Game day in Champaign. Nebraska (5-3, 2-3 Big Ten) plays at Illinois (5-3, 3-2) Friday at 7 p.m. CT at Gies Memorial Stadium, with FOX carrying it nationally. Jack Kizer and Mark Helfrich have the call. The Huskers are trying to snap a three-game skid and pick up the win that gets them to bowl eligibility.
How to watch
- TV: FOX
- Time: 7 p.m. CT
- Site: Gies Memorial Stadium, Champaign
Illinois is dressing it up as Dads Day and its first “Hail to the Blue Out” under the lights, per the Illini athletics site. Tickets were listed as limited earlier in the week.
What Nebraska brings
The Blackshirts are still carrying the Huskers. Per Cornhuskers Wire’s Friday how-to-watch notes, Nebraska ranks among the top 15 nationally in total defense (270.8 yards per game, 8th), scoring defense (15.6 points, 14th), rushing defense (91.1 yards, 11th), pass-efficiency defense (109.96, 11th), third-down defense (21.4 percent, 1st) and sacks (2.9 per game, 15th).
The offense is another story during the skid, averaging 13.5 points over the last three games. Season-long, Nebraska still sits in the top 40 in rushing (186.6 yards per game) and converts third downs at 50 percent (16th nationally).
What Illinois brings
The Illini have won three straight Big Ten games, the second-longest active conference streak behind undefeated UCLA, and they are 15-4 at Gies Memorial Stadium over the last three seasons. Wide receiver Collin Dixon is one of five players nationally in the top 12 in both receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, with 60 catches, 781 yards and 10 scores. Running back Aidan Laughery has two rushing touchdowns of 75-plus yards this season, and freshman Javari Barnett’s 64-yard score at Maryland was the longest touchdown run by a Big Ten freshman this year, per Illinois.
Nebraska leads the all-time series 14-7-1, including 5-3-1 in Champaign, and this is the 23rd meeting. Kickoff is hours away.
Featured image: Photo: I am One of Many. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ameer_running_for_TD_against_Miami_9-20-2014.jpg.
