There comes a point in every program where you know how high the coaching staff will perform. Illinois football has reached that point with Brelema.

After three seasons and one game with the Illini, Bielema has a record of 19-19. That doesn’t sound great for many teams, but for the Orange and Blue, a .500 record over three years is better than most.

In fact, if Bielema were to retire now, he would finish with the 14th-best winning percentage in program history. Bielema has a better winning percentage than any other non-interim Illinois head coach since the turn of the century.

I would say the first three seasons under his leadership were successful compared to what Illinois had before Bielema. But we are at a turning point in the Bielema era.

On Saturday, No. 19 Kansas comes to town. I think this is the biggest game of the Bielema era right now.

Why is it the biggest game? There are obvious answers. It’s the first sold-out game since playing North Carolina in 2016. It’s a higher-ranked opponent, and there are endless hopes for what this season could bring if Illinois wins the game.

But the importance of this game lies beyond those superficial reasons. I believe this game marks a turning point in Bielema’s coaching career where we either remain a mediocre program just hoping to win six games a year or we can take the next step with Bielema and the coaching staff.

Illinois fans know the minimum requirements for Bielema as a coach. We’re not going to finish at the bottom. Five wins is probably the minimum requirement for this program every year. But we don’t know what the ceiling is for him and his coaching staff.

A loss on Saturday would show us that limit. A loss on Saturday would show us that we are not playing with the big guys and that we are a mid-major team hoping to knock off a high-ranking opponent every now and then. That would be the limit for the Bielema era with a loss.

But with a win, the ceiling disappears into the sunset. You won’t be able to see the ceiling because it’s so high. A win over Kansas will show college football, recruits and fans that Illinois is a program that can compete with the greats of the sport.

What were some of Bielema’s other big plays during his time with the Illini? You can go back to the game against No. 7 Penn State in October 2021. It was the ninth overtime win, 20-18.

The game was entertaining and extremely memorable, but Illinois had a 2-5 record before this matchup. That’s the kind of game I was referring to earlier. We can have those random wins against higher ranked opponents, but I don’t want those wins to be random. I want those wins to be normal.

Another matchup that comes to mind is against No. 3 Michigan in 2022. That was a big game, but Illinois had lost the previous two games and fallen out of the top 25. We already had seven wins and didn’t make it to any of the big bowl games.

A win over the No. 3 team in the country would have been great, but the bottom line is that a win against Michigan gives us nine wins and a slightly better bowl game.

And then there’s the bowl game this season against No. 24 Mississippi State. That’s also an important game, but Illinois had a lot of players opt out of that contest. While winning a bowl game would have been great, it wouldn’t have been a defining moment for the Illinois coaching staff.

The importance of this game against Kansas on Saturday cannot be ignored. It will be a packed house on a big stage in prime time. Illinois has a reputation for being a mediocre team at best. Not only does Bielema have a chance to solidify what he built in Champaign, but he has a chance to take Illinois to a nationally competitive level. Without a doubt, this is the biggest game of the Bielema era.