Illinois spoils Nebraska’s 400th sellout with road win in Lincoln
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola glances up at the crowd at the end of regulation against Illinois Friday September 20, 2024 at Memorial Stadium. (Lynn Harrington/stayaliveinpower5)
LINCOLN, Neb. — The Huskers’ celebration of 400 consecutive sellouts at Memorial Stadium resulted in a humbling loss, and now their coach has to pick up the pieces.
After all, Illinois invaded the Sea of Red, and used a strong fourth quarter to extend the game into overtime, and beat Nebraska 31-24 in front of nearly 87,000 fans.
All Coach Matt Rhule could do is watch as his players made several mistakes, and committed silly penalities on both sides of the ball, especially defense. The Blackshirts had an uncharacteristic performance, and trouble tackling. Meanwhile the offense couldn’t move the ball when it mattered most, particularly the ground game.
The matchup of ranked teams was downright physical, and that obviously took a toll on Rhule’s squad in the second half. Despite all of the Huskers’ shortcomings, they still had a chance to win the game late in the fourth quarter.
However, after quarterback Dylan Raiola overthrew a wide open Luke Lendenmeyer in the end zone, and a missed 39-yard field goal attempt by backup kicker John Hohl, Nebraska completely crumbled to pieces, and that frustrated Rhule.
“We have a lot to learn from this game, but I’m sure our guys will bounce back, it was a costly night,” Rhule said. “The injuries, the turnovers hurt pretty severely, so we’ll have to regroup.”
Nebraska (3-1) led by a touchdown at halftime though. Raiola looked sharp early on. The officials didn’t do the Huskers any favors. As a matter of fact, what appeared to be a long touchdown pass from Raiola to wideout Isaiah Neyor in the first half, turned out to be an interception after replay review.
The Huskers abandoned the run also. Not to mention the Blackshirts struggled down the stretch, and that was a head-scratcher to Rhule.
“It was disappointing, I was sort of concerned about tackling last week, and tackling showed up again and wasn’t great today,” he said. “The penalties, we really hurt ourselves, defensively we gotta look and see to make sure we’re doing the right things with the guys we have.”
Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer put together a noteworthy performance against the Blackshirts, and threw for four touchdowns. In return it put more pressure on Raiola, and he couldn’t deliver in the clutch.
Raiola had plenty of time in the pocket to throw in the first half, but Illinois’ defense made adjustments at halftime, and put a lot of pressure on him for the rest of the night. The Fighting Illini even sacked Raiola three times in overtime.
Once the smoke cleared Raiola completed 24 of his 35 passes for 297 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Illinois (4-0) actually sacked Raiola a total of five times on the evening. Running back Dante Dowdell wasn’t much of a factor, and finished with 72 yards on the ground. He only averaged 3.6 yards per rush on 20 carries.
Wideouts Isaiah Neyor and Jahmal Banks both had decent outings. Banks posted a game-high, 94 receiving yards, and Neyor hauled in two touchdown passes, which should’ve been three.
In Rhule’s eyes, everything came down to execution, and the No. 22 Huskers didn’t do their part late in the game. Rhule isn’t surprised that the 24th-ranked Fighting Illini came to play, and responded in the face of adversity.
“We’re not a bad football team, that’s a good football team, a ranked team, and we had our chances to win,” the 49-year old said. “So there are some things that we have to correct.”
Illinois led Nebraska in total offense, first downs and yards per play. On top of that, the Fighting Illini’s defense held Nebraska’s offense scoreless in the third quarter and overtime.
The Blackshirts allowed a season-high, 381 yards. John Bullock led the defense with nine tackles, including one for loss, a sack and forced a fumble. Ceyair Wright, DeShon Singleton, Mikai Gbayor and MJ Sherman each generated six stops. The Blackshirts looked fatigued late, and couldn’t to stop the run. The Fighting Illini have now won their last three trips to Lincoln.
Now the Huskers are 0-1 in Big Ten play for a fourth-straight season, and Rhule is still searching for his first win over a ranked team with the program. Nebraska clearly needs to correct all of the mistakes before resuming conference play on the road at Purdue. Rhule is also deeply concerned about the kicking game. A made field goal by Hohl in the final minutes would’ve likely resulted in a different outcome. Which is why Rhule is making it a priority to strengthen special teams in practice next week.
“Our kicking game is not where we need it to be.”
