Bret Bielema: Illini players 'angry' following frustrating calls late in loss to Michigan
Bret Bielema and Illinois are left looking for answers following another loss in Week 12. While some of the search for answers centers around the play of the Illini, Bielema also has questions for the officiating following the loss to Michigan.
During his postgame press conference, Bielema said he keeps getting “answers I don’t love” in regards to some flags thrown on the Illini.
“Very frustrated. I think I always look forward to film on Sundays as a coach. But I keep getting answers I don’t love and it doesn’t help us during the course of the week,” said Bielema. “We hopefully will play a cleaner game. Some penalties have really hurt us in the last three ball games. We have to correct that internally if we’re doing something illegally then we gotta correct that. Very, very frustrated with the ending of that football game.”
As for the mood of Illini players, Bielema admitted the team is angry and frustrated with some of the calls late in the game. The head coach also said his team earned the opportunity to get a win in Ann Arbor.
“I’m afraid to put them in here with you guys because I don’t think they’re going to handle questions well,” Bielema admitted. “I think they’re angry, I think they’re frustrated. I think as coaches we have to guide them and put them through. We always talk to them about how we have to earn the things we get. I think we earned an opportunity to get a victory today. Obviously, came up a little short. We can definitely correct some mistakes and move forward and when we’re in this position again, we can come out on top.”
One of the crucial calls late in the game was a pass interference on Devon Witherspoon that gave Michigan a first down and favorable field goal position. We’ll see how Illinois handles this moving forward.
(H/T 247 Sports)