Nebraska coaches and players preview Illinois matchup

LINCOLN, Neb. (WCIA) – Illinois football is 3-0 and ranked in the AP Poll Top 25.

However, the Illini’s week four foe can say the same. Nebraska is 3-0 and ranked No. 22. Friday’s contest between the Huskers and the Illini will be Nebraska’s 400th consecutive sellout.

Despite the constant turnout of Husker fans, their head coach says this year’s matchup with Illinois has some key differences from 2023.

“They’ve altered a lot of what they’re doing,” Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule said. “They’re a different defense than what they were. Aaron Henry, their defensive coordinator who I’ve known for a long, long time, he’s doing a good job of putting his imprint on it.”

Rhule says the Illini have utilized zone coverage more this fall, but disguise their defense well to make it tough for opposing offenses to read whether they’re playing zone or man-to-man. It’ll be a challenge for true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola.

“With a young quarterback, they don’t show it to you, said Rhule. “He’s got to recognize the zone on the snap.”

Rhule says Illinois’s takeover-heavy defense is due to some impressive playmakers on defense and a great job disguising coverages.

“This is going to be an absolute battle,” Rhule said, before pointing out that preseason projections don’t matter much. “…This is an excellent team we’re facing, that’s on a mission right now, so we’ll have to be ready.”

Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White also spoke this week, recognizing Illinois balanced attack on offense and impressive skill at the wide receiver spot. He also talked about Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer.

“He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now,” White said of Altmyer. “He’s not really panicked. He kind of goes out there and he sees and he’s operating at a high level, so he’ll be a challenge to deal with.”

The Huskers’ highly-touted freshman quarterback is gearing up for his first game against Illinois.

“They’re just physical and they fly around to the football,” Raiola said of the Illini defense. “They’re coached very well and a lot of them play together… They got a lot of ball hawks in the secondary so we just got to get ready for what they have coming.”

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