3 Big Takeaways From Illinois Football's Citrus Bowl Win Over South Carolina

After the Illini's fifth fourth-quarter comeback of 2024, we have a few big-picture thoughts to share

Dec 31, 2024; Orlando, FL, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini running back Josh McCray (6) celebrates winning the MVP after the game against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images / Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images

Games like Tuesday's Citrus Bowl don't come around very often for Illinois, and seasons like 2024 have been even less frequent around Champaign.

Consider that as recently as 2016-2018, the Illini were able to pull together just nine wins over a three-year stretch. With their 21-17 upset over South Carolina on New Year's Eve, the Illini topped that total in 2024 alone – only their fifth 10-win season in program history and first since 2001.

There was plenty to process after Illinois' fifth fourth-quarter comeback this season – this one without late-game heroics of receiver Pat Bryant – but we've landed on three big-picture takeaways worth breaking out:

1. Bret Bielema is king of the bye

The month between Illinois' win over Northwestern in its regular-season finale and Tuesday's Citrus Bowl triumph wasn't a bye, per se, but it underscored how well Bielema teams have performed – especially in recent years – when they have extra time to prepare.

Now 6-1 coming off bye weeks, the Bielema-coached Illini were on point in just about every way against the Gamecocks. They shut down South Carolina's biggest threat (quarterback LaNorris Sellers' scrambling), matched Shane Beamer's mass-substitution machinations, managed the clock effectively and committed no penalties.

Too late to recast ballots for 2024 Big Ten Coach of the Year?

2. The Big Ten has made its statement

Reports of the Big Ten's death, as it turns out, were exaggerated. Indiana's 10-point loss to Notre Dame has somehow been held up as the avatar for all that is wrong with the College Football Playoff and the supposed overblown reputation of the Big Ten. But let's take stock of just the past 10 days, shall we?

Penn State smashed SMU. Ohio State took Tennessee to the woodshed. You can still smell the lamination on USC's Big Ten credentials, but the Trojans still topped Texas A&M. Nebraska topped Boston College, Penn State slapped around Boise State and, in what had been considered to be an embarrassment of a season for the reigning national champions, Michigan beat No. 11 Alabama.

So much whining about Bama having been denied its rightful place in the CFP. So little proof.

Meanwhile, Illinois did its part to rep the Big Ten, and quarterback Luke Altmyer wasn't shy about sharing his feelings of vindication after the Illini's win over the Gamecocks – particularly when faced with that special brand of SEC snobbery.

#illini QB Luke Altmyer said some South Carolina players thought they were Syracuse at a combined team event this week.

"Been hearing all this talk about SEC, SEC in the playoff and things like that, and I'm just tired of the disrespect. Illinois has been a disrespected program… pic.twitter.com/i5o3ECvAdb

— Jeremy Werner (@JWerner247) January 1, 2025

3. There's something happenin' here

It's silly for anyone outside an organization to pretend to know exactly what's going on behind the curtain, but as a natural cynic who has covered Illinois football for more than 30 years across seven coaching regimes, I'll say this: These Illini seem different.

Bielema has a plan and values culture (practicing, not merely preaching it), which means he's simpatico with athletic director Josh Whitman. And it's amazing what can be accomplished when you throw smart, experienced people into the same boat and they all row in the same direction together. That has been the mark of Illinois athletics in recent years, but it has also been the m.o. of Bielema's program, seemingly from top to bottom.

The last few steps to the top of the mountain are the hardest, and you know what they say about staying there. Solving NIL will be the key to Illinois' long-term success, but a 10-win season culminating in a Citrus Bowl win over an SEC team that many believed belonged in the CFP should help properly equip the Illini for the climb.

More From Illinois on Sports Illustrated:

Social Media Reacts to Illinois Football's Citrus Bowl Upset Over South Carolina

Gesture-Gate: The Ridiculousness of the Shane Beamer-Bret Bielema Clash

Illinois Football Stuns South Carolina in Program-Shifting Citrus Bowl Upset