Nebraska’s Offensive Depth Chart for Illinois

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have released their offensive depth chart for this Friday’s game against Illinois.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have released their offensive depth chart for this Friday’s game against Illinois. Head football coach Matt Rhule made it clear that the Huskers know who they are and what they want to do on the football field.

“We have an offensive identity. We’re going to run the ball. In all seriousness, I would not confuse identity, knowing what you want to do and who you are, with always having success. We lined up and we tried to run the ball against those guys… we know exactly who we are. We’re going to run the ball, we’re going to run a little bit of option, we’re going to play action pass here and there, we’re going to try and convert third downs. I think we’re just trying to do it better.”

He also spoke about Anthony Grant’s performance since taking over as the starting running back.

“We’ve been going with Anthony (Grant). Anthony just has to protect the football. When he fumbled in that game early on and a lot of people said he’s in the doghouse. No one’s in the doghouse. It’s just, we can’t play the way we want to play and put the ball on the ground. It happened again in the red zone. We’re working with him all the time. I love the guy, I walked off the field with him, like ‘hey, you’ll be back, let’s go.’

And gave praise to some of the backups, including recently converted wide receiver Josh Fleeks.

(Josh) Fleeks, I think, just showed us a dynamic element. I thought Emmett (Johnson) played well. Kwinten (Ives), we’re trying to bring Kwinten along. There’s just a big difference. He’s so talented. There’s a big difference going from seeing cards to being out there, and they can be in one of seven different defenses. Kwinten’s coming, but I think Josh is the one guy who kind of jumped. He can play receiver, he can play tailback. Anthony will keep working on ball security, Fleeks will keep bringing it along, and I think Emmett is a guy who can do it all.”

Find the entire offensive depth chart below.

Everything Mickey Joseph said following the loss to Illinois

The coach had some choice words following Nebraska’s loss.

Following Nebraska’s loss against Illinois, the Cornhusker’s backs are up against the wall. They are now 3-5 on the season and 2-3 in the Big Ten with four games left to play. Anything can happen, but time is running out on the season. The Huskers will wrap up the regular season with a home game against Minnesota next Saturday, at Michigan, then host Wisconsin, and the season finale will be at Iowa against the Hawkeyes.

Nebraska Interim Head Football Coach Mickey Joseph spoke with the media following the loss. Here is what he had to say.

On keeping the team positive

“Well, we just talked and said, you know what? We’re going to come back. We’re going to watch the film and look at ourselves in the mirror. We’re going to be honest with ourselves. We’re going to tell the truth like we always do on Sunday, and you’re going to see where it went wrong. We’re going to fix it because if we don’t, this is a copycat league, and they’ll come back and hit us with it again next week.”

Mickey Joseph says ‘Nebraska football was built on being physical’

The man in charge talked about the identity of Nebraska Football.

Interim Head Coach Mickey Joseph spoke with the media one final time before taking the field on Saturday. The Nebraska Cornhuskers will welcome the Illinois Fighting Illini to Memorial Stadium in a Big Ten West clash.

Joseph discussed the team’s continued preparations, the thought process backups need to go through each week and the identity of Nebraska Football.

Kickoff on Saturday between Nebraska and Illinois will be at 2:30 pm on ABC.

“We went in the stadium today, We will go inside tomorrow. We wanted to go in the stadium so we could get a feel for it and so the quarterbacks get to throw in the stadium because the wind in Nebraska can be a little tricky at times. We took them out there today. It was a good practice though. It was detailed. We were on point with things, and I feel good about where they are at right now.”

What you need to know about the Illinois Fighting Illini

The resurgent Illini are on top of the Big Ten West

Nebraska (3-4, 2-2 Big Ten West) takes on a resurgent Illinois Fighting Illini team at home on Saturday at 2:30 PM as they vie to stay in the hunt near the top of the Big Ten West.

The Fighting Illini are having a better season than anyone could have expected in 2022 with a record of 6-1 (3-1 Big Ten West) and come into the game ranked No. 17 in the AP Top 25 and No. 18 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Illinois leads Purdue by half a game and Nebraska by one game for the lead in the West division.

Bret Bielema’s group started the season 1-1 after a heartbreaking 23-20 defeat to Indiana, in which the Hoosiers were beneficiaries of a controversial no-touchdown call on a catch by Brian Hightower. Convincing wins over Virginia, Chattanooga and Wisconsin followed, with Badgers head coach Paul Chryst getting fired after the loss.

Illinois grinded out a 9-6 win over Iowa in Week 6 and continued their win streak with a 26-14 victory against Minnesota before their bye week last Saturday. The Fighting Illini are bowl eligible for just the second time since 2014 and have their best record since 2011, where they started the season 6-0 before losing their last six games of the regular season.

Senior running back Chase Brown and the defensive unit have been the catalysts for Illinois this season. Brown’s name is being discussed for Heisman contention and the Fighting Illini have the country’s leading scoring defense by allowing more than 14 points on just one occasion.

Kickoff time set for Nebraska vs. Illinois

The Big Ten announced that Nebraska’s game on October 29 against Illinois at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln will kick off at 2:30 PM Central Time. 

The Big Ten announced that Nebraska’s game on October 29 against Illinois at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln will kick off at 2:30 PM Central Time.

The game will be the first coming out of the the Huskers’ second and final bye week of the season. In their most recent game, Nebraska lost to Purdue 43-37 in West Lafayette, Indiana. Illinois, who is ranked in the AP Poll for the first time since 2011, will come into the game off of a bye week as well. Last week, the Fighting Illini took down Minnesota 26-14.

The game will be broadcasted on ABC/ESPN and marks the first time since the Huskers clash against Oklahoma on Sept. 19 that they will not play in primetime.

Nebraska holds a 13-5-1 record all time against the Fighting Illini, who won last year’s matchup 30-22.

[mm-video type=playlist id=01fvdd6z9hqw4epb9e player_id=none image=https://cornhuskerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Opening score of the 2021 NCAA season is a punt return safety

Big Ten football is back, and it’s weirder than ever! A punt return safety to start the 2021 season off is living proof.

In case you were missing Big Ten football… well, it’s back, folks. And it’s given us the weirdest opening score of a college football season… well, maybe ever.

Let’s set the scene. With 4:20 (how appropriate) left in the first quarter of the contest between Nebraska and Illinois, the Fighting Illini punted to the Cornhuskers. Punter Brendan Franke got off a 55-yard bomb, and cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt tried (in a manner of speaking ) to return it. Instead, butted up against his own end zone as he was, Taylor-Britt tried to throw the ball out of said end zone, which is a no-no. It’s also a safety.

It’s the first two points of the Bret Bielema era in Illinois, and a rough start for Nebraska head coach Scot Frost, who is already on several hot seats.