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Oct. 24—CHAMPAIGN — No need to tell Bret Bielema about the challenging crowd at Oregon’s Autzen Stadium.
The Illinois football coach has been there, done that.
Back in 1994, Bielema was in his first year as a graduate assistant coach at Iowa, his alma mater. Iowa played its fourth game of the season at Oregon. It did not go well for the Hawkeyes, who lost 40-18 to Rich Brooks’ Ducks.
“At that point, I saw this place was really at a different level,” Bielema said Wednesday during a media session at the Smith Center. “Then watched it, admired it over the years.”
Bielema’s initial trip to Eugene was before Autzen became AUTZEN. Just 29,287 showed in a place that seated 41,698 at the time.
The building has grown, with 60,129 setting a stadium attendance record for Oregon’s 32-31 win against Ohio State on Oct. 12.
Autzen’s special place in college football started in the 1990s and has continued through a handful of regimes, from Brooks to Mike Bellotti to Chip Kelly to Mark Helfrich to Mario Cristobal.
Now, Dan Lanning is in his third uber-successful season, leading the Ducks (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) to No. 1.
“Dan, during this two-and-a half year window, he’s lost one game at home (37-34 to Washington in 2022),” Bielema said.”
Learning curve
The current Illini (6-1, 3-1) are 1-1 in road games this season, winning in overtime at Nebraska and losing at now-No. 3-ranked Penn State.
“We have the good fortune of the Penn State game,” Bielema said. “Some people say it’s a bad fortune because we lost. But it’s only a true loss if you don’t learn. We had the learning experience of that day that we all have to own and carry in our front pocket, not our back pocket. We’ve got to learn that thing every day.”
The timing Saturday works to Illinois’ advantage. With the 12:30 p.m. (Eugene time) kickoff, the crowd won’t have all day to rev up like…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/bob-asmussen-bielema-no-stranger-144900673.html
Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Publish date : 2024-10-24 14:49:00
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