Welcome in to the Lina Inquirer podcast. I'm Jeremy Warner. He's Joey Wagner, and we are talking a week after a win over Wisconsin. We're talking about a win over Iowa.

Gritty, if you want to call it ugly, that's fine.

Nine to six, Illinois defeats Iowa.

No touchdowns scored in this game.

The first time in Illinois game has had no touchdown since a three three tied in the

1995 season finale against Wisconsin.

I was too young to remember that one, Joey, but a lot of people remember it, I guess, because it kept Illinois, I believe, out of a bowl game. But the first time in a season that Illinois has beaten Wisconsin in Iowa in the same season, you found that stat after the game. No matter how it's done, Joey, it's impressive. but I think the way this one happened, the turnovers they had, your quarterback going out, a starting corner, a starting linebacker, starting wide receiver, Isaiah Williams fumbling three times, losing twice. To come out of this with a victory, I think says a lot about this team. Illinois has lost this game a lot of times. I mean, like a lot, they did, they lost this game earlier this season in Bloomington, Indiana. And you just kept thinking, like, what, it felt, I don't want to feel like a turning point, but it did feel like you're like, which direction is this going to go? Is this going to be the same team that did this against Indiana, or are they going to figure out how

to get out of here with a win as ugly as it may be? And they figured out how to get out of there

with a win as ugly as it was with a freaking walk-on redshirt freshman kicker who found out

before kickoff that he was going to be kicking these games. That was a big win, man.

That was a really, it felt like that win embodied kind of Brett Bielma. I don't care how this happens. Just get the heck out of here with the win. It was an Iowa kind of win. Let's be honest with you. Iowa's won some really ugly games where they found a way to force turnovers. And it felt like they were going to today. I mean, the pit in everybody's

stomach in this stadium that wasn't wearing black and gold when Artzikowski fumbled in Iowa

recover. That would have been the most Iowa win ever, and it's a credit to them of how they

win these games. But I'll give Brett Bielma this. I mean, he's a fantastic coach and mentally

preparing his team. They did a great job

last week about not making about them, about telling his team, like, we are good enough to win, we expect to win going in there, you're a better team. This week, he said, you're going to look up at the scoreboard in the third quarter and it's going to be ugly. The last Iowa games all season, I mean, we're talking with David Eichol, who covers the Hawkeyes.

It is ugly every game.

So he said, don't get beaten down. The last Iowa games all season, I mean, we're talking with David Eichael, who covers the Hawkeyes.

It is ugly every game. So he said, don't get beaten down when it's, you know, nine to nine or something like that. Well, it was six to six. And Illinois, man, offensively, we'll get into that. The red zone was a real issue tonight with play calling with execution. but the defense who Brett Bielman now calls the fire department because they put out fires,

God, he's really good at that. He's really good at the nicknames. It's going to be a tougher one to NIL, though. Yeah, well, there used to be a place called Firehouse here, but anything that's associated with that, I drank a few beers at Firehouse back in the day on campus.

I was kidding as youth.

I did.

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