Bret Beliema quote on tunnel incident

Submitted by Jordan2323 on November 4th, 2022 at 6:10 AM

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?

Newton Gimmick

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

https://www.crimsonquarry.com/2017/11/1/16578058/wisconsin-badgers-indiana-hoosiers-football-bret-bielema-bill-lynch-83-20
 

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Newton Gimmick

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.”

https://247sports.com/college/illinois/LongFormArticle/Illinois-head-coach-Bret-Bielema-recaps-the-win-over-Nebraska-and-previews-the-Michigan-State-game-196569653/#196569653_10

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.

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Team 101

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.

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98xj

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?).

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BlueMk1690

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.

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SecretAgentMayne

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.

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gruden

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.

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ShadowStorm33

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.

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MGoSoftball

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. 

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Blue Vet

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.

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