Illinois football coach Bret Bielema had fun again on social media Tuesday night after ESPN shared its way-too-early College Football Playoff bracket ahead of next season.

Of course, Illinois, which finished 10-3 this past season and concluded with an intense Citrus Bowl victory against South Carolina New Year’s Eve, was excluded from the discussion.

Having done so in recent weeks, Bielema caught wind of it on ‘X’ and gave a Bielema-like response along with it.

This caused several fans to praise Bielema and his team, one that returns 18 of 22 starters from last season.

“Don’t sleep on Illinois,” Douglas Martinez wrote. “They have a ton of talent returning and a Heisman-level QB who is extremely under-rated based on his production this year.”

Bielema’s critics also attempted to bring him back to reality. At press time, he has yet to respond to any of them.

“You take yourself too seriously. Nobody else does,” Michigan fan Brian Anderson wrote.

It certainly won’t be the last time Bielema, 55, is heard from. After all, he has quietly returned to success as a college coach since his NFL stint concluded over four years ago. Bielema has led Illinois to two winning seasons in that timeframe, as last season was the program’s first 10-win year since 2001.

With success comes recruiting momentum, too. Illinois already has six hard commits in its 2026 class, signing Lincoln Way-East edge rusher Jacob Alexander Monday night.

Without revealing specifics, Bielema said Sunday that he is pleased with the direction his program is beginning to take. The Illini lay claim to the No. 24 recruiting class with a chance for a more significant push in the coming weeks.

“Since the bowl game – I mean this wholeheartedly – the amount of value that bowl game has brought us, obviously in Orlando, has been really good,” Bielema said. “But also going into schools from coast to coast – and we’ve been all over the country. Last week, I was primarily in Florida, and this week, I was mainly in Illinois. I always like to start the foundation here in Illinois and I thought that indication of what we’ve done here in the last four years has been very, very evident.”

Whether Bielema can uphold his trash talk remains to be seen, but it appears the Fighting Illini coach is anything but quiet.