{"id":2044,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/2044","headline":"Bielema needles SEC after Illinois beats Nebraska","dek":"The Illini coach said his 6-3 team would be a top-15 squad if it played in the SEC instead of the Big Ten.","body":"Illinois beat Nebraska 24-13 on Friday, Nov. 6, clinching bowl eligibility for a third straight season for the first time since the early 1990s. Coach Bret Bielema used the postgame podium for something other than celebrating his team's achievement, taking aim instead at the SEC.\n\nThe shot came three days after the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season gave SEC teams a heavy share of the top spots, a decision that has needled Big Ten coaches. \"If we were in the SEC, we'd probably be a top-15 team,\" Bielema said, before adding that his team's real task is staying focused rather than worrying about rankings. \"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.\"\n\nThe win extended Illinois' winning streak to four games, improving the Illini to 6-3 on the season. Bielema's comment adds him to a growing list of Big Ten coaches who have publicly questioned how the CFP committee is valuing SEC schedules compared to their own.","published_at":"2026-11-07T23:49:20.417156+00:00","source_count":3,"written_from":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Big Ten coach takes shot at SEC and College Football Playoff rankings","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/big-ten-coach-takes-shot-165356674.html"},{"outlet":"CBS Sports","publisher":"CBS Sports","title":"Bret Bielema jokes Illinois would 'probably be a top-15 team' if Illini were in the SEC after getting to 6-3","url":"https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/bret-bielema-jabs-sec-rankings-college-football-playoff/"},{"outlet":"ESPN","publisher":"ESPN","title":"Illini's Bielema jabs at CFP rankings: Would be top-15 team if we were in SEC","url":"https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/50408410/illinois-coach-bret-bielema-takes-veiled-shot-sec-cfp"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"‘If we’re in the SEC, we’d probably be a Top 15 team’: Bret Bielema takes shot at College Football Playoff committee","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/sec-d-probably-top-15-165235578.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Illinois' Bret Bielema rails against CFP committee in latest chapter of Big Ten-SEC feud","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/illinois-bret-bielema-rails-against-192135029.html"}],"image":{"url":"https://s.yimg.com/lo/mysterio/api/7602c251b4f2657aac8c7978a891d928a4459065ae9de73f9bfa07f3f101319b/lightyear_networkapi/resizefill_w1200_h675%3Bquality_80%3Bformat_webp/https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fusa_today_sports_articles_558%2F663d2a7bfb2a850dfda5621e301a73c2.jpg","credit":"Yahoo Sports","width":1200},"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}