It was not all pretty for Illinois in their 38-0 win against Western Michigan. A sluggish offensive start paired with an inconsistent showing from the defense only gave the Illini a 10 point leading heading into halftime.
Everyone in Gies Memorial Stadium knew the Illini head coach Bret Bielema was not going to be pleased with his team’s showing, but ‘not pleased’ is an understatement.
“I can’t repeat what I said at halftime,” Bielema said. “I was probably as spirited as I’ve ever been as a head coach
since I’ve been here at Illinois, just because I think I know what this team is potentially capable of doing.”
Illinois then outgained the Broncos 179 to 71, scoring 28 in the second half and pitching a shutout for the rest of the game— and Bielema’s speech might be why.
“I slapped the board and my hand is still numb. I’m probably going to have to get it checked out,” Bielema said. “It’s infuriating when we’re not at the ability of putting ourselves in the position to win football games.”
Illinois’ quarterback Luke Altmyer echoed his head coach’s sentiment.
“Frustration for sure, because we know we are better,” the third-year starter said. “It starts with me, I have to be better. And across the whole offense we know we will, and attacking our weaknesses, maximizing our strengths and that is what is going to be.”
The defensive side of the ball understood the assignment too. Safety Matt Bailey, a vocal leader for the team, knew changes had to be made.
“He was saying some words that we needed to hear,” Bailey said. “Defensively, we were doing things that were uncharacteristic of us and things that we don’t want on tape.”
Bielema is not going to want to rely on these fiesty halftime speeches to wake his team up, but the response from his squad can not be understated. With a top-25 matchup coming up with the Indiana Hoosiers, the Illini are going to need to put together 60 minutes of good football.
“This Indiana team is a really good football team,” Bielema said. “We can’t give away two quarters of football and expect to be in the contest in the end.”
