Illinois silences Sea of Red after overtime win at Nebraska
Illinois tight end Tanner Arkin (85) celebrates with teammates after catching a three-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter against Nebraska Friday September 20, 2024 at Memorial Stadium. (Lynn Harrington/stayaliveinpower5)
LINCOLN, Neb. — The Fighting Illini stormed into Memorial Stadium Friday night, and pulled off what many Husker fans thought was impossible.
Although it was a physical battle throughout the evening, Illinois used a physical fourth quarter to tie the game up at the end of regulation, and scored the only touchdown in overtime to beat Nebraska 31-24.
It was a gutsy coaching job by Bret Bielema, and a bold performance by the Fighting Illini in front of 86,936 fans. Not to mention Illinois spoiled Nebraska’s 400th consecutive sellout at the legendary venue. Bielema is proud that his players were able to deal with adversity, and delivered in the clutch when it mattered the most.
His key to success was taking the crowd out of the game. The Fighting Illini did that by drawing first blood after quarterback Luke Altmyer led the offense on a touchdown drive on the first possession. However, the Huskers responded with 10 unanswered points, and led 17-10 at halftime. Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola had all day to throw in the pocket in the first half, and lit up Illinois’ secondary.
Bielema knew his defense had to bring the heat to the true freshman gunslinger in the second half.
“I think at halftime we kind of talked about let’s pressure this guy (Raiola), he was sitting back there all day patting the ball,” Bielema said. “We wanted to eat him up a little bit in the second half, make him adjust.”
Bielema’s plan worked, and Illinois (4-0) held Nebraska scoreless in the third quarter. Altmyer threw a three-yard touchdown to tight end Tanner Arkin, which tied the game up at 17. Once the fourth quarter hit, Bielema used running back Kaden Feagin as a battering ram, and it softened up the Blackshirts’ up front.
“Kaden is a very strong, physical back, I think we kind of worn them down,” he said. “We thought at times they had some really good big players up front, so if we could wear them down like the fourth, fifth, and sixth play in the first half, then in the second half we could gain an advantage.”
Despite the effort from the Fighting Illini, the Huskers still had a chance to win the game with under three minutes left in the fourth quarter. Kicker John Hohl missed a 39-yard field goal, and the momentum quickly shifted to Illinois’ side.
Once the game went into overtime it became the Illinois show. The Fighting Illini lost the coin toss, but the Huskers gave them the ball first, and they took care of business. Feagin carried the ball down to Nebraska’s four-yard line. The 21-yard gain was Feagin’s longest run of the contest.
On the next play Altmyer found wideout Pat Bryant in the end zone for his fourth touchdown pass, which gave Illinois the lead for good. Bielema admired the way Altmyer put the team on his back and carried them to the finish line. Most importantly, Bielema wasn’t surprised by Altmyer’s play in the clutch.
“Probably the best is yet to come, I mean it,” the 54-year old said. “Luke has done a tremendous job, he’s so aware and intelligent, I sit in his meetings and I just see him speaking and doing things that I’ve never seen him do.”
Illinois’ defense sacked Raiola three times on Nebraska’s possession in overtime to seal the win, and made up for the mental mistakes early in the clash.
Linebacker Dylan Rosiek finished with a team-high, nine tackles, including one for loss, a sack and forced a fumble. Defensive backs Xavier Scott, Miles Scott and Matthew Bailey each generated six stops. Defensive lineman TeRah Edwards hauled in the game’s only interception.
Altmyer had a monster outing, and completed 21 of his 27 passes for 215 yards and four touchdowns. Feagin rushed the ball 12 times, and averaged 5.8 yards per carry. Bryant caught five passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns.
No. 24 Illinois led Nebraska (3-1) in total offense, first downs, and yards per play. The Huskers’ offense was limited to a season-low, 345 total yards. Bielema has now won his last three trips to Memorial Stadium. He believes pulling off a victory in a hostile environment will do a lot for his teams’ morale down the stretch.
“We did think if we could turn this into a four quarter game that it’ll play to our advantage, and we didn’t script it to go into overtime, but I wasn’t mad when it did.”
