Illinois is on somewhat of a revenge tour itself and Michigan is next up

Trent Knoop | Oct 15, 2024

Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images / Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Saturday marks a rare ranked-on-ranked matchup between the #24 Michigan Wolverines vs. #22 Illinois. The Illini have been one of the better stories within the Big Ten Conference and the only game the Illini have dropped came to the hands of Penn State in State College. Illinois has a couple of good wins this season when it took down a ranked Kansas team and then took down Nebraska.

Heading into Saturday, coach Bret Bielema knows there is a chance he could get another big win to his resume when the Wolverines come into town. During his weekly press conference on Monday, he said he would love for Michigan to come into a loud environment and wants the Illinois' fans as loud as possible.

“We haven’t lost a game out there all year,” Bielema said. “That place should be rocking. That place should be going crazy. To have two ranked teams, that’s what I wanna hear. They’ve been great, the student section, after the game.

“When we go to Michigan, we have to prepare for crowd noise there. I’d really like for someone to have to prepare for crowd noise coming here. That’s when we’ve arrived.”

Saturday will be the first game between Michigan and Illinois since the Wolverines escaped in Ann Arbor back in 2022. The Wolverines found themselves down six points with 12 minutes to play in the game and star running back Blake Corum suffered a serious injury that sidelined him during the postseason. It took two Jake Moody field goals -- including a game-winner with nine seconds left on the clock -- to propel Michigan to a 19-17 win over Illinois.

Bielema hasn't forgotten that game and badly wished he could've received a rematch last season, but with how well Illinois is playing this year -- the Illini are on somewhat of a revenge tour.

“I’m 3-3 against them, and I didn’t like the last one,” Bielema said. “So everybody’s got their history. This game means a lot to me. We will put our best foot forward. Excited about the opportunity.

“The last one was pretty big. The last one was big, I thought we had a good enough football team to go up there and win. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, and there were a lot of things that went into it, things we could’ve done better. We didn’t get the chance to rematch these guys last year, so we have the chance to rematch them this year. 

“Those things mean a lot. Even in league play — it’s changed a little bit now — but this year we have six rematch games. We’re through four of them; we’re 3-1. Last year against those same four teams, we were 0-4. I think our guys know the growth they’ve had.

“But I told them last night, there’s nothing more challenging than to have a team that’s continued to play well and continues to move forward to keep doing the same things that brought you success. Don’t get bored doing things well.”

Bielema went from coaching Wisconsin -- left for the SEC -- and is back in the Big Ten with Illinois. He's been around Michigan for quite some time and while the Wolverines might have changed coaches, their run identity hasn't shifted. Michigan prides itself on running the football and playing sound defense -- while that hasn't been the case in 2024.

“I spent a lot of time, I spent -- I don’t know how many hours -- already this morning just working about Tuesday’s practice,” Bielema said. “So Michigan is a very scripted football team. They play very, very good football. They’re sound fundamentally offensively, defensively, and on special teams.

“I think the thing that gives our guys the moment to have those things be successful is they’ve been prepared, they’ve been put in that position, they visualize it and also a little bit of some of the pain of the past. Our No. 1 season goal this year was remember the past, prepare for the future. I think literally every week, that comes up.”

Michigan will take on Illinois at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.

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