Illinois at Nebraska: Are Illini, Huskers for real? Friday-night fight will tell us
A 3-0 record. A plus-eight turnover differential. A pair of great Scotts — defensive backs Xavier and Miles (unrelated) — with five interceptions between them already. A wideout, Pat Bryant, with four touchdown grabs. On the whole, much better vibes than were felt all last season.
Yes, No. 24 Illinois has some reasons to puff out its chest heading into Friday’s game at No. 22 Nebraska (7 p.m., Fox 32, 890-AM).
On the other hand, the Illini athletic department made a point this week of bragging on Bret Bielema for being the school’s first coach to “earn Top 25 rankings in two of his first four seasons since Ron Zook [in] 2007 and 2008.” Considering the average season sees roughly 50 teams crack the Top 25 at some point, is this really something to crow about? If anything, it reads more like a teary confession.
Making an appearance in the polls doesn’t mean much. Staying there is the whole enchilada.
The winner of this game — in which the Illini are 7½-point underdogs — will be all set up to do just that.
“It’s an awesome opportunity for our program,” Bielema said.
It’s an unusual opportunity, too. Not only are the Illini ranked for the first time since 2022, when they reached as high as No. 14 before the wheels came off, but it’s their first ranked vs. ranked game since 2008. Take a moment to appreciate how long ago that was. Barack Obama was the Democratic nominee for president. Gov. Rod Blagojevich was headed for trial. The Cubs and White Sox both won divisions. The Big Ten, still pre-Nebraska, had only 11 members. We’re talking about ancient history here.
But most college football observers would say this game means even more to the Cornhuskers (3-0). One of the great brands in the sport has been dragged through the dirt for years but might finally be reinventing itself.
Hard to believe: The Huskers are ranked for the first time since 2019, and that lasted only a week. Harder to believe: They haven’t done the ranked vs. ranked thing themselves since 2016. And harder still: They’ve lost 24 consecutive games against Top 25 opponents. But the Big Red fans — who will pack Memorial Stadium for a 400th straight sellout — are smelling, tasting and seeing change. The Huskers haven’t trailed this season. A defense that sacked Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders six times has given up a total of 20 points in three games. Going back to last season, coach Matt Rhule’s first, the defense has held nine straight teams to 24 points or fewer and allowed only one first-quarter touchdown in its last 10 games. And there’s even more excitement over true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola, a mega-recruit who has looked worthy of all the hype since his first snap. Raiola is the first true freshman QB to complete at least 70% of his passes in each of his first three games since Oregon’s Marcus Mariota in 2012.
Illinois’ passing game has come alive, too, with Luke Altmyer connecting impressively with Bryant and transfer Zakhari Franklin, who arrived at Illinois as the college game’s active leader in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Bielema’s defense has been far closer to its lights-out 2022 form than to last year’s doormat version.
“This will be a four-quarter war,” Rhule said.
Especially at night, it will be a peak environment for college ball. The scene in Lincoln always delivers.
“I want the world to see it,” Rhule said.
The Illini will have to get used to this, with their next game at Penn State and a handful more after that against teams that are ranked. If the Illini can’t handle it, it’ll end up being a short-lived, meaningless stay in the poll. Or maybe the excitement, the volume and some relatively high stakes will bring out the best in them?
“The game of football is played between the white lines,” Bielema said.
There’s an enchilada somewhere in there, too.