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Illinois head coach Bret Bielema’s coaching tree grows as Charlie Bullen gets defensive play-calling duties with the New York Giants.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

December 1, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — When he sits down to watch the ‘Monday Night Football’ broadcast, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema will once again be a big supporter of the New York Giants.

The branches of the Bielema coaching tree now extends to a defensive play-caller in the National Football League as former Illinois outside linebacker Charlie Bullen will call the defense tonight for the first time in his career against the New England Patriots.

Bullen was promoted to Giants defensive coordinator following the firing of Shane Bowen on Nov. 24 by current head coach Mike Kafka. The chaos with the Giants organization in the 2025 season when Bielema, who was Bullen’s former boss in the 2023 season, took a quick visit to the New York/New Jersey area mid-October during the Illini’s second bye week when Brian Daboll was fired after going 2-8 to start this season.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

December 1, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy player's X page)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In an age when the transfer portal fuels college football’s fast-paced traffic, Illinois is moving with a different tone. The Illini are targeting junior college standouts, tapping into a path most call it the old school approach in recruiting.

Why call it old school? Because the modern landscape revolves around the transfer portal. Illinois head coach Bret Bielema will unquestionably tap into the portal like every other power-conference program, but as IlliniGuys’ Mike Cagley, co-host of Sports Spectacular on I on the Illini, put it, “This junior college experiment by Bielema I like, because you can get top talent for a lot cheaper and build a good roster, especially if they can evaluate good talent.”

By Steve Sturm - IlliniGuys Football Analyst

December 1, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

Mother Nature made Illinois' last game of the 2025 regular season a little more interesting that we would have liked, but the Illini managed to turn tough weather conditions into a memorable final game at Memorial Stadium for a final 8-4 record and the first consecutive 8-win seasons since 1989 and 1990. While it was a letdown from initial expectations on the season, this was a bigger win for the program than anyone in the Smith Center wanted to admit coming off a stinker in Madison last week. And, in a special turn of events compared to the rest of the season, the defense was the unit that carried the Illini rather than the offense. So, I'm going to start with their highlights this week.

On the first highlight I wanted to use this space to correct a wrong. The announcers attributed this big gain to a missed tackle from Matthew Bailey, but if you look again, you'll see he makes a great play.

Following the 20-13 victory over Northwestern, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema hints at a defensive staff rollover for the 2026 season.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

November 30, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bret Bielema dropped a hint Saturday night that he’s not looking to make changes to the Illinois defensive coaching staff for the upcoming 2026 season.

Following the Illini’s 20-13 victory over Northwestern in the snow-filled rivalry game, Bielema answered a reporter’s question about his team’s defense being resilient following a down performance in the previous week by saying he’s “really going to enjoy working with (the defensive staff) during the bowl prep”. Bielema then proceeded to name every defensive positional coach with being “prideful” and “the most prepared individuals on a staff he’s ever worked with”.

(From Illinois Sports Information Office)   CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —Illinois […]

Illinois was able to hold Northwestern to three second-half points and create three turnovers in a cold, snowy finale at Gies Memorial Stadium Saturday night.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

November 30, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In the 2025 finale to Gies Memorial Stadium, the Illinois defense was asked time and time again to make stops to the delight of Illini fifth-year head coach Bret Bielema and the seniors who made plays (Miles Scott’s two interceptions, Gabe Jacas’ two sacks and Dylan Rosiek’s 1.5 tackles for loss) to allow Illinois to withstand its lead.

“They did exactly what they needed to do in order to win that thing out,” Bielema said. “The two interceptions, one before the end of the half and one at the end of the game were obviously big.”

Run Offense
You’d just like for Illinois to be able to close this game out on the ground in the fourth quarter

By Zeno Jo - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

November 30, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The show must go on and go on it did. In the midst of a winter storm that dropped over six inches of snow, the Illini found their way through a snowy, slippery, and freezing four quarters of football to top the Northwestern Wildcats 20-13 and protect the Land of Lincoln Trophy.

It’s hard to prepare for the kind of snow that Champaign-Urbana saw on Saturday. The west side of Gies Memorial Stadium was shut down, as was the student section and most of the south endzone horseshoe. On television, the game may have even reminded fans of COVID-era football.

By IlliniGuys Staff November 29, 2025 (Cover photo courtesy […]

Alec Bryant, who was the first transfer signee in the Bret Bielema era, will play in his final game at Gies Memorial Stadium today after six years in college football.

NORTHWESTERN at ILLINOIS

Records: Northwestern 6-5, 4-4 in Big Ten; Illinois 7-4, 4-4 in Big Ten

Date/Time/Place: Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025: 6:30 p.m. CST, Gies Memorial Stadium, Champaign, Ill.

Surface: FieldTurf

Capacity: 60,670

ODDS: Illinois by 7.5

Series notes: Illinois leads the all-time series 58–55–5 and Saturday will be the 17th battle for the relatively new rivalry trophy. Illinois is 6-10 against Northwestern since the beginning of the Land of Lincoln Trophy. The Illini own Land of Lincoln Trophy wins in 2024, 2022, 2021, 2014, 2011 and 2010.

TV: FOX; Connor Onion (play-by-play), Mark Helfrich (analyst)

Radio (Illinois): Brian Barnhart (play-by-play), Carey Davis (analyst), Michael Martin (sideline), and Steve Kelly (pre/half/post). The broadcast can be heard live on TuneIn online radio, SiriusXM 137/195, the SiriusXM App, and at FightingIllini.com/live.
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By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

November 29, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — As he started this 2025 season, Alec Bryant nearly needs all five of the fingers on his right hand to count the amount of position coaches he’s had in his college football career.

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst & Co-Host, IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

November 29, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Payton Sturdy/IlliniGuys)

The Illini fell to #5 UConn at Madison Square Garden on Friday despite a 25 point and 9 rebound effort from Kylan Boswell, 74-61. The Illini were cold from the perimeter, shooting just 6-29 from 3 and 9-22 at the rim in this loss to fall to 6-2 on the season.

The Huskies scored at will in the first half and led by as many as 21 points in the game before an Illini rally had cut the lead to 7. The Illini appeared to get a stop, but a Hail Mary 3 and 1 by UConn's Malachi Smith after the shot clock had reset incorrectly went unchanged after review and turned what would have been a 7-point deficit and the ball with 2:10 to play into an 11-point lead for UConn.

The Illini were never able to get any closer.

Here’s what we saw in person at MSG.

These 3 Things

European No Show -

November 29, 2025 The Illini face a Northwestern team […]

By IlliniGuys Staff November 28, 2025 (Cover photo courtesy […]

Kedric Prince, IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst November 28, 2025 […]

By Brad Sturdy - IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst & Co-Host, IlliniGuys Sports Spectacular

November 27, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Brent Zinkmann/IlliniGuys)

Brad Underwood loves his marquee matchups in the non-conference and loves to head to New York City as well, so he will get both out of the way on Friday when the Illini play the Connecticut Huskies. UConn is a perennial championship contender, and this year appears no different. The Illini are trying to get healthy heading into this one and hope to be closer to full strength than they were just over a week ago against Alabama.

Here’s a look at the particulars.

Setting the Stage
#13 Illinois (6-1) vs. #5 UConn (5-1)
Friday, Nov. 28, 2025 // 11:30 a.m. CT/12:30 p.m. ET // New York // Madison Square Garden
TV: FOX – Kenny Albert (Play-by-Play) & Steve Smith (Analyst)
Radio: Busey Bank Illini Sports Network – Brian Barnhart (Play-By-Play) & Deon Thomas

Notable
*No. 13 Illinois (6-1) closes a stretch of four games in 10 days across three different cities, facing No. 5 UConn at Madison Square Garden on Black Friday (11:30 a.m. CT / FOX). • In taking on No. 5 UConn, Illinois is in search of its highest ranked win since a 72-69 win over No. 4 Iowa State in the Sweet 16 round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament (March 28, 2024). Brad Underwood has led the Illini to five wins over top-5 opponents since 2019-20, sixth-most in the NCAA.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Sr. Recruiting Analyst

November 27, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Kedric Prince/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — On Thanksgiving Day, Illinois head coach Brad Underwood and his staff secured a key in-state commitment from Quinton Kitt, a 6-foot-7 power forward from East Peoria, Ill., who made his decision public on his Twitter page.

Kitt announced his pledge with a brief holiday message: “forever thankful to represent to put on for my state, go Fighting Illini, and Happy Thanksgiving.”

A few weeks ago, IlliniGuys’ Kedric Prince and Brad Sturdy learned that Kitt was leaning heavily toward Illinois. The Peoria native hasn’t hidden his connection to the program since late summer.