Illinois beats Nebraska 30-22 in the 2021 college football opener in a game that was considered an upset for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The loss opens up questions for Nebraska who was hoping to recapture some of its old magic in football. While one loss does not ruin the season it does come against an opponent they were considered more than marginally better than. Nebraska Head Coach Scott Frost may soon find himself on the coaching hot seat.
That’ll do it. Illinois beats Nebraska 30-22 in Bret Bielema’s debut.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) August 28, 2021
Illinois beats Nebraska…back-to-back wins over “Big Red” for the first time since 1923-24. In the process, it gives us our first topic for Monday’s “Off Campus” @SXMCollege.
— Mark Packer (@MarkPacker) August 28, 2021
Nebraska has several things go wrong during the game including reigning Big Ten kicker of the year Connor Culp missing two extra-point attempts in the game. Last year he was 20-20 in extra-point attempts. Nebraska quarterback Adrain Martinez completed 16 of his 32 pass attempts for 232 yards and a touchdown. He also got it done on the ground with 17 rushing attempts for 111 yards, a touchdown, and one lost fumble. Running back Gabe Ervin posted 12 carries for just 33 yards.
Art dart ?@artursitkowski4 // @IlliniFootball pic.twitter.com/e6MGPQ52um
— Illinois on BTN (@IllinoisOnBTN) August 28, 2021
When Illinois beat Nebraska today they had an overall complete game to seal their victory against the Cornhuskers. Illinois quarterback Artur Sitkowski completed 12 of his 15 passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Mike Epstein had 16 carries for 75 yards and a touchdown while running back Reggie Love III had 12 carries for 45 yards. Linebacker Calvin Hart Jr. also chipped in a defensive touchdown.
Nebraska tried a fourth-quarter charge for a comeback but fell short while down eight points on the final drive of the game. The score at one point was 30-9 but ended at 30-22.
