College Football and the Big Ten 2021 season kicks off this weekend with Nebraska vs Illinois
Details
Who: Nebraska vs Illinois
Where: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL
When: 8/28 @ 1:00 pm EST
TV: Fox
State Of The Programs
Whether you call it week one or week zero, college football returns this weekend with five match ups. Thankfully one of those games pits two Big Ten teams against each other, as Nebraska visits Illinois in a West divisional contest.
For Nebraska, it’s the start of year four under head coach Scott Frost. So far the returns haven’t been what anyone expected, as the Huskers are 12-20 under his leadership. This season was already shaping up as a crucial one for Nebraska, but recently reports broke of the Cornhuskers being under NCAA investigation due to rule violations spanning 12 months time.
Now Frost’s team will have to put aside any off field distractions and face a new look Illinois team under Bret Bielema.
Bielema returns to the Big Ten conference after spending time at Arkansas and in the NFL. His return to his native state has been well received by most, and this will be his first chance to impress the Illini faithful.
This game, but really this season, is about growth for Bielema’s squad while showcasing recruits what his vision on both offense and defense will be. For many of us, Saturday will be our first exposure to this new Illinois team and how they want to look.
The Illini have kept a lot of information about looks and personnel packages close to the vest this fall camp. Possibly as a way to surprise not just Nebraska, but other teams this season about what to expect from Illinois.
Preview
As mentioned above, Illinois is a bit of a mystery in terms of how they may look personnel wise. We do know however that the team plans on sporting a new 3-4 base defense, along with an offense that will be more spread out compared to what Bielema ran at Wisconsin.
Senior QB Brandon Peters will be leading the Fighting Illini on offense this Saturday after Bielema tabbed him the starter this week. His game experience is something Bielema may hope to rely on in order to organize an offense that has a lot of new parts to it.
Nebraska returns junior QB Adrian Martinez to lead their offensive attack. Many are still waiting on Martinez and the unit to establish the high octane passing attack that was shown at UCF during Frost’s time their, but the unit has been very productive in the ground game. That should continue this year with a good offensive line and further help at running back.
On defense, Nebraska returns many players from a unit that has improved each of the past three years. It’s an experienced group with an agile front seven that can disrupt offensive attacks. Their are some questions about the secondary, but no glaring holes.
The 3-4 defense for Illinois will see some of the more agile down linemen from past years move to linebacker. It’ll be a work in progress, but some players like Isaiah Gay, and Owen Carney Jr. could thrive in these roles.
Prediction
Illinois will be fun to watch and see how they develop under Bielema this year. That said, game one against an experienced defensive front, as well as one of the better rushing attacks in the Big Ten will be too much for this new team.
Nebraska wins, 31 -13.