced the ability to learn, understand and regurgitate situational football.”
The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
