Illinois Did What Was Expected And Still There is an Overreaction

I’m glad that Trev Alberts is a sober evaluator. Or at least we all hope he should be at this point in the season.

I’ve saw some who have now decided that Mickey should no longer be considered as the next head coach. My question then is the following.

Are you requiring him to perform a miracle? No. A win yesterday against Illinois should not and would not have been considered a miracle but I hope you get my point.

Nebraska leads 9-6 with 6:31 left in the second quarter and the defining play of the game happens. Casey Thompson gets throws and interception and gets hit hard on the play. He loses feeling in his hand and is done for the game

The Nebraska offense stalls out. Not for the rest of half but for the remaining part of the game. It was questionable at points and obvious at others.

This Illinois team did exactly what we expected. Nebraska loses it’s starting quarterback and a top 5 or top 10 defense just feasted.

Like against Purdue, if it wasn’t for Trey Palmer then that was likely a blowout. Yesterday, Trey Palmer gets almost nothing. Plus four turnovers and look at what we have.

Remember that Nebraska is not a great football team and what happened yesterday was what was expected. Let’s not overreact to that.

Illinois is the best team in the division and I’ll be interested to watch them in the conference championship game. It might be closer than we think.

Nebraska Football: What we learned from the Illinois loss
Nebraska dropped its second game in a row in a 26-9 home defeat to No. 17 Illinois on Saturday. The Huskers fell to 3-5 overall and 2-3 in Big Ten for the season.

Here are five of our biggest takeaways from the loss…

Final take: Illinois dominates Nebraska in nearly all phases – On3
To win in the Big Ten Conference, you have to be able to do a few things at an elite level.

Towards the top of that list are playing sound defense and running the football. No. 17 ranked Illinois (7-1, 4-1) gave Nebraska (3-5, 2-4) a lesson in both areas in their 26-9 win on Saturday.

Sipple: Dispiriting loss casts dark shadow on Nebraska football.
Even on an otherwise gorgeous day of sunshine, the late-afternoon shadow at Memorial Stadium seemed darker than usual. Yes, it was a dispiriting Saturday afternoon for Nebraska football.

A day that began with such promise ended in a 26-9 loss to 17th-ranked Illinois.

Joseph waiting to see with Thompson injury; gives thoughts on Purdy and Smothers and their Saturday roles
In his initial postgame remarks, Mickey Joseph said, “We’ve got to go back and look at where this thing went wrong at. And we got to come back and fix it. We can’t let this team beat us twice.”

Notable quotes from Mickey Joseph after Nebraska’s loss to Illinois
Nebraska head coach Mickey Joseph met with the media on Saturday evening following Nebraska’s 26-9 loss to Illinois, the third defeat at the hands of Illinois in as many years.

Joseph’s team used three quarterbacks and managed just 29 yards of offense in the second half as Illinois pulled away and dealt Nebraska its second straight loss.

Fast Takes after Huskers get handled by Illinois
Momentum was in the red corner. Then over the course of plays three plays it was made known she would dance with another the rest of the game.

A big drop. Then a pick and a QB injury on one play. Illinois got going downhill and Nebraska couldn’t get out of the parking stall on offense from there in a 26-9 Illini win, with concerns about Nebraska’s starting quarterback’s availability going forward attached.

Browns keep Illinois in first place with win at Nebraska – The Champaign Room
A sold-out Lincoln Memorial Stadium was host to a huge Big Ten West matchup on Saturday afternoon, where a win for either team meant first place in the division.

Led by big days from the Brown twins, Illinois set itself way ahead of the pack with a 26-9 win over Nebraska. With only two more Big Ten West games left (vs. Purdue, at Northwestern), being 4-1 in conference basically ensues that a win over the Boilers in a couple weekends gets you to Indianapolis.

Well, a win is a win, but it wasn’t necessarily pretty at first.