The Fighting Illini are coming to Lincoln this weekend.
The Huskers are coming off their first win which featured a strong first half performance and a solid defense in the 4th quarter to seal the victory over Penn State. This was the first start for Redshirt Freshman Quarterback Luke McCaffrey The offense sputtered in the second half and the defense was left on the field for much of the game. Nebraska is hoping to put together a solid and complete game on Saturday.
Illinois is also coming off of their first win of the season. Last week they beat Rutgers 23-20. The Fighting Illini racked up 341 rushing yards, and got over 300 total yards in the second half.
Illinois has been struggling with COVID and have had four different quarterbacks so far this year. They are led in rushing by Chase Brown and Mike Epstein with 247 and 225 yards respectively. Jake Hanson leads the defense with 26 tackles. Their defense leads the Big Ten in turnovers with 12.
For more on the Fighting Illini, check out Husker Mike’s Illinois Review.
Date/Time: November 21, 2020. 11 AM CDT
Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE
Surface: Fieldturf
Opposition Blog: Check out The Champaign Room.
Series Record: Nebraska leads 13-3-1. In Lincoln, Nebraska leads 9-1.
TV: The game will be televised on FS1. Brian Custer will do the play-by-play, with Robert Smith as the analyst. It can also be streamed on the Fox Sports App with your cable or dish log in.
Radio: Huskers sports radio network. The audio can also be streamed live for free at huskers.com. The crew will be: Greg Sharpe, Matt Davison, and Ben McLaughlin. Satellite radio options include: XM Simulcast 195 or Sirius Simulcast 133.
More streaming options: The official Huskers app is available on iTunes and for Android users. Another option is the TuneIn app for game audio.
Weather: Cloudy with a high of 49.
Odds: Nebraska is favored by 15.5
Trivia
Last week was Marquel Dismuke, Will Honas, JoJo Domann, and Collin Miller all recorded at least 10 tackles. This was the first time that four Huskers recorded double digit tackles since October 20, 2007 vs. Texas A&M.
While Coach Frost has been at the helm the Huskers have averaged 640 total yards and 48 points per game when playing Illinois.
Quotables
Head Coach Scott Frost on seeing different defensive and offensive schemes from opposing teams than they’ve prepared for
“We need to do a good job of adjusting to those things and creating some opportunities, we got some looks the last couple weeks that we weren’t expecting. Part of that is we just need to block better or break a tackle and make somebody miss from time to time. I think those things will come.”
On handing out Blackshirts
“Those kids won us a game last week with their play at the end of the game, and they deserve them, but they have to continue to do the things they need to do to keep them.”
On the younger players getting experience
“It’s a lot of first-year players, it gets me excited about where we’re going and the trajectory, but I was not near as good a player at Nebraska my first year as I was my second. We’re just trying to build those guys, get them better every week, and I expect more of those young guys to start playing every week through this year.”
Defensive Coordinator Erik Chinander on shifting players and a adding a new wrinkle to the defensive scheme
“If you’ve watched the Alabamas and the Georgias over the years — even Wisconsin — when they get in their nickel personnel groupings, those outside ’backers become defensive ends and those defensive ends in the 3-4 truly become the defensive tackles — the nose guard and the three technique,”
“The more guys you can play in a football game, the better each one of them plays. There’s certain guys that you want out there more snaps than others. But usually that starter — whoever your starter is, even if he’s a Pro Bowler or whatever — he’s not going to play as good on rep seven as the next guy will on his play one.”
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