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Husker Big Red Daily: Updated Bowl projections, Nebraska-Illinois injury report has two Huskers questionable

Find the latest Nebraska football bowl projections, plus much more in the Husker Big Red Daily.

Published

12 seconds ago

November 4, 2026

Chris Peterson

Nebraska Athletics

Welcome to Husker Big Red Daily, your daily stop for the latest Nebraska football news, recruiting buzz, transfer portal updates, and Huskers headlines. Here’s a quick look at the latest storylines surrounding Nebraska athletics.

After a third consecutive loss, this time to Washington, a Nebraska football team that had a 34-percent chance of making the College Football Playoff, according to Polymarket, is now just playing out the string for bowl position, hoping to show “progress.”

Even if the Huskers win out, it’s hard to see them making it at 9-3. Maybe, if Ohio State were No. 1 and undefeated. But the Buckeyes have two losses and could come to Lincoln with a backup quarterback.

There also isn’t a guarantee Nebraska will win another game. The Huskers are favored against Illinois. The game is on the road, though, just like Rutgers and Iowa, and Matt Rhule is 1-5 in Big Ten road games in November.

Looking at all the projections, here is where things stand for Nebraska after Week 9.

Nebraska Football Bowl Projections After Week 9

Updated Nov. 4, 2026 | Projections published Nov. 1 or later

Outlet	Analyst	Bowl Game	Opponent
ESPN	Kyle Bonagura	Pinstripe Bowl	Duke
ESPN	Mark Schlabach	Duke’s Mayo Bowl	Duke
On3	Brett McMurphy	ReliaQuest Bowl	Texas
CBS Sports	Brad Crawford	Music City Bowl	Oklahoma
Athlon Sports	Steven Lassan	Music City Bowl	South Carolina
Sports Illustrated	Bryan Fischer	Cactus Bowl	West Virginia
RotoWire	Projection model	Sun Bowl	Pittsburgh

Nebraska vs. Illinois injury report

Since the Huskers are playing on Friday night, the first injury report went out on Tuesday night. For the most part, it offered good news.

There aren’t any new names on the report. Gunnar Gottula and Jamir Conn, who each missed last week’s game, are listed as questionable. Getting Conn back would be huge. The defense hasn’t been the same without him.

Gottula also started the first seven games at guard or tackle. It seems like Nebraska prefers him as the starting left guard when healthy. Katin Houser, the Illinois quarterback, returned last week and wasn’t listed on the injury report.

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Chris Peterson

Chris has worked in sports journalism since 2005 writing for multiple newspapers and websites such as the Bleacher Report and Fansided before starting Husker Big Red, A fan site for hardcore followers of the #Huskers offering articles, podcasts, videos and more exclusive content on all things Nebraska