Bret Bielema caused quite the stir with yesterday's comments at Big Ten Media Days where the Fighting Illini coach accused the Big Ten's rival conference of living in the past.
During Day 1 of B1G football's media kickoff, Bielema shaded Greg Sankey and the SEC by claiming that they're trying to remain in a bygone era rather than finding a way forward in the landscape of NIL and the transfer portal.
“I know [Sankey has] got to protect the SEC and they kind of want to live in 2005 forever,” Bielema said. “But I think the forward thinking of where we are in college football is an awesome thing.”
Those comments didn't exactly sit well with ESPN's Paul Finebaum, who took pleasure in defending his favorite league during an appearance on "Get Up" this morning.
© Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
Paul Finebaum on Bret Bielema: 'Never fails to be village idiot'
Responding to Bielema's shot across the bow on Wednesday, Finebaum claimed that Bielema had no business saying what he said given his track record at Arkansas.
“He never fails to be the village idiot at Big Ten Media Days,” Finebaum told Mike Greenberg and friends (via On3.com). “I have no earthly idea where that came from, why he said it. First of all, 2005, since that moment in time, the SEC has only won 13 national championships. Let’s go back to Bret Bielema in the SEC at Arkansas. He didn’t make it."
"His last year, he was 1-8 in the SEC. His overall record in the SEC is 11-29," Finebaum pointed out. "He was a complete and total disaster. But he always shows up there and gives us something to laugh about, but mostly to laugh at him.”
Bielema enters the year with a 134-84 record across 17 seasons between the Badgers, Razorbacks and Illini. In 2025, Illinois went 9-4 with a win over Tennessee in the Music City Bowl.
