Nebraska football loses to Illinois: Reaction

From Illinois’ postgame news conference

Coach Bret Bielema on NU’s sellout streak: “I said, they’re selling their 400th, we had our first since I’ve been here the other day. Some people build bridges, others walk across them, right?”

Bielema on Illinois committing just three penalties: “My freaking ears were blaring, we blasted those guys pretty hard on our two biggest work days in the stadium. We knew it was gonna be loud today. This is a very intelligent crowd, right?”

Bielema on Dylan Raiola: “They’re putting their whole program behind him. I know what went into getting him here, right? There’s a lot of moving parts, so there’s some things that they’re hoping will pay dividends for him in the future.”

What other media outlets are saying:

It’s not a college football game unless fans from teams are complaining on social media that the officials are unfairly treating their teams.

In Friday night’s Big Ten showdown between the No. 22 Nebraska Cornhuskers and No. 24 Illinois Illini, neither fanbase is happy with the zebras, claiming that the referees are working to fix the game in the other team’s favor.

While both teams can’t be right, the two sides have good reason to complain about the officiating in this game, which has been questionable, to say the least. From bad spots, incorrectly called touchdowns that should have been interceptions, and blasphemous penalties, there have been endless examples of bad officiating.

The worst call of the night might have come at the very end of the game, with Nebraska facing a 3rd and 42 in the first overtime period. After Dylan Raiola completed a pass to his receiver, the Illinois defender hit the Cornhuskers player late out of bounds, which should have resulted in a first down and a continuation of the game.

Instead, no flag was thrown, and Nebraska ended up losing the game in overtime.

— Athlon (read the story here)

What the fans and others are saying on Twitter/X:

Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt: Brett Bielema is a damn good coach…Outstanding win for @IlliniFootball …Illinois had a great plan all night on both sides of the ball and Luke Altmyer was terrific @HuskerFootball made far too many mistakes…Handling success takes maturity

FOX broadcaster John Fanta: “What an incredibly gutsy win for Bret Bielema’s Illini. The defense getting that hold that resulted in the missed FG changed it all. A result that will give Husker fans nightmares. The Illinois defense was big time to close it out. And a heck of a night for Altmyer.”

College Football Report: I truly feel horrible for Nebraska fans. Legitimately NO ONE has it worse than them. They show up, sell out every game… They lose… but it’s the WAY they lose… they lose every game by ONE POSSESSION.

Bring Me The News (Minn.) reporter Tony Liebert: “I thought Nebraska was going to be 7-0 going into Ohio State?!? The fact that they got ranked after beating Colorado is CRAZY.”

X user @MusikFan4Life: #24 Illinois just killed all that hype Nebraska was building up those 1st 3 games. Now the Illini as a 9.5 point underdog is bound to move up in the rankings after tonight’s big win

X user @plusgreg: I love the changing colors each fall: The leaves on the trees, the earlier sunsets, the Husker football fans who stop wearing red on Saturdays as they give up on another season yet again.