Bret Beliema quote on tunnel incident
I was not oblivious to the fact of what started to get reported on Saturday night and I knew it would have a huge effect on my team,” Bielema said. “I know what Coach Tucker stands for, he’s a tremendous person. … We go to Michigan in two weeks so there’s things that I’m filing away right now that I’ll bring up that week when that moment comes.”
Is this idiot really gonna try to bring up negative shit on Michigan or Harbaugh to try and make light of what happened because he likes Mel?
November 4th, 2022 at 6:13 AM ^
Never forget one of his players tried to tear Steve Breaston's knee ligaments after a play ended
November 4th, 2022 at 8:25 AM ^
Bret gave the guy zero punishment and pretty much laughed off the idea when a reporter asked him about it.
November 4th, 2022 at 8:57 AM ^
Bert was such an ass while he coached at Wisc. I remember the IU coach (Bill Malory maybe?) getting so passed when Bert was driving up the score in an obvious rout.
November 4th, 2022 at 11:46 AM ^
Bill Lynch, if we're talking about the 83-20 game. He actually managed to avoid complaining about it -- despite it assuring his firing -- but everyone else could see by then that Bielema was a massive turd
November 4th, 2022 at 9:29 AM ^
Oh boy … a mediocre B10 West team beats up some cream puffs, and now they swag their tail? 🤣🤣🤣. Stay quiet Jim and team. IL ass whooping incoming.
November 4th, 2022 at 2:50 PM ^
Rutgers those Illini!
November 4th, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
he also had his OL target mike martin's injured leg. bielema is a despicable human.
November 4th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
Not sure he was there when one of their DBs ran helmet first into Grant Newsome's knee, but he was in spirit.
November 4th, 2022 at 6:17 AM ^
Well, I think MSU plays Illinois this weekend...
November 4th, 2022 at 7:44 AM ^
It sounds like the MSU/IL game will be a love fest.
November 4th, 2022 at 9:41 AM ^
Maybe Brett will be so kind as to let MSU win.
November 4th, 2022 at 9:44 AM ^
It should be. Bielema was gifted an MSU team with 8 players suspended on defense. Getting MSU the week after the Michigan game is always a boon for most teams, but it might not top this year.
November 4th, 2022 at 8:58 AM ^
Most likely explanation for that quote.
November 4th, 2022 at 6:25 AM ^
Well, we'll just have to beat him twice so he can file them in his circular file.
November 4th, 2022 at 9:26 AM ^
This is coachspeak for: I will wait 2 weeks and see what lease comes up. Hopefully the investigations conclude. Then I can see what I can get away with without looking like a douchebag.
November 4th, 2022 at 12:27 PM ^
"I was not oblivious of the fact of what started to get reported on Saturday night and I knew it would have a huge effect on my team. I know what (Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker) stands for and a tremendous person. We recruit against those guys. Just kind of sit back and observe. As a teaching moment, we go to Michigan in two weeks so there are things I’m filing away right now that I’ll bring up that week when that moment comes. I think we do try, as coaches, to minimize what our outside voices are saying to our players. The bottom line is in today’s world you can’t.”
Hard to know exactly what he's going to "file away" and "bring up" but it sounds like something he will say to his team (not publicly). It does maybe imply that the tunnel, or any hypothetical Michigan taunting, is at fault? But it's not super clear.
November 4th, 2022 at 2:01 PM ^
Bert fits the mold for MSU fans
November 4th, 2022 at 3:38 PM ^
Or he could simply mean outlining what the tunnel process is, how to properly disperse into the locker room, things to be avoided, etc.
November 4th, 2022 at 6:27 AM ^
Hard to say what he meant by that. Wisconsin and Illinois have a hate-Michigan culture that rivals Staee's so I wouldn't put anything past him but he could just be trying to keep his players from getting suspended.
The only effect this is going to have on Bert this weekend is to make it easier for him to blow out Staee.
November 4th, 2022 at 8:30 AM ^
They may have a Michigan averse culture but it in no way matches State's toxic hatred
November 4th, 2022 at 10:12 AM ^
I wouldn't underestimate Illinois' myopic Michigan-hate, they've been focused on us since Mike White days, and subsequently getting 69-70 points laid on them when the opportunity arose. As a "basketball school", our '89 NCAA BskB Champ run really torqued them. They don't have a real rival and can't understand why we don't consider them as rivals (sound familiar?).
November 4th, 2022 at 10:36 AM ^
So Illinois is 'littler brother'? Or 'baby brother'?
Asking for a friend...
November 4th, 2022 at 11:02 AM ^
Middle brother.
Apparently Michigan Agricultural College was founded before U of I, but considering Big Ten status, it works.
November 4th, 2022 at 12:23 PM ^
About 15 years ago I went to an IL game with my son (he went there). While IL played a MAC opponent (and lost!!), there were too many students with Muck Fishigan and Ann Arbor is a whore T-shirts in attendance.
November 4th, 2022 at 11:08 AM ^
"Country Cousin" (Champaign is in the middle of corn and bumpkins)
November 4th, 2022 at 9:54 AM ^
Especially with us not playing them every year anymore, I'd say that's a pretty a big exaggeration. I think the majority of their fans don't especially like Michigan, but that's just the reality of being one of the big boys in a conference and not a sign of deep-seated hatred. MSU is defined by its hatred of Michigan, and that's pretty unique.
November 4th, 2022 at 10:58 AM ^
I think this is pretty much it. Fans outside of the historical and (perhaps once again) “Big Two” in this conference hate or at least don’t really care for OSU as much as they do Michigan. We just notice the Michigan hate more since 1. we’re fans, and 2. OSU has had more obvious recent success in the last two decades than Michigan.
November 4th, 2022 at 1:17 PM ^
Just thinking out loud fuck MSU. We've always had this idea that "we have to play them every year because they are a rival." I say why. They don't deserve special status for us anymore. Put them in the west with all the other tomato cans.
November 4th, 2022 at 1:36 PM ^
Agreed
November 4th, 2022 at 7:04 PM ^
100% agree. “But but it is good for the State of Michigan”.
We do not play the directional schools, Ferris, Lake State, Kalamazoo CC either. So why does any UM fan care about MSU? I fail to see the logic.
November 4th, 2022 at 10:00 AM ^
15-20 years ago I wasn't living too far away and decided to see M play at Ill. Honestly I was a bit surprised at how salty and vitriolic fans were toward UM. Maybe in retrospect I shouldn't have been. The game with the non-fumble really seemed to have pissed them off. At least the game I saw that year, there was no doubt who won.
Maybe we can swap MSU for Ill for a few years. We can put MSU in timeout while we play a team on a resurgence who thinks they're our rival.
November 4th, 2022 at 11:01 AM ^
We can put MSU in timeout while we play a team on a resurgence who thinks they're our rival.
But we already play Rutgers every year.
November 4th, 2022 at 11:15 AM ^
Same. I went to the 2007 game in Champaign, and was downright shocked at the hate directed at us. It wasn't just the random people yelling at us non-stop. I'm not joking, it seemed like the vast majority of the student section was wearing Muck Fichigan shirts. I expect that from Sparty and OSU, but Illinois?!?
Well, long story short, that was their Rose Bowl year--Juice Williams knocking off #1 OSU was a particularly glorious moment--and we beat them by 10 on the road.
November 4th, 2022 at 11:35 AM ^
This is part of the desperation of Illinois to create a "rivalry" with Michigan where none really exists.
November 4th, 2022 at 12:11 PM ^
Wisconsin dislikes us to some degree, but their hatred is more focused on Minnesota and Iowa overall.
Illinois genuinely thinks - or wants to think - we're their archrival.
November 4th, 2022 at 6:29 AM ^
Michigan is Illinois' biggest rival so batten down the hatches.
November 4th, 2022 at 8:30 AM ^
Which Big Ten teams/fanbases don't view Michigan as a top 2 rival?
November 4th, 2022 at 8:49 AM ^
UCLA?
November 4th, 2022 at 8:58 AM ^
Recruiting battles may beg to differ.
November 4th, 2022 at 9:22 AM ^
The reverse is true for me though. I'm not over that elite 8 loss.
November 4th, 2022 at 11:23 AM ^
Seriously? Purdue, probably. I think Indiana and ND are their biggest rivals. Iowa, also, with ISU and probably Wisconsin ahead of us. I have no idea who Maryland views as their rivals but it wouldn't surprise me if Michigan isn't top 2. Nebraska and NW are other possibilities.
November 4th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
I guess Indiana, since Purdue is #1 and ...uh... Michigan St (lol) is #2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Hoosiers_football#Rivalries
November 4th, 2022 at 7:11 PM ^
I wrote a Diary about 7/8 years back. I went to every B1G blog and asked the to rate their B1G rivals 1-3.
Illinois had NW, UM and Indiana in that order. N=50; however there was no confirmation that anyone that answered were Season Ticket holders. They all could have been trolls for all I know. But the answered were almost identical.
November 4th, 2022 at 12:19 PM ^
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons, though outside of football, was a certain National Championship Semifinal that occurred in 1989...vs "the flying Illini" (what many Illinois fans would probably consider to be their best team ever).
November 4th, 2022 at 6:37 AM ^
That 2000 Michigan-Illinois game still pisses off my Illini friends. I was at the game and even I could tell from the stands that Anthony fumbled the ball.
November 4th, 2022 at 7:07 AM ^
Yep, fumble. Not really close. I tend to forget the breaks and remember the screw jobs, but that was a huge break.
November 4th, 2022 at 8:46 AM ^
I viewed it as a karmic wash since Curry picked off UCLA the week before. Foot clearly in bounds, Michigan would have won that game.
November 4th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
Amazing to think how many results would be different with instant replay at the time
Not better or worse necessarily, but sometimes drastically different.
Does anyone know, would the Nebraska illegal-kick vs Missouri be a reviewable play in 2022?
November 4th, 2022 at 9:18 AM ^
I had a neighbor related to Illinois great Dick Butkus, and he hated Michigan at least since the 1990s, probably before.
Michigan's long stretches of football success and, I believe, its academic reputation, have pissed off a lot of fan bases.
Athletic or academic excellence might be tolerable but both together annoy people.