Mully & Haugh Show
Bret Bielema has Illinois ready for its challenge at Penn State
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Limited battery warranty covers defects and materials for 10 years or 100,000 miles whichever occurs first. Sea owners manual for complete warranty details and limitations visit hondausa.com or call 562-3144343 for more details. Lane take for the corner it's quiet, it's touchdown. Barry Loney's play calling tonight Devon has been extraordinary. And Altmire has executed to a profession. Assistant coach outs the ball game. Let's right up the gut. Gray almost down, Illinois pulls it off. A huge upset. Dylan Rosiek, the mic linebacker, shoots through to make the stop. Mully and ha, Chicago Sports Radio 670 the score. That was the end of it, that was the 3124 victory and overtime over Nebraska. We are delighted to welcome in the man who led it, the architect of victory. He is Brett Billma with the University of Illinois, ILL, INI and it just keeps getting better. Good morning coach, how are you holding up? I'm good, Mully. Thank you. Getting ready to get out to practice here in about an hour. So we're starting to get into our Penn State prep. Boy, early practice. Yes, practices are all the time. Yeah, you know, it's interesting, you know, when I was head coach of Wisconsin Arkansas, really every place I'd ever been, we've done afternoon practices. We always fought with the class schedule and college and everything. So when I went to the NFL, most NFL teams practice, you know, in that, in that 7 to 10, 7 to 11 a.m. window because your body is the most prepared, less complex and just a better way to attack the day. So I took that when we started here and it's really been paying off. We have very few, I would say, at Illinois, we have no class complex because class always takes priority. But we really, it's the best way for us to practice here at Illinois, for sure. Well, practice makes perfect and you guys are perfect. It's been so much fun to watch. You know, I think Kansas was 19 at the time, Nebraska 22nd. Now you guys are 19 and you're going into Happy Valley. Penn State is number nine in the country. Your reward for the great upset victory is a top 10 team. It just doesn't get any easier, especially in the big 10. Yeah, it's, you know, I think one of the exciting parts of our conference, really a college football right now is just the ever changing world. And now to have 18 teams in our conference for us at Illinois, we play obviously this game at Penn State. We have a game a couple of weeks later that we're going to Oregon. We have a hundred year anniversary game right here in our own stadium against Michigan. So it's kind of an unprecedented time, which is kind of the world we live in today. And it's a lot of fun. You're ready for prime time. Certainly the audience for Friday night's game in Nebraska, I think, was four million viewers, which really was great for ratings in college football and your program. Coach, and now I think that you look at Saturday's game against Penn State. It's going to be another national televised game. I think it's the NBC game. You have risen to the occasion. Your offense has been very, very efficient and explosive. Luke Altmeyer is a big reason why. How big of a step has he taken this season so far? You know, David, it's been fun. Obviously for me as a head coach to watch your players grow and kind of just, you know, expand what they've done in the past. And I know you're a former DB. So you know where I'm coming from. Like as a quarterback, his presence, his awareness, his knowledge before the snap is really allowed him to play faster when the ball is in play. We always say volume reflects confidence. He speaks with great volume, but also his actions, you know, with just an unbelievable level of confidence. And I know he's looking forward to the big stage and an opportunity to go play at Penn State. And you know, it's going to be a late night game and it's going to be a crowd that probably is all dressed in white and they're very excited. So we're excited about this opportunity ourselves. Yeah, it really has been fun to watch from a distance. The Nebraska game was just fantastic. That is a very difficult place to play. I don't think Penn State is going to be any worse than that. You go in there and they're going crazy and you just, it was amazing to see your team answer every time a question arose. And you know, when you're in games like that is a, you know, is kind of just a fan watching. You wonder, wow, how long can they keep doing this? How long can you keep up with them? And good God, it was phenomenal the way that that game went back and forth. And then when you get to overtime, man, it took you virtually no time at all to score a touchdown. And then I think they were facing a third and 45 or something, third and 43. I mean, you want a team in third and 43 is my understanding. Yeah, we were excited to get over there. You know, actually, Illinois, we've won, I believe our last three trips over there to Lincoln. We won two years ago and then the win this past Saturday or this past Friday, I should say, is a really great opportunity. And I think that's probably the way our guys are playing into it. We, you know, obviously everybody knows the name Owen Crews, right? A phenomenal bear and a guy in the Chicago fourth market. Well, his son, Josh Crews, is our starting center. And he got up and gave a preseason talk to us about playing with an edge and playing with a demeanor that is relentless. And I think literally our whole football team took that over. We talked last week about packing our tough, smart, dependable edge, right? Like we were going on a road trip to Lincoln. We all needed to pack our bags and they packed that edge and they played with it. It's just been, I think this team is a lot of fun to be around. Obviously we're playing Saturday against Penn State, but I told our guys all the time, right, man, you've been preparing to play Penn State since January when we got together, right? Like it just doesn't happen in a week. You put in a lot of great work and hopefully the things that we've been preparing for and talking about are going to play out this weekend. Well, Josh Crews has helped you win the line of scrimmage battle offensively. I think you got a lot of guys who are doing that defensively because that's where it starts, coach, as you know, I saw Tara Edwards. There's a clip circulating around social media of him splitting a double team. And it is a thing of beauty because that's the way you coach it. That's the way you want to see it. And I heard him referred to yesterday as one of the more unselfish players in your program. What is it about Tara Edwards that makes him that way? You know, it's funny to say that. Like I don't think anybody would consider a 300 pound plus nose guard as sexy, but it's truly what it was, right? He just kind of understands the game, plays with incredible intensity. He understands the leverage, I think. A lot of times the D linemen. One of the things you can be truly gifted is not only understand what you're doing, but what they're doing. And he kind of has a unique knack of playing the leverage game. Often he's double team, right? And he kind of threw his leverage into the middle of the double team there and came out. It was a second and one. And he made a tackle for no gain, which put us into a third and short, right? Just another good example of him. I know a selfish player just doing his job. Really fun. He's a guy since last year. You know, he's from the Columbus, Ohio area. He's in the northwest and transferred into our place three years ago. Has been a staple for us and has really come into his own. I remember a day this past summer, I needed to reach out to him. We were talking about some scheduling thing. He's on our leadership council and I called him on a Sunday about three o'clock. And we were talking and he goes like, Hey, coach, I got a run. I got a hot yoga class here at four o'clock. I need to go to. I just started laughing because it just, it kind of speaks volumes about, you know, the, the dedicate that this is something he did totally on his own. He, he's sculpted his body, did some things that he wanted to take advantage of. And, and we're paying the dividends for it now in, in, in late September. And hopefully going to pay dividends for a while to come. Plug in a Hyundai EV and the extraordinary happens. It's not just the ultra fast charging capability in long range in the Ionic 5 and Ionic 6, or the adventure seeking spirit of the Kona electric or the groundbreaking 601 horsepower Ionic 5N. And it's not just the comfort in knowing that every Hyundai EV is backed by a 10 year, 100,000 mile limited electric battery warranty. Hyundai's EVs transform a low hum into a loud adventure. They bring color to your journey and turn energy into main character energy. So forget everything you thought you knew about EVs and turn the extraordinary into something true. Electrifying. There's joy in every journey. EPA estimated a three to three mile driving range for 2024. The Ionic 6 SESEL limited rear wheel drive and three to 61 mile driving range for 2024. Ionic 6 SE long range rear wheel drive with fully charged battery. Estimated range varies for other models and trims and depends on battery capacity temperature options and other factors. Limited battery warranty covers defects materials for 10 years or 100,000 miles which occurs first. See owners manual for complete warranty details and limitations. Visit HondaUSA.com or call 562-314-6034 details. Yeah, you know, you mentioned Olin. I do the pre and the post with him. And Olin grew up three houses down from Donovan Rayola. And that's his son Dylan who is the quarterback at Nebraska. So to have the crew boys, you've got both Josh and James on your team to have them going against a kid. And that kid's a good quarterback. He's going to be good. And to have them going against a kid they've known since they were like toddlers. That was really thrilling for the two fathers for the, you know, their sons. And he talked about it on the pregame. And it was, I got a real kick out of just hearing what he had to say about it. Because I know he's, you know, as proud as could be with his boys. And you know, Olin can get a little feisty. And so he definitely passed that on to his son. So it was interesting. I knew our guys were excited to play. So I actually grabbed Josh and James during the course of the week. And I said, listen, I knew the history of the Ryolas. Actually their old line coach was a player at Wisconsin, their uncle. Was at Wisconsin when I was there and I've known him for a long time. And sometimes you can make the battles within the battles too much, right? And it can get overwhelming. I would tell you Josh Cruz was very excited to play that game. There was a play. I showed the team on Saturday where he took the nose, doubled him back, threw him on his back. And then normally Josh would kind of jump on it and make a little statement afterwards. But he played with restraint and played very, very calmly in the moment where he had had success. Just spoke about it. And James, you know, I would say James is playing with a calf on his hand. And it's playing so good for us on special teams in linebacker. There's so many great stories on our team. And those stories don't just come about by chance, right? Like with those guys, they're raised in a great environment. Mom and Dad did a hell of a job to get them where they are. We have so many kids that have put themselves in positions, you know, our quarterback. Luke Altmeyer, you know, grew up in an environment, his dad was a head doctor at Mississippi State in starting Mississippi. He's been around college football his whole life and he dreamed of this moment. And now he's just capitalizing on a big stage. So very excited for a lot of our guys in our program. So Coach, you're back in the top 20. You're at 19. You're no stranger to that kind of success and how to handle it. Maybe some of your players might be. What's the message this week after a big win? You've got to go out on another tough environment. What is the what is the preside overwhelming message that you have to have your players understand how to handle success this week? You know, it's for me, the head coach, you always look for these little indicators, right? Little things to tell you many things. And it sounds so funny, but we got off the buses on Saturday or Friday night. We go to the airplane. We hop on it and lo and behold, they tell us that champagne was fogged in and we're going to, you know, be on a four hour weather delay. So here is Friday night. You're excited to play the game and win. But now we got a several hour delay. Didn't get back to the champagne here until about four or five in the morning. But I was going through video clips, going through social media. And one of our best players through these first four games has been Xavier Scott. A kid from West Palm Beach, Florida. It sounds like a joke. But his high school coach was a guy. My name is Jack Daniels. A good buddy of mine that reached out and said, "Hey, you need to take a look at this guy." And he's come in. He started his first game at Michigan. Played his tail off three years ago. And now he's playing at a high level for us. Thorpe Award was in town to watch us play against Lincoln. But Xavier, after the game, goes up to a TV camera that was in his face. And most guys write like a W or something. And he wrote, "Wanna know?" And what that tells me is they're hearing what we're saying. No matter what we're doing, I know the outside world, things we're for now. But all we're doing this week is trying to get ourselves in a position to go want to know against a really good football team at Tate College, right? So our focus has been focused on the present. Everybody else will take you where you want to go or where they want to go. What we need to do is stay focused on Penn State. So today is Tuesday. It's a very, very important day. We practice early downs. We practice our coverage units. We do a lot of basic install for the game this weekend. And that's where their focus needs to be. Coach, thanks a ton. Thanks for jumping on. We're following it and we're really proud of what the job you're doing. It's been fun to watch. Good luck Saturday. Appreciate it, gentlemen. ILL. Plug in a Hyundai EV and the extraordinary happens. It's not just the ultra-fast charging capability and long range in the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6. Or the adventure-seeking spirit of the Kona Electric or the groundbreaking 601 horsepower IONIQ 5N. And it's not just the comfort in knowing that every Hyundai EV is backed by a 10-year, 100,000-mile limited electric battery warranty. Hyundai's EVs transform a low hum into a loud adventure. They bring color to your journey and turn energy into main character energy. So forget everything you thought you knew about EVs and turn the extraordinary into something true. Electrifying. There's joy in every journey. EPA estimated a 3 to 3 mile driving range for 2024 IONIQ 5SC SEL limited rear-wheel drive and 361 mile driving range for 2024 IONIQ 6 SC long-range rear-wheel drive with fully charged battery. estimated range varies for other models and trims and depends on battery capacity, temperature, options and other factors. Limited battery warranty covers defects and materials for 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Sea owners manual for complete warranty details and limitations. Visit HyundaiUSA.com or call 562-314-4603 for more details.