Illinois has put itself back in the bowl conversation, and Friday night brings a chance to keep that momentum rolling at home against Nebraska.
The Fighting Illini enter the matchup at 5-3 overall and 3-2 in Big Ten play, riding a three-game winning streak and holding the conference’s second-longest active win streak. Nebraska comes in at 5-3 and 2-3 after dropping three straight.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at Gies Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. The game will stream live on FOX One.
The broadcast team features Brian Barnhart on play-by-play, Carey Davis as analyst, Kevin Mitchell on the sideline and Steve Kelly handling pregame, halftime and postgame coverage.
Weather should be manageable for a November night in Champaign, with kickoff temperature expected to be 44 degrees, no chance of rain and a north-northwest wind at 7 mph.
Illinois has been getting key production from several places, starting with receiver Collin Dixon. He is one of only five players in the country to rank in the top 12 in both receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, alongside Jeremiah Smith (Ohio State), Malachi Toney (Miami), Umari Hatcher (Syracuse) and Easton Messer (FAU).
Dixon is fourth nationally in receiving touchdowns with 10, behind Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, Oregon State’s Jesse Legree and Miami’s Malachi Toney. That total also ties Illinois’ single-season record.
The Illini also got a spark from Javari Barnett at Maryland, where he ran for a career-high 80 yards on six carries and broke loose for a 64-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. That run is the longest touchdown by a Big Ten freshman this season.
Up front, DL Will Holmes has 26 pressures, which ranks sixth in the Big Ten according to PFF. Illinois also welcomed back veteran starting quarterback Katin Houser after surgery to repair a broken throwing hand, and he went 18 of 32 for 223 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Nebraska, meanwhile, has been close in its three straight losses, falling by a combined 13 points. The Huskers have also lost 53 one-score games during college football’s playoff era.
Two predictions in the source split on the outcome. One picked Nebraska 24, Illinois 21, pointing to the Huskers’ close losses, Illinois’ need for a sixth win to strengthen its bowl case and Houser’s first game back from surgery. That projection also noted Nebraska’s Sagarin ranking at 28th compared with Illinois at 42nd, and said ESPN gives Illinois a 72.5% chance to reach six wins.
The other forecast went with Illinois 21, Nebraska 14, citing Illinois’ three-game win streak and its walk-off field goal last week against Maryland. That prediction also noted Houser’s 223-yard return, the 13-play, 67-yard game-winning drive, Nebraska’s three-game skid and the fact that the Huskers have scored no more than 17 points in any of those losses.
It also pointed out Nebraska has won three of the last four meetings in Champaign. In that outlook, QB Anthony Colandrea has thrown for 1,825 yards and 15 touchdowns this season, while Kwazi Gilmer has 42 catches for 545 yards and seven scores.
The betting line listed Thursday morning at BetMGM had the over-under at 48.5 points.
Illinois also made news off the field this week by announcing a two-game series with Notre Dame, ending a 59-year gap between meetings. The teams will play in South Bend on Sept. 4, 2027, and then in Champaign on Sept. 2, 2028.
“This is a series I have wanted to get on the football schedule since I arrived in 2016,” said Illinois director of athletics Josh Whitman. “It has been too long since these two tradition-rich programs have met, given our proximity, common values, and deep roots in Chicago and throughout the Midwest.
We expect to see a lot of Orange and Blue next year in South Bend and believe the 2028 matchup in Champaign will be one of our most anticipated home games in decades. Thank you to Notre Dame ... for helping to make this exciting series a reality.”
The only way for fans to guarantee 2028 season tickets, which include the Notre Dame game in Champaign, is to purchase 2027 season tickets.
Illinois and Notre Dame have met 12 times, with the last game coming in 1968 at Notre Dame Stadium as part of a two-year home-and-home. Nine of those meetings came during a 10-year stretch from 1937-1946, after the teams first played in 1898.
The Notre Dame series replaces Missouri on Illinois’ 2027 and 2028 schedules. Illinois also added FIU for Aug. 28, 2027, and will no longer play Eastern Illinois that season. The 2027 home slate currently includes FIU, Delaware, Indiana, Northwestern, Penn State, UCLA and Wisconsin, while the road schedule features Notre Dame, Michigan, Minnesota, Purdue and USC.
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The analytics crowd noticed, too. EvanMiyas Bayesian Performance Rating had Coleman making the biggest jump in the country after the game, vaulting him to No. 28 nationally, and he was hardly alone in the surge. Three other Illinois freshmen also posted notable BPR gains from the same outing, giving the Illini a little more reason to believe their young core may be ahead of schedule. [Read more 🡒]
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For Illinois, the history is on its side, with a 7-0 record in the series and a recent 35-point NCAA Tournament win over the Quakers. Still, this one feels more useful as a measuring stick than the opener did, because Penn has enough continuity to ask a few real questions and give the Illini a better read on where they stand this early in the year. [Read more 🡒]