** 2024 Opponent Preview : Illinois (Game 4) **

Moiraine said:
Yes. 
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I think we can as well. We haven't been perfect so far this season but we have shown the ability to control the game. After the long TD in the UTEP game it hasn't felt like any of the games have been as close as the score is showing. We may not win by 30 in this one but if we get up by 2 scores this team has shown they are going to salt it away and win by 2 scores or more.

 
DrinkinwitTerrellFarley said:
You could sub in Alabama blowing the doors off of Wisconsin.  It doesn't matter.  Being a conference homer is not good for Nebraska recruiting IMO. 
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This is a better example, but for recruiting it's very situational/depends on the B1G team and the opponents, whether it's good/bad/neutral for recruiting. Alabama losing to Wisconsin probably doesn't hurt them that much in recruiting battles against us, but Wisconsin winning that game would help them in recruiting against us. Purdue beating Notre Dame probably doesn't help them that much in recruiting battles against us because they are still low in resources/name recognition. Overall, I think this is a very low impact reason for wanting B1G teams to lose. The better the B1G looks the more playoff bids they'll have, and the more likely Nebraska will be one of them.

 
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Moiraine said:
This is a better example, but for recruiting it's very situational/depends on the B1G team and the opponents, whether it's good/bad/neutral for recruiting. Alabama losing to Wisconsin probably doesn't hurt them that much in recruiting battles against us. Purdue beating Notre Dame probably doesn't help them that much in recruiting battles against us. Overall, I think this is a very low impact reason for wanting B1G teams to lose. The better the B1G looks the more playoff bids they'll have, and the more likely Nebraska will be one of them.
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I think proximity matters though for several recruits with their family being in driving distance to see them.  Certainly not all but it plays a factor.  Plus I always thought that Big Ten fans prided themselves on not doing the northern equivalent of the "SEC, SEC" chant.  We recognized how ridiculous Kentucky, State, and Vandy football fans looked doing it.

 
DrinkinwitTerrellFarley said:
I think proximity matters though for several recruits with their family being in driving distance to see them.  Certainly not all but it plays a factor.  Plus I always thought that Big Ten fans prided themselves on not doing the northern equivalent of the "SEC, SEC" chant.  We recognized how ridiculous Kentucky, State, and Vandy football fans looked doing it.
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I've been cheering for conference members to win their out of conference games since Nebraska was in the Big 8. It was admittedly more important then though, because there were no playoffs. Our conference not looking like s#!t in OOC makes us look better when we beat them.

 
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Illini running game ain't as bad as Colorado's but it's still pretty weak. UNI's #1 RB has twice as many yards this year as Illinois #1, and UNI's #2 guy has 50 more yards. Their OL hasn't been too hot, either. We won't be able to pin our ears back quite as much as we did against Colorado, but I don't see their offense giving us much trouble.

A lot of their fans are pinning their hopes on "Raiola's a true freshman" as we'll hear a lot this year. They're definitely the best defense we've seen so far, but I don't think they'll put up any more than what Dylan's already seen from going against our defense in practice.

 
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Toe said:
Illini running game ain't as bad as Colorado's but it's still pretty weak. UNI's top RB has twice as many yards this year as Illinois, and UNI's #2 guy has 50 more yards. Their OL hasn't been too hot, either. We won't be able to pin our ears back quite as much as we did against Colorado, but I don't see their offense giving us much trouble.

A lot of their fans are pinning their hopes on "Raiola's a true freshman" as we'll hear a lot this year. They're definitely the best defense we've seen so far, but I don't think they'll put up any more than what Dylan's already seen from going against our defense in practice.
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Illini’s defense has been turning teams over quite a bit so far this season. If Dylan and the O as a whole plays clean, this is a 2-3 score win. If not, it will be close. Based on what we have seen so far, I am confident in a 2-3 score win for the Huskers.

 
A couple of interesting rankings. 

Paul Myerberg of USA Today does a ranking of all 134 FBS teams. 

He has 3-0 Nebraska at 24th.

He has 3-0 Illinois at 68th.

That seemed strange, so I checked Jeff Sagarin (formerly of USA Today, now back to being an Independent).

He has 3-0 Nebraska at 26th.

He has 3-0 Illinois at 51st.

So, both teams are ranked, both undefeated at 3-0. But for some reason, Illinois isn't getting the same respect from formula-based ratings.

Massey has:

Nebraska - 35

Illinois - 33

He has our SOS at 109, theirs at 125. 

Massey has us going 4-5 to finish the season. Illinois going 5.5-3.5.

 
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Toe said:
Illini running game ain't as bad as Colorado's but it's still pretty weak. UNI's #1 RB has twice as many yards this year as Illinois #1, and UNI's #2 guy has 50 more yards. Their OL hasn't been too hot, either. We won't be able to pin our ears back quite as much as we did against Colorado, but I don't see their offense giving us much trouble.

A lot of their fans are pinning their hopes on "Raiola's a true freshman" as we'll hear a lot this year. They're definitely the best defense we've seen so far, but I don't think they'll put up any more than what Dylan's already seen from going against our defense in practice.
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This is basically how I see it as well.  They are the typical hang around and don't beat yourself BIG team that NU has invented ways to lose to in recent memory.  At this point, Indiana looks like a far more interesting opponent to me.  

 
OK, we got through the non-con as well as anyone can expect.  But, I have to admit, now I'm really nervous about conference play.  The team should have a ton of confidence going into conference play.  We have a good QB.  I'm concerned about getting against better defenses that hit him a few times and the DBs are better.  Hopefully, the O line continues to play well and their improvement so far wasn't because we played against bad D lines.  Admittedly, in the past, even bad D lines looked good against us...and that hasn't been the case this year.

If we can get through the next two games without a loss, I will feel a lot better.

 
knapplc said:
So, both teams are ranked, both undefeated at 3-0. But for some reason, Illinois isn't getting the same respect from formula-based ratings.
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A lot of the computer stuff looks at the underlying stats and "play success", not just wins and losses.  And according to the underlying stats Illinois should have lost to Kansas (SP+ gave Illinois a 40% chance of winning based on the postgame stats).

 
Red Five said:
A lot of the computer stuff looks at the underlying stats and "play success", not just wins and losses.  And according to the underlying stats Illinois should have lost to Kansas (SP+ gave Illinois a 40% chance of winning based on the postgame stats).
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And the Illini are +8 in turnover margin. That'll win you a lot of football games.

 
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