Nebraska Football has a chance to build momentum vs Illinois

Nebraska football is coming off their first win of the year and it’s important they continue to ride that momentum.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers are 1-2 after three games played this season and have a legitimate chance to move to 2-2 and sit at .500. This would be a huge accomplishment for the Huskers, but they have to take their opponent seriously.

Said opponent is Illinois, who sit at 1-3 on the year and had to fight hard to come back against Rutgers last week to get their first win of the season. It hasn’t been pretty for the Fighting Illini in 2020, but Nebraska has had their fair share of struggles too.

There’s no such thing as an easy win, especially with a weird year like 2020 where there are no non-conference games, but this game against Illinois is the closest thing to an “easy win” that Nebraska will have. They must take advantage of that.

If Nebraska football wins on Saturday, they have a chance to really start rounding the corner.

Scott Frost has deservedly received a lot of criticism since taking over as the head coach for Nebraska and just when there appear to be signs of progression made, the Huskers end up taking a step back. We can’t see any regression from Nebraska this week. They’re a better team than Illinois and they have to prove it.

One of Nebraska’s biggest problems this season has been holding onto leads. They’ll get off to a commanding lead in the first half (as we saw against Penn State), but then the offense sputters in the second half and the opposition is able to catch up. This could very well be what we see happen again this weekend, as Illinois obviously knows this about Nebraska and will be looking to expose them in the second half.

Nebraska’s offense definitely plays more conservatively in the second half and it’s frustrating. Luke McCaffrey is now 1-0 as a starter and Frost needs to continuing building on McCaffrey’s confidence and making sure he’s still in a good position to win in the second half.

No game is a guaranteed victory and Illinois has dealt Nebraska fits over the years, but this is a game the Cornhuskers should win. They need to work on holding onto the football and not slowing down in the second half. If they can continue to move the ball and put points on the board in the second half, that should be enough to win the game and move them to 2-2.

After this match-up, Nebraska faces Iowa, Purdue, and Minnesota, all of whom are beatable, but will provide bigger challenges than that of Illinois. It’s important for the Huskers to pull out all the stops and secure a victory this weekend, so that they know they’re making progress. It could be a season saving win.