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Bret Bielema calls National Signing Day in college football ‘National Bank Day’
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Bret Bielema said at his signing day news conference this week that the Early Signing Period has turned into “National Bank Day” for a number of programs throughout college football.
Texas signed the No. 1 class in the country, per the industry-generated 247 Composite. Alabama sits second and Oregon sits third. Georgia and Ohio State round out the top 5. The typical faces occupy the top spots. For the Ducks, it’s their second-consecutive top-5 class under Dan Lanning, and the common criticism of Oregon is that Nike co-founder Phil Knight has provided unlimited financial resources to help the Ducks reach the top.
Ohio State spent 10s of millions on its roster for 2024 and was shut out of the Big Ten Championship Game. Bielema traded jabs with Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin on social media recently over the way their 2 teams have gone about their business.
Nothing in college football is equal. That has long been true. But recent changes have grown the disparity between the haves and the have-nots.
“It’s National Signing Day, but at a lot of places it’s National Bank Day,” Bielema said. “They just use money and they buy their class. I know what we spend in NIL. I know our number and where it’s at, and we’re playing schools that are 3, 4 times that. You’re talking $20 million on a roaster.
“… There are some teams that are trying to get into the College Football Playoff that have spent over $20 million and they still can’t get in. I know we’re at basically 25% of that and we’re knocking on the door.”
Bielema’s Illini went 9-3 this season and beat 3 teams that were ranked in the AP poll at the time of the game. (None of the 3 are currently ranked.) Illinois was placed at No. 21 in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings, which is not quite “knocking on the door” but also not far away from the front porch. Even still, the 9 wins are the most in a single season for Illinois since 2001.
With a victory in their bowl game, the Illini can tie the program record for wins in a season.
Illinois went 8-5 in 2022 but fell backward into a 5-7 season last year. The key will be maintaining this momentum. Quarterback Luke Altmyer can return for another season, which is big.
On the other hand, Illinois signed the Big Ten’s 13th-ranked class this week.
“If we all kinda use the same checkbook, I get really excited about where we can go,” Bielema said.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
