Illinois vs Nebraska, Friday, November 6th, 7:00pm CT, FOX

kyillinifan · 2026-11-01T21:31:53-0600

As other posters have said, "Keep Colandra in the pocket like they did to Washington (Md) qb. I thought he would run run run on us but we kept him in the pocket most of his passes. Nb qb will run out of the pocket. They have a good def, but eventually Washington got to them. Would love to see another long run from the line of scrimmage on Friday. Will be in my seat on Friday. In all Blue and lets Blew Nb back to their corn fields. They will have a good following and you will hear "go big red".

lstewart53x3 · 2026-11-02T00:38:25-0600

ChiefGritty said:
I'm seeing Nebraska -6

I'd have guessed a tad higher, but then they went and did THAT

SP+ has Nebraska 8.9 points better. Factor in 3’sh points for home field advantage and -6 is basically right in line with the analytics. It’s already down to -4.5, so someone out there likes the Illini.

BZuppke · 2026-11-02T06:26:01-0600

This can go two ways: Nebraska rallies and plays a great game to salvage what’s left of their season OR they completely collapse on the road.

One thing I know: Bret will have the Illini ready.

therealmiket86 · 2026-11-02T06:36:51-0600

gibb52 said:
We will have to play better than Maryland to win. Nebby hasn't beaten anybody really good but they have come close. Clean game is needed.

I mean we played horrible and still won. I’m assuming we come out a lot better this week

Mr. Tibbs · 2026-11-02T07:40:49-0600

AssemblyHallForever said:
The blog sites are going crazy. Some think they can hire Bret away from Illinois.

and the crazier ones think they can get Lou Saban, Urban Meyer or Cignetti

bluemountain · 2026-11-02T07:43:13-0600

As others have said, the key is to keep it close into the second half. The longer it goes, the greater the opportunity for doubt to creep in and for them to choke

BoiseBaller · 2026-11-02T08:37:24-0600

ChiefGritty said:
Those are great fans that deserve better than what they've gotten the past decade.

The last time Nebraska didn't have a losing conference record was in the Obama Administration.

And every fan base complains about bad beats and heartbreaking losses, but it feels like they are at the top of the list. We have some hard-to-believe wins against them for sure, and if you haven't seen the last two minutes of last nights game, go check out the highlights. Hard to punch your fans in the face any harder than that.

Extending Matt Rhule at 6-2 last year was a nightmare decision for NIL world, as some of us immediately pointed out at the time. Penn State juicing their NIL budget with his buyout would have been a godsend for them. Total failure of strategic thinking, imagine if they had Bob Chesney right now.

I’ve been here since the 90’s (with one brief 5 year stint in Idaho) and I can say with certainty that the fans here are great….when they are winning. Which as you mentioned hasn’t been for a long time. To say the least, the fans are obsessive about Husker sports. They’ve essentially transitioned to volleyball, now filling an arena that was built for basketball lol.

Back before they joined the B1G I had a lot of friends/coworkers/relatives that used to act like the B12 was the cream of the crop conference in all sports. They used to call the B1G “mid major”. I still often laugh thinking about that since they’ve stunk since moving to the conference.

I’ll never get tired of watching them lose. One of the smuggest fan bases around. This is the game I circle every year on the calendar that I want to win. Handle business and get it done boys.

illinoistradition · 2026-11-02T08:40:15-0600

therealmiket86 said:
I mean we played horrible and still won. I’m assuming we come out a lot better this week

And we should have expected a close game. They had the potential for an interim coach bounce, we were coming off a huge win, and the travel out east can all have a huge impact.

We lose that game under our previous 5 coaches.

altgeld88 · 2026-11-02T08:50:55-0600

Mr. Tibbs said:
and the crazier ones think they can get Lou Saban, Urban Meyer or Cignetti

Boy, if they want, let alone believe they can get, Lou Saban then that is truly delusional!

Then again Saturday was Halloween and he did work a miracle at Buffalo...

Sorry, I couldn't resist

You and I are obviously of similar vintage because when I hear the surname "Saban" that first name immediately leaps to mind.

therealmiket86 · 2026-11-02T09:18:59-0600

illinoistradition said:
And we should have expected a close game. They had the potential for an interim coach bounce, we were coming off a huge win, and the travel out east can all have a huge impact.

We lose that game under our previous 5 coaches.

I was expecting a let down after the Oregon game. The most impact thing is we won and no one got hurt. Now let’s get bowl eligible

SuperintendentChalmers · 2026-11-02T09:28:31-0600

altgeld88 said:
Boy, if they want, let alone believe they can get, Lou Saban then that is truly delusional!

Then again Saturday was Halloween and he did work a miracle at Buffalo...

Sorry, I couldn't resist You and I are obviously of similar vintage because when I hear the surname "Saban" that first name immediately leaps to mind.

Respect for my favorite miked-up coach moment ever.

SuperintendentChalmers · 2026-11-02T09:34:14-0600

IlliniInBuckeyeState said:
Gies Memorial Stadium Sellout Watch for Nebraska:

View attachment 52282

I thought about this graphic watching the game at Maryland Saturday.

DeonThomas · 2026-11-02T09:43:20-0600

altgeld88 said:
Boy, if they want, let alone believe they can get, Lou Saban then that is truly delusional!

Then again Saturday was Halloween and he did work a miracle at Buffalo...

Sorry, I couldn't resist You and I are obviously of similar vintage because when I hear the surname "Saban" that first name immediately leaps to mind.

Sure hope they don't get Lou Saban. If so, I'm sure OJ would follow him to Lincoln, and he'd probably rush for 3,000 yards.

IlliniNash · 2026-11-02T09:43:44-0600

Mr. Tibbs said:
and the crazier ones think they can get Lou Saban, Urban Meyer or Cignetti

Lou Saban would be perfect. A long dead coach for a long dead program. lol

pruman91 · 2026-11-02T09:45:26-0600

PNWIllini said:
Yep

https://twitter.com/x/status/2116749353171796017

a nebby source said the coaches were watching the bottles thrown to see if any were recruitable for QB1 .....they really really were ................

Fly Illini Fly! · 2026-11-02T09:45:30-0600

https://twitter.com/x/status/2117263049467802104

DeonThomas · 2026-11-02T09:46:41-0600

SuperintendentChalmers said:
Respect for my favorite miked-up coach moment ever.

Looks like they may be playing on a baseball field in that one. I'm sure John Facenda (of NFL Films) could tell us.

OrangeBlue98 · 2026-11-02T09:55:22-0600

Honestly have no clue about this one.

I could see Nebraska as a broken team that mails it in after last week, or they come out motivated as hell. Right now, I have no good read on our guys as well. Just so many variables and unknowns.

I do think this game, on paper, is the best chance for that sixth win. That’s all I really want to see right now. Everything after that is the cherry on top.

Calvin · 2026-11-02T09:59:15-0600

IlliniInBuckeyeState said:
Gies Memorial Stadium Sellout Watch for Nebraska:

View attachment 52282

Looks like the dept is doing a great job of promoting the team and figuring out how to get butts in the seats. BB turned out to be a steal. Make that MEGA-steal. Really hard to get my brain around the scale of turn-around Josh and BB have done.

DeonThomas · 2026-11-02T09:59:42-0600

Huskers and Illini with more than their share of National Titles in football. In fact, each with 5 Natty's:

NEB:
1970: 11-0-1 (Bob Devaney)
1971: 13-0 (Bob Devaney)
1994: 13-0 (Tom Osborne)
1995: 12-0 (Tom Osborne)
1997: 13-0 (Tom Osborne)

ILL:
1914: 7-0 (Zuppke)
1919: 6-1 (Zuppke)
1923: 8-0 (Zuppke)
1927: 7-0-1 (Zuppke)
1951: 9-0-1 (Ray Eliot)

ILLI die hard · 2026-11-02T10:04:32-0600

pruman91 said:
a nebby source said the coaches were watching the bottles thrown to see if any were recruitable for QB1 .....they really really were ................

That gave me a great morning laugh, Thanks Sir!!

the Castle on Daniel · 2026-11-02T10:21:25-0600

DeonThomas said:
Huskers and Illini with more than their share of National Titles in football. In fact, each with 5 Natty's:

NEB:
1970: 11-0-1 (Bob Devaney)
1971: 13-0 (Bob Devaney)
1994: 13-0 (Tom Osborne)
1995: 12-0 (Tom Osborne)
1997: 13-0 (Tom Osborne)

ILL:
1914: 7-0 (Zuppke)
1919: 6-1 (Zuppke)
1923: 8-0 (Zuppke)
1927: 7-0-1 (Zuppke)
1951: 9-0-1 (Ray Eliot)

Lol, I love claiming our five titles, but seeing as our second to last title was nearly 100 years ago and our last title was 19 years before their first, this is an insane comparison, lol.

SuperintendentChalmers · 2026-11-02T10:32:20-0600

DeonThomas said:
Looks like they may be playing on a baseball field in that one. I'm sure John Facenda (of NFL Films) could tell us.

Saban was coaching the Broncos at the time (what I remember most about him was his reputation as a coaching nomad, he even worked in the Yankees front office for a bit). So I think it's the original, unenclosed Mile High Stadium, which started as Bears Stadium for the AAA baseball team that left town when the Rockies joined MLB.

Oracle21 · 2026-11-02T10:53:43-0600

Nebraska has had 3 straight gut-wrenching losses.

Vs Indiana (Lead 17-6 with 12 min left)
Vs Oregon (Lead 14-9 with 35 seconds left)
Vs Washington (Lead 7-3 with 1:49 left and Washington had 4th & 18)

I think this game is probably the easiest to get of the 4 left to get a bowl game. But it won’t be easy.

Birdus · 2026-11-02T10:55:45-0600

If we can beat Oregon, we can beat these guys. We are getting NO respect. I get it but I have a good feeling about this game. If we win this one, I think we get another one.

Illinois vs Nebraska, Friday, November 6th, 7:00pm CT, FOX

Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)