Looking closer at Bret Bielema's reign of terror over the Gophers

Bielema is 10-0 all-time against Minnesota as a head coach.

Oct 12, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Bret Bielema celebrates a 50-49 win over the Purdue Boilermakers at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images / Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema is an obstacle that the Gophers have never been able to overcome.

He returned to the Big Ten as head coach of Illinois in 2021, having previously dominated Minnesota at Wisconsin from 2006-12. His record against the Gophers between both stops is a perfect 10-0.

Adding his five-year stint at Arkansas, 8.3% of Bielema's 121 wins as a head coach have come against Minnesota. On paper it seems like he's dominated the Gophers, but there have been five one-score games, though the average margin of victory for his teams against Minnesota is 14.2 points.

Minnesota against Bielema (10 games)

• (2006) @ Wisconsin: 12-48
• (2007) vs. Wisconsin: 34-41
• (2008) @ Wisconsin: 32-35
• (2009) vs. Wisconsin: 28-31
• (2010) @ Wisconsin: 23-41
• (2011) vs. Wisconsin: 13-42
• (2012) @ Wisconsin: 13-38
• (2021) vs. Illinois: 6-14
• (2022) @ Illinois: 14-26
• (2023) vs. Illinois: 26-27

Bielema has faced five different Minnesota head coaches during his reign of terror. Glenn Mason's final season was in 2006; he took down Tim Brewster three times; he faced interim head coach Jeff Horton in 2010; Jerry Kill twice; and this will be his fourth matchup against P.J. Fleck.

The fact that the Gophers program has changed so much during Bielema's success makes this streak hard to figure out. Fleck is 0-3 against Bielema, but he's 3-4 against Illinois since arriving at Minnesota in 2017.

"Obviously, P.J.'s record speaks for itself, I think his bowl record is unbelievable," Bielema told the media earlier this week. "P.J.'s teams always get better in my opinion. He's a very detail-oriented coach. He's a guy during my time at Illinois, we've shared a lot of times on the field, but a guy that I really personally enjoy, who he is, what he stands for. I've always kind of said that we're complete opposites, but that's probably why we get along halfway decent."

Bielema has a 52-36 all-time record in Big Ten play, proving to be one of the conference's most successful head coaches of the 2000s. The Gophers enter Saturday's matchup as favorites according to the odds, but they will need to be prepared to beat one of the most well-coached teams in the Big Ten.