Nebraska: But it wasn't his recently vanquished foe he directed that energy toward.
Nebraska · IllinoisWhile praising his team for becoming bowl eligible for the third consecutive season – something the Fighting Illini hadn't done since the early 1990s – he took a shot at the SEC three days after the conference's teams played a controversially large role in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2026 season. More: Week 10 bold predictions: College football's biggest Saturday gets wild "We've just got to continue to stay on track where we're at and do a really good job of holding the moment and putting ourselves in a position to be successful."
The Crimson Tide are No. 9 the Longhorns are No. 11 in the US LBM Coaches Poll . Big Ten teams with two losses weren't afforded nearly the same grace as their southern counterparts, with No. 12 Ohio State, No. 19 Iowa and No. 20 USC all outside the top 10.
Illinois , which was 5-3 at the time of the rankings' release, wasn't included in the top 25, nor did it receive votes in the latest Of the top 14 teams in the first batch of rankings from the playoff selection committee, seven were from the SEC.
No three-loss team in the playoff rankings was higher than No. 21 (South Carolina, also from the SEC). Bret Bielema didn't mince words when talking about Illinois' ranking compared to some teams in the SEC.
KEY POINTS
- But it wasn't his recently vanquished foe he directed that energy toward.
- The most dubious of those selections were a two-loss Alabama team at No. 5 and a two-loss Texas team at No. 7, putting both of them ahead of undefeated UCLA, which was No. 8.
- Bret Bielema took a shot at the SEC’s CFP rankings love, saying Illinois would probably be a top-15 team in the conference.
- After his team's 24-13 victory over Nebraska on Friday, Nov. 6, Illinois football coach Bret Bielema was feeling a little bit chesty.