Bret Bielema was proud of the efforts of his team’s performance on Friday night after Illinois football’s 31-24 overtime victory against Nebraska.
“Very excited for our players, our coaches our fan base to take place in part like tonight,” Bielema said in his postgame comments Friday. “To have two ranked teams playing on a Friday night on national TV to play out like that, just a lot of credit to Nebraska.”
The Illinois coach added that that he complimented Nebraska coach Matt Rhule’s program, saying he has done “a really good job” in building the enviroment to sustain the 400th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium. Bielema continued in saying that he had told his team that “they control the volume” of the stadium.
Bielema had commented in his postgame thoughts that Illinois “blasted” noise at their own Memorial Stadium during practice leading into Friday’s contest. The coach added that his ears were still ringing from the rehearsals.
The former Wisconsin and Arkansas coach continued in saying that Illinois was excited to have the game close in the fourth quarter, and the Illini’s game plan was to pound the rock early and often to wear out Nebraska’s stout defensive line.
“I think we kind of wore them down. They have some good, big players up front. We thought if we could wear them down like the fourth, fifth, sixth play in the first half, in the second half we would gain an advantage,” Bielema said.
Illinois had a strong outing running the football in the second half, finishing the contest for 166 yards rushing yards. The Illini notched 100 yards on the ground game in the final quarter. Bielema added that the team hoped to turn it into a “four quarter game”, but wasn’t upset when the game added an overtime period.
The Illinois coach shared in his post-game thoughts that Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola caused frustrations with the Illinois coaching staff, as the freshman finished a stellar performance going 24-for-35 passing for three touchdowns and an interception. Bielema stated that Illinois had to change their defensive strategy at halftime.
“Credit to (our) defensive staff. At halftime, we talked about, ‘let’s pressure this guy.’ He was sitting in the back there all day, patting the ball. We wanted to heat him up a little bit in the second half – make him adjust. For us, defensively, we get better as the game goes on,” Bielema said.
Raiola was sacked multiple times in the second half and overtime, resulting in 52 yards lost. Bielema added that it appeared the freshman was “out of his rhythm” after dropping the football on a possession in Nebraska’s territory. The coach did speak highly of Raiola’s talent, saying that “unfortunately, we’ll see him several other times.”
Illinois entered Memorial Stadium with plenty of motivation and a chip on their shoulder, as Bielema added that the game meant more for his program.
“I’m not going to downplay it – you beat Nebraska at Nebraska. A ranked game,” Bielema said. “I think all you guys picked against us. I think our guys love that.”
Bielema wrapped up his thoughts with positives for the direction Nebraska’s program was moving towards.
“I think Nebraska will go on to win a lot of games. This is a really good football team offensively. Defensively, they are very opportunisitc. They have a good kicking game. They have an excellent coaching staff, so credit to them,” Bielema said.
Nebraska aims to regain their winning ways battling Purdue on Saturday in West Lafayette. No. 19 Illinois faces another ranked battle Saturday, heading to Happy Valley to take on No. 9 Penn State for their second night game in a row.
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