<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1qTXHp_0wL6gzv200" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1qTXHp_0wL6gzv200" width="1320" height="743" >On Thursday, No. 20 Illinois flew out to Eugene, Oregon, in what will be their toughest test yet this season.On Saturday, they’ll be taking on the Ducks.Oregon is No. 1 in the AP Poll thanks to a dynamic offense and knocking off top-five Ohio State just two weeks ago.Illinois had a statement victory last Saturday, dominating the defending national title champs Michigan. But Illinois head coach Bret Bielema moved on from that game."There's definitely days that are better practices or whatnot, but their intent, their work ethic, their deliverance," Bielema said, complimenting the team's focus this week."So listen, Michigan was awesome. You know, we always did this little, 'Hey, raise your right hand, patch shoulder on the back and move on, right? Like a hell of a job,'" he added. "But all we did is put ourselves in a position to make this game bigger."Oregon is led by head coach Dan Lanning. And he’s done his homework on Illinois and credits them for having a strong bounce back season in 2024."They're doing an unbelievable job attacking, you know, attacking the ball and protecting the ball," said Lanning. "I think their quarterbacks throwing one interception this season. I think they've had eight picks on defense and cause 10 fumbles on defense. So they're a team that swarms.""Get an opportunity to play a really good team coach. Bielema has done an unbelievable job there at Illinois. He's a guy that I've followed throughout my career, when he was at Iowa and Wisconsin," Lanning added. "Watching his teams, they have a clear identity. You know, they don't they don't beat themselves. They play really hard, they're physical. I think all those things show up with this team as well. They're playing really good football right now. So certainly a fun challenge for us."Illinois is a 22-point underdog to Oregon. But this isn’t their first rodeo. They were underdogs against Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska and Penn State, but Illinois covered in each of those games -- and won three of the games outright.Kickoff is at 2:30 on Saturday, and depending on how the game shakes out, the Illini could have a path to making the first ever 12-team College Football Playoff."We're excited to play there, to go on the road and show the growth that we've had, hopefully since Penn State. I know it's going to be the, probably the most energized and loud crowd that we've seen, probably literally, maybe my coaching career."Is traveling out west a headache? Will it mess up player's routines? Bielema isn’t concerned.“So instead of being home on a Thursday or you're going to be in Oregon, but we're going to kind of go through the same routine, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, it's a 2:30 kickoff, even though it's 12:30 there, it's 2:30 kickoff here, which we've had the last two weeks. So there's a lot of continuity on how we do things, timing wise and all that goes into it," he said.</div></body>

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Coach Bret Bielema praises Illinois' focus ahead of critical Oregon game

On Thursday, No. 20 Illinois flew out to Eugene, Oregon, in what will be their toughest test yet this season. On Saturday, they’ll be taking on the Ducks. Oregon is No. 1 in the AP Poll thanks to a dynamic offense and knocking off top-five Ohio State just two weeks ago.