Slices of Tuna: 'It’s hard to erase 25, 50 years of history'
Bret Bielema holds court in Chicago. Plus, The Inside Zone checks in with Barry Odom.
CHICAGO — Surprise, surprise: Bret Bielema has some thoughts on the state of college football.
But rather than take shots at the SEC, the 56-year-old Bielema instead provided some context to the changing landscape of the sport, and explained why it will take more than three straight national championships for the Big Ten to truly overtake its southern rivals in the national perception department.
Bielema held court with reporters on Tuesday at Brickhouse, the bar outside Wrigley Field, which hosted Illini Night as the Cubs played the Athletics.
1. Bret Bielema provides context around Big Ten bump
No one carries the flag for the Big Ten the way Bret Bielema does.
The sixth-year Illinois coach did just that last week when tweeting in response to Greg Sankey’s comments about the SEC’s depth.
And though Bielema didn’t expand much on Sankey’s specific comments before he sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, Bielema did dive into why he thinks the Big Ten still suffers from a perception issue against the SEC when it comes to both conferences’ non-Playoff teams.
