When Bret Bielema was at Wisconsin, he inherited a consistently excellent program from the legendary Barry Alvarez. In 2005, the year before Bielema took over, the Badgers finished 10-3. In his first season, Wisconsin finished 12-1 and they were ranked #7 in the AP Poll. Ultimately, over seven seasons, Bielema went 68-24 with the Badgers.
He left there after the 2006 season to take over at Arkansas. Now, taking over the Razorbacks was an entirely different situation from what he faced in Madison. They were just 4-8 before Bielema got there, and they went just 3-9 in his first season. While they improved to 7-6 in Year 2 and 8-5 in Year 3, the Razorbacks slipped back to just 4-8 in Year 5 including a 1-7 conference record and Bielema was fired coming off the field coming off the field after losing to Missouri. So far this season, the team is 6-3 and 4-2 in conference play.
After three seasons in the NFL, Bielema returned to college when he was hired to replace Lovey Smith as Illinois’ head coach. So far, he’s had mixed results. Bielema has been up and down too. In his first year, Bielema went just 3-9. In Year 4, the Fighting Illini improved to 10-3, and they went 9-3 last season.
The Illini began the year winning two of their three non-conference games. But then, they lost to Ohio State 42-19 and defensive coordinator Bobby Hauck quit. While no permanent replacement has been named Bielema did elevate inside linebackers coach and former Idaho State defensive coordinator to interim defensive coordinator and gave him defensive playcalling duties.
Since the change occured, the Illini lost their first game to Purdue, 24-17, but they have won their last four games.
Switching to the other side of the ball, Barry Lunney, Jr serves as the offensive coordinator for Illinois. Lunney joined Bielema’s staff for the 2022 season, though they previously coached together at Arkansas where Lunney was Bielema’s tight ends coach.
Let’s look at the Illinois special teams.
Special Teams
Fifth-year Ethan Moczulski will handle the kicking duties for the Illini. Moczulski is 13 of 16 on field goal attempts. Against Duke, he missed a 62-yarder at the end of the first half. Then, he missed a 32-yard attempt against Purdue. His third miss came against Maryland from 52 yards out. His longest this season came from 54 yards against the Boilermakers. He is a perfect 29-for-29 on PATs this season.
Moczulski also handles the kickoff duties for Illinois. He has kicked off 45 times with 32 kickoffs going for touchbacks. He is averaging 63.56 yards per kickoff.
Junior Lars Rau has punted 27 times for an average of 43.63 yards per punt. Two of his punts have landed in the end zone for a touchback while 13 have been fair caught. Ten of his punts have landed inside the 20 while six have gone for more than 50 yards.
Six different returners have returned kickoffs for Illinois this season and no one has returned more than two. Mac Resetich is one of the two returners with two returns. The other one is Aidan Laughery. Neither appear to be very dangerous. Resetich’s longest was 24 yards while his other was 20 yards, giving him an average of 22 yards per return. Laughery’s returns went for 21 and eleven yards, respectively, giving him an average of 16 yards per return.
The four other kickoff returners are Ca'lil Valentine, who returned one for 31 yards; Murphy Clement, who had a 23-yard return; Eddie Kasper, who returned one for 16 yards; and, Devin Stoffel, who had a 13-yard return.
Go Bruins!!!
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