Jeff Brohm and Josh Heupel were among major risers in the bottom two-thirds of our new rankings
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#38
Bret Bielema: This is an interesting spot to me. Bielema climbs four spots this year after going 5-7 in his debut season at Illinois, which is fair. Still, Bielema's ranking is a good indicator of how views differ between our voters regarding past accomplishments and what you can do in the future. I don't know how many coaches ranked ahead of Bielema have won three conference titles, but his last was at Wisconsin in 2012. I have a suspicion that if Bielema wins one Big Ten title at Illinois, let alone three, he'll fly into the top 10 in a hurry. Getting to back-to-back bowls there might catapult him to the top 25.
2021 rank: 42 (+4)