How this 2025 Music City Bowl matchup will reunite Bret Bielema on opposite sides one more time with his Iowa locker buddy William Inge.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Over three decades ago, a Iowa senior co-captain defensive lineman named Bret Bielema may not have had had only one reason to bother caring about a 17-year-old freshman he’d never met before preseason practices in August.

The one reason, like anything in real estate whether it be the housing market in 2025 or a locker room assignment inside Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium, location, location, location. Whatever the reason, the fact that Bielema took the time 33 years ago to understand a new player whose locker would be right next to his for the next few months impact on William Inge.

The two men will be on the opposite sidelines of Nissan Stadium in Nashville on Tuesday for the 2025 Music City Bowl (4:30 p.m. CST, ESPN) as Bielema will lead Illinois (8-4) to the program’s third bowl game in his five-year tenure as head coach and Inge will be calling the Tennessee defensive signals as its interim coordinator after the Volunteers (8-4) fired Tim Banks earlier this month.

Inge, who as a defensive end at Iowa and at that time went by the name Bill Ennis-Inge, was a High School All-America selection who would redshirt during Bielema’s final season at Iowa in 1992 but the impact his older teammate made on Inge as an inexperienced 17-year-old learning to make his way up the depth chart of Hayden Fry’s Hawkeye program is something Inge continues to push now as he approaches a 28-year coaching career.

“The one thing I’m so grateful for Bret as a teammate, when he was needed the most for me, from my perspective, he was there,” Inge said Monday.

In the midst of making sure Inge wasn’t being lost in the shuffle of being a first-year player, Bielema, who has the Hawkeye logo tattooed on his left calf, was a senior co-captain finishing his collegiate playing career with 39 solo tackles, 12 tackles for loss and two sacks.

“Billy Inge’s locker was right there,” Bielema said on Monday as he pointed to his right hand side during the Music City Bowl coaches’ media conference. “Lots of stories there I promise you.”

Inge confirmed in his media conference about an hour later that life in 1992 without social media and camera phones allowed for stories to be kept inside the confines of the Kinnick Stadium locker room.

“Some of them probably maybe too hot for TV today,” Inge said with a smile.

The emotional impact Bielema had on Inge’s career not only as a teammate but also when Bielema immediately transitioned into being a coach on Fry’s Iowa staff allowed Inge to have one of the most heralded careers of an Iowa pass rusher.

Four years after meeting Bielema, Inge followed in his leader’s path by being named a co-captain as a fifth-year senior senior where he led the Hawkeyes to a 9-3 record. Inge dedicated the 1996 season, when Bielema was promoted from graduate assistant to linebackers coach, to his father and uncle both of which passed away during the offseason. In 1996, Inge ended the season with 41 solo tackles, 16 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.

“You had a young 17-year-old freshman having a tough time and he was there to make sure that you were still held accountable to the standard,” Inge said. “Amongst all of that, (Bielema) still did the things that needed to be done in order for (him) to be better. And that’s why I really appreciate him today because of the things he did when I was 17, 18 years old.”

Part of that “tough time” and the reason Inge elected to use the 1992 season as a redshirt campaign was he was forced to have his left kidney was surgically removed and the recovery from that procedure set back his development out of high school.

Inge would finish his Iowa playing career with 173 tackles, 37 tackles for a loss, and 24 sacks. He was named an honorable mention All-Big Ten performer after his senior season and was a first-team Academic All-Big Ten member.

The irony of this bowl game being played in Nashville should hit home for Inge as well as he signed as a undrafted free agent with the Tennessee Titans in 1996 but walked away from an opportunity to make their roster because, at that time, the National Football League would not cover any long-term medical expenses, and Inge didn't want to take that risk.

Inge has served as either defensive coordinator or co-defensive coordinator for 10 seasons, including tenures at Washington (2022-23), Fresno State (2020-21), Indiana (2013-15), Buffalo (2010-11) and Northern Iowa (2004).

Inge was named the Volunteers interim defensive coordinator earlier this month after Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel fired defensive playcaller Tim Banks. Last week, Heupel announced more staff changes for the 2026 season with the hiring of new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles recently from Penn State and Ohio State.

The one scouting report note Inge already knew after having Bret Bielema as a teammate and a coach is the mentality that Illinois will likely have Tuesday in this Music City Bowl game.

Yeah, playing with Top Dog, for sure one thing that you know, they’re going to be a very disciplined, very in tune and physicality is going to be at the forefront of everything that they do,” Inge said. “That’s been his personality in coaching, so that’s something that we talk about (with our Tennessee players) often, early and every day.”