Illinois Football: Game-by-game prediction of the 2023 Illini season

Week 6 – Illinois vs Nebraska

The Big Ten has had some coaching turnover, and Nebraska was one of those programs. The Cornhuskers come to Illinois on Friday, October 6 at 7:00 p.m. CT.

Much like Purdue, you have to throw the 2022 stats out the window when it comes to Nebraska football. Matt Rhule is now the head coach, and he has brought in some talented players.

Casey Thompson is now out at quarterback, and Rhule has brought in former Georgia Tech quarterback, Jeff Sims. For his career, Sims has thrown for 4,464 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 23 interceptions in three seasons. His arm isn’t great, and he won’t have much to throw to either, as two out of the top three wide receivers and the top tight end from 2022 are not with the program anymore.

The one savior for Nebraska’s offense is the fact they are returning starting running back, Anthony Grant. He rushed for 915 yards and six touchdowns in 2022, but he only had an average of 4.2 yards per carry.

On defense, Nebraska has lost a lot of talent. Two out of the top four players in tackles and three out of the top four players in sacks are all gone. The Cornhuskers do return its top two players in interceptions, though. This is a unit that allowed 28.5 points per game in 2022, which ranked No. 75 in the country.

• Prediction – Illinois beats Nebraska, 35-14

I think Nebraska has a couple of nice pieces that could do some damage, but this program is probably a year or two away from being a Big Ten competitor once again.

Rhule is going to need a recruiting class or two and some nice transfers to get Nebraska to a bowl game. I fully expect them to have another sub-500 year. Illinois should be able to take care of business on both sides of the ball. I see the Illini eating Sims up because of his limited passing abilities.