Illini Go Back to the Drawing Board in 20-7 loss to the Huskers

By Jeff Mayfield

[October 07, 2023] 

I was brought up during the time that we were taught if you don’t have something nice to say about somebody-don’t say anything at all. In regard to the Illinois vs. Nebraska football game that means this will be a very short article.

I could tell you that the Illini were stuffed at the goal line on their first possession of the game. I could tell you that they had two plays to score at the one-foot line. I could tell you that The Huskers marched down the field and scored a field goal and a touchdown to take a 10-0 lead and you knew we were in trouble.

But when a miscommunication on the ensuing kickoff resulted in a free ball recovered by Nebraska, most of the air left the stadium. But that wasn’t the worst of it. On the very first play following that hiccup, the Husker QB scampered 25 yards into the endzone and that felt like the dagger!

Somehow Illinois found pay dirt before intermission on a td pass from QB Luke Altmyer to WR Pat Bryant, but the 17-7 revealed on the board was not as close as that score indicated. The Huskers did tack on another field goal resulting in the final margin 20-7 but where to begin to describe the foibles of Illinois football?

We hear coaches all the time say we’ve got to correct this and we’ve got to clean-up that. The Illini seem to have so many of those areas of concern-we’re not sure where they would start. I’ve always been one of the most positive people I know. I’ve been able to take any dark, dank, and dismal situation and pull-out a silver lining. But for the life of me, I’m struggling to do that with this team during this season. The only good news I can think of…we have a basketball game in just 13 days!

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

Respond to the writer at [e-mail].