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Big Ten coach: ‘If we were in the SEC, we’d probably be a top-15 team’
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- Big Ten coach: ‘If we were in the SEC, we’d probably be a top-15 team’
Bret Bielema is the latest Big Ten coach to take a shot at the SEC.
After his Illinois team beat Nebraska 24-13 on Friday to become bowl eligible, Bielema couldn't help but throw a jab at his SEC counterparts.
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"I think about as we're building things here at Illinois, now we're three seasons in a row that we'll have postseason play, which is absolutely awesome and really hard for anybody," Bielema said during his press conference.
"But to be in this job, where we're at right now, 6-3, we beat another 5-3 team. If we were in the SEC, we'd probably be a top-15 team. We've just got to continue to stay on track where we're at and do a really good job of holding the moment and putting ourselves in a position to be successful."
The comments come just two days after Indiana's Curt Cignetti ripped the first the College Football Playoff rankings , ESPN and the SEC this week, saying writers "march to their drum."
"SEC gets a lot of love from ESPN, you know, and all their writers that they don't technically pay, but march to their drum," Cignetti said during his coaches show . "So, and that's why you see all these SEC teams up there, you know, and some good two-loss teams from the Big Ten, not quite as high. But like I said, it's all going to be it's all going to be played out on the field."
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On Friday, Collin Dixon caught two touchdown passes including a record-breaker and Illinois used a trick play to set up its go-ahead TD as the Illini defeated Nebraska 24-13 to become bowl eligible with their fourth straight victory.
Dixon's 3- and 6-yard TD receptions gave him 12 for the year, breaking Illinois' all-time single-season by two. He caught eight passes for 129 yards from Katin Houser, who was 22 of 36 through the air for 292 yards and three TDs.
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Nebraska (5-4, 2-4) lost its fourth straight. Anthony Colandrea was 32 of 43 for 284 yards and a TD to Jacory Brown Jr., who had six catches for 93 yards.
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