Illinois Coach Has 'Huge, Mad Respect' for Indiana, Curt Cignetti: 'Incredibly Gifted'

Illinois football coach Bret Bielema is no stranger to competitive games against Indiana.

Since Bielema took over as the Fighting Illini's head coach in 2021, he's faced Indiana twice and gone 1-1. The Hoosiers won the first game, 23-20, in 2022. Illinois won the most recent meeting, a 48-45 overtime victory in 2023.

Bielema's cream-and-crimson memories go back much further. As an Iowa defensive tackle from 1989-92, he faced — and took a 38-21 victory over — the No. 25 Hoosiers in 1991. The Hawkeyes beat Indiana once more in 1992, winning 14-0 in Bloomington.

Be it playing or coaching against or merely monitoring from afar, the 55-year-old Bielema is innately familiar with the few highs and many lows within Indiana football's history.

Yet Bielema knows when he leads No. 12 Illinois into Bloomington for a sold-out matchup Sept. 20, he'll see a finely tuned machine.

"They went through some upswings, some downswings," Bielema said on the I on the Illini podcast. "But they're at a high level right now."

It starts at the top.

Bielema and Indiana coach Curt Cignetti have never directly faced each other, but Bielema said he was aware of Cignetti's success-laced track record when Indiana hired him Nov. 30, 2023.

As such, Bielema wasn't overly surprised by Indiana's eight-win improvement in 2024, in large part due to Cignetti's coaching acumen.

"Coach Cignetti had a lot of success everywhere he's been," Bielema said. "Curt brought in a lot of his players from (James Madison), but also brought in a lot of players from the portal. Cignetti's an incredibly gifted coach. Just watching them on film, have huge, mad respect for what they're doing.

"But I think it's just the world of college football right now. You've got a chance to change your roster in a short amount of time, get them the way you're doing it."

Indiana and Illinois both have non-conference business to handle before squaring off in Week 4. The Hoosiers face Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State in their first three games, while the Fighting Illini take on Western Illinois, Duke and Western Michigan.

Bielema cautioned against overlooking the first three weeks, and Cignetti did the same at the start of fall camp. But it serves as the first real litmus test for the No. 20 Hoosiers and the first Big Ten game for both sides. It's a natural eye-opener.

And Bielema, as he's grown accustomed to, anticipates a challenging day in Bloomington.

"That's going to be a really exciting game," Bielema said. "It's going to be huge."