4 things we learned from Nebraska football loss to Illinois

Nebraska football lost another game on Friday night that it felt like it should have won. That’s been a common theme over the past decade.

But many of the same mistakes reared their ugly heads. There were red-zone struggles, special teams issues, including a huge missed kick, and a defense that couldn’t get a stop when it really mattered.

It was disheartening.

The season isn’t over by any means. However, this might require a re-setting of expectations. Nebraska football isn’t a playoff contender yet. They are close to being a good team, but they still have a lot to prove.

Here are four things we learned from the 31-24 overtime loss to Illinois.

Dylan Raiola is a dude

The freshman quarterback made some mistakes and nearly fumbled the ball away a couple of times, but he threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns. He navigated the two-minute drill perfectly for a touchdown before the end of the first half and made dazzling throws in the second half.

Surely, he wishes he had that third-down pass back without about four minutes left, but he led the Huskers to another drive that should have resulted in the game-winning points, only John Hohl failed to connect on the 39-yard field goal.

Raiola wasn’t perfect, but this loss wasn’t on him. He’s the reason the future is bright.

The defensive line needs reinforcements

I thought Nebraska was the tougher team. Yet, Illinois is the team that ran for 166 yards. Luke Altmyer had a solid night too and the Huskers struggled to get off the field on third down.

A huge part of that was the defensive line wearing out. Nash Hutmacher and Ty Robinson played a combined 115 snaps. Those guys are good, but if they had played 40 each, they would have been better.

That makes redshirting Riley Van Poppel even more curious. Nebraska was using Vincent Carroll-Jackson as its third defensive tackle last night. Walk-on freshman Keona Davis even got some snaps, but Van Poppel, who played in 11 games and had a key tackle for loss against Illinois last season, didn’t play at all.

Unless he’s hurt or isn’t performing and the staff doesn’t want to say, the move to redshirt him makes no sense. Nebraska is way too thin on the defensive line to have Riley Van Poppel sit.

Hutmacher and Robinson are some of the best in the Big Ten, but they would have been more effective with fewer snaps.

Special teams are still the Achilles heel

You could feel the wind come out of the sails when Nebraska football missed a field goal late in the fourth quarter. Hit that and maybe Illinois still scores a touchdown, but you have to feel better about the Huskers’ chances.

Nebraska didn’t return any punts and didn’t have any impactful plays on special teams, while Illinois finished the game with 60 punt return yards including a 37-yard return and 119 total compared to 26.

All that adds up. The missed kick is frustrating but hopefully fixing the problem is as simple as getting Tristan Alvano back from whatever held him out on Friday.

Close games are still an issue

Nebraska lost five one-score games last season including a loss to Wisconsin in overtime. On Friday, we saw many of the same issues that caused those losses.

There were silly penalties, too many sacks allowed, poor defense in the second half, and just mental mistakes such as Rahmir Johnson stepping out of bounds before securing a catch for a touchdown.

The refs didn’t help. We all know that Dylan Raiola’s lone interception should have been a touchdown. Neyor caught the ball and after it crosses the goal line the play is over.

Still, at some point, Nebraska needs to overcome all that and find a way to win a game like this. It failed the first test of 2024.

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