Bielema notches victory in return
MADISON, Wis. — Illinois coach Bret Bielema had a triumphant return to Camp Randall Stadium because he has helped make the Fighting Illini physical enough to beat Wisconsin at its own game.
Chase Brown rushed for 129 yards, quarterback Tommy DeVito had three short touchdown runs and Illinois trounced Wisconsin 34-10 on Saturday to give the Illini their first win at Madison since 2002.
“I told them last night in a team meeting at the end, I had a feeling they were going to play well, and if we played our kind of football and played the way that I’ve seen them play and the way that we asked them to be coached, I thought we could have success,” said Bielema, who coached Wisconsin from 2006-12.
Illinois (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) scored 17 points off Wisconsin turnovers and scored the game’s final 27 points.
The Illini sacked Graham Mertz five times and held the Badgers to 2 yards rushing on 24 carries while handing Wisconsin its most lopsided home loss since a 48-7 setback against Penn State in 2008. This was Illinois’ most lopsided win in the series since a 34-6 blowout of Wisconsin in 1988.
“This was sweet,” Brown said. “It’s not a fluke. We came here expecting to win and we did.”
Illinois won with the same formula that Wisconsin’s used for most of the last three decades. The Illini outrushed Wisconsin 137-2, made fewer mistakes than their opponent and were more physical on both sides of the ball.
“We definitely take it personally,” Wisconsin outside linebacker C.J. Goetz said. “This program was built on physicality.”
Bielema went 68-24 in seven years as Wisconsin’s coach before leaving for Arkansas at the end of the 2012 regular season. He was fired at Arkansas in 2017 after going 29-34 and took over the Illinois program in December 2020.