© Mark Hoffman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Illinois football coach Bret Bielema has been lighter on the 'X' machine these days outside of so-called "Bret Signals" for recruiting wins. That is, of course, until the final AP Poll rankings were released Tuesday, which saw Illinois finish one spot short (by two points) of No. 25 in the final field of teams for the 2025-26 college football season. All Bielema could do was laugh, as his Illini went 9-4 and finished with back-to-back bowl wins for the first time in his tenure (and program history, when omitting interim coaches). The season was capped by a thrilling 30-28 Music City Bowl win against the Tennessee Volunteers. Zain Bando Zain Bando is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Over the years, Bando has written about various beats surrounding Illinois, Northwestern, and Kansas State Athletics but sticks to the Big Ten as his primary expertise. Outside of collegiate reporting, Bando covers MMA and boxing for MMA Knockout On Sports Illustrated and hosts/co-hosts two podcasts as part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network – Bando's Breakdowns and The MMA Outsiders, which air weekly on YouTube and are distributed on all podcast platforms Wednesday nights and Friday afternoons. Bando is a Chicago Suburban native and a member of the FWAA and USBWA, continuing to hone his professional skills as a sports journalist and media personality. Since June 2019, Bando's byline has been featured in numerous media outlets, including MSN, Yardbarker, Deadspin, FanSided, BJPenn.com, Bridge Media Network (Sports News Highlights), Mike Farrell Sports, Reuters, and more. When Bando is not writing, he binges on old UFC fights, spends time with family and friends, memorizes every Super Bowl, and manifests all the places he still has to travel to (even while bringing his laptop).