Former Arkansas Coach's Top 25 Showdown Proves SEC Different Animal

It seems like forever since Bielema coached Hogs, but he has finally resurrected his career

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Bret Bielema walks the sidelines against LSU during the game at Tiger Stadium. / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It feels like a million years have passed rather than less than seven seasons since former Arkansas coach Bret Bielema roamed the sidelines in Fayetteville.

The Chad Morris era, even though it didn't even last a full two years, felt like centuries of torture for fans and the emotional roller coaster that has been the Sam Pittman era has felt much longer than the slightly more than four seasons it has actually been.

During that time, Bielema bided his time trying to find ways to stay in the game and pocket a little cash while trying to technically honor his buyout clause from Arkansas in his mind. Eventually he made his way from what was more or less a pseudo-intern job with the New England Patriots to head coach of the Illinois Fighting Illini — the Big Ten version of Arkansas football.

That's where he's spent the last several years trying to rebuild his confidence after Bielema's record at Arkansas didn't match the SEC dominance he foresaw for himself by bringing a Big Ten style of play to what was at the time the most athletic college football league to ever exist. He built the largest offensive line in all of college football with future NFL star Hunter Henry tacked on at tight end and put studs like Alex Collins at running back and promptly went 29-34 after years of running the Big Ten.

Of course, everyone knows the tale of how it went down. He lost key assistant coaches like current Hogs' head coach Sam Pittman as he fumbled his way through a myriad of recruiting related faux pas. Tales of not meeting with recruits and, of course, ticking off every high school coach in the vital Texas recruiting grounds with arrogant comments insulting the spread offense at the height of the spread on the prep gridiron there added to the long list of self-inflicted mistakes.

However, after such a spectacular crash and burn that showed how Bielema's inability to adapt to his environment made him a poor fit for the SEC, his time in the familiar stomping grounds of the Big Ten have slowly rebuilt his reputation, although not to the level it was when he sat at the feet of Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez as his hand-picked successor.

Illinois comes into its showdown with No. 22 Nebraska this weekend ranked itself. Bielema has recovered with the help of former Arkansas interim coach Barry Lunney, Jr. to reach ranked status for the Illini at No. 24, making this a rare Top 25 showdown between two typically downtrodden programs. One might assume that Lunney brought his explosive offense from UTSA's days of bursting onto the scene under former Arkansas assistant Jeff Traylor, but, as can be seen in the highlights of the upset win over No. 19 Kansas, Lunney's offense feels eerily more similar to what Bielema ran at Arkansas than what made the Roadrunners a household name.

It should also be noted that Jayhawks' quarterback Jaylon Daniels looks like a shell of the man who led an unbelievable comeback that turned a Liberty Bowl blowout at the hands of Arkansas with just minutes left to play into a thrilling triple overtime loss.

Should Bielema find a way to knock off the Cornhuskers this weekend, technically it will be time to consider his career back on track. He will have finally rehabbed himself from the train wreck that became his dabble in SEC football.

A win will make him 22-19 at Illinois, all but guaranteeing he will finish the season without a losing record. That's something he was never able to say during his time at Arkansas.

Apparently, a Big Ten schedule was all Bielema needed to cure his woes. It's a lesson so many others who have tested the SEC waters only to earn buyouts to go away have learned since the first, and likely last, time Bielema ventured into the Deep South waters.

HOGS FEED:

• Metcalf brothers key to juggling Arkansas secondary

• Calipari confirms loaded preseason schedule for Razorbacks

• 5-star combo guard reschedules visit date with Hogs, Calipari

• Subscribe and follow us on YouTube
• Follow HogsSI on X and Facebook