Huskers Open Big Ten Play by Hosting Illinois

GAME 5: NEBRASKA vs. ILLINOIS
SEPT. 27, 2014 | MEMORIAL STADIUM
LINCOLN, NEB. | 7 p.m. (CT)

BROADCAST INFO
TV - BTN
RADIO - Husker Sports Network
SATELLITE RADIO - Sirius Channel 113, XM 195
INTERNET RADIO - Huskers.com

HUSKERS
Record: 4-0, 0-0
Rankings: Coaches-19; AP-21
Last Game: def. Miami, 41-31
Coach: Bo Pelini
Career/NU Record: 62-24/7th year 
vs. Illinois, 1-0

FIGHTING ILLINI
Record: 3-1, 0-0
Rankings: Coaches-NR; AP-NR
Last Game: def. Texas State, 42-35
Coach: Tim Beckman
Career/IU Record: 30-35, 6th Season/ 9-19, 3rd Season
vs. NU: 0-1

The Matchup
Nebraska opens Big Ten Conference play on Saturday night, taking on Illinois in a West Division matchup at Memorial Stadium. The game, which will mark Homecoming in Lincoln, is set for an 8 p.m. kickoff at Memorial Stadium and will be televised by BTN.

The Huskers will head into conference action with a perfect 4-0 record, marking the third time in seven seasons under Bo Pelini Nebraska completed non-league play unbeaten. Nebraska secured its 4-0 start with a 41-31 victory over Miami before a Memorial Stadium record crowd on Saturday night in Lincoln. Nebraska’s offense dominated the game with a powerful rushing attack, grinding out 343 rushing yards, including 229 yards by Heisman candidate Ameer Abdullah.

Nebraska’s victory over Miami allowed the Huskers to advance in the national polls. The Huskers moved up three spots in both polls to No. 21 in the Associated Press Poll and 19th in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Illinois comes into the game with a 3-1 record following a come-from-behind 42-35 victory over Texas State on Saturday in Champaign. The Illini feature a high-powered offensive attack as they average 429.8 yards per game, including 321.5 yards passing per contest.

This marks the second of four consecutive seasons in which Nebraska will open Big Ten play against Illinois. It also marks the second straight year NU has hosted Illinois on Homecoming.

The Series
Nebraska holds an 8-2-1 edge in the series between the two schools, including a 39-19 victory in Lincoln last season in the first meeting as Big Ten opponents. Saturday’s matchup will be just the fourth meeting since 1953. Nebraska holds a 6-1 edge in games played in Lincoln.

The Coaches
Nebraska: Bo Pelini (Ohio State, ‘90) owns a 62-24 record (.721) in his seventh season as head coach. He has guided NU to nine or more wins in each of his first six seasons as head coach, joining Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne in accomplishing that feat at Nebraska. His 62 wins trail only Osborne and Devaney on the NU wins list. Pelini joins Alabama’s Nick Saban as the only head coaches in the nation to win nine or more games each of the past six seasons.

Illinois: Tim Beckman (Findlay, ‘88) is in his third season as Illinois’ head coach and his sixth season overall as a collegiate head coach. Beckman has guided the Fighting Illini to a 9-19 record in his three seasons and owns a 30-35 overall record as a collegiate coach. He previously served as the head coach at Toledo from 2009 to 2011. He had assistant coaching stops at Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Bowling Green, Elon and Western Carolina.

Nebraska Football
Nebraska is 869-357-40 all-time, one of just eight schools with 800 all-time victories 
- Nebraska has won five national championships (1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997).
- The Cornhuskers have won 43 conference championships.
- NU’s 50 all-time bowl appearances rank third nationally.
- Since 1970, NU has 435 wins, 24 more than any other school.
- Nebraska’s 107 football Academic All-Americans lead the nation.
- The Huskers have 110 All-Americans in school history.

Scouting Illinois
Illinois opens Big Ten Conference play Saturday against Nebraska. The Fighting Illini posted a 3-1 record in non-conference play, suffering their only loss at Washington on Sept. 13.

Offensively, Illinois boasts one of the nation’s top passing attacks. The Illini rank 19th nationally with an average of 321.5 passing yards per game while completing 66.2 percent of their passes. Illinois averages only 108.2 rushing yards per game, as nearly 60 percent of the Fighting Illini’s total plays have been passes.

Wes Lunt is completing 65.8 percent of his passes for 1,237 yards and 11 touchdowns. He ranks eighth nationally in passing touchdowns and ninth in passing yards per game. Geronimo Allison has caught 16 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns this fall, while six Illini have at least 10 catches.

On the ground, Josh Ferguson has gained a team-high 316 yards, while averaging 6.3 yards per rush. Ferguson is coming off a career day against Texas State last weekend, when he ran for 190 yards and two touchdowns.

Defensively, Illinois ranks 93rd nationally in total defense and 100th in scoring defense. Opponents have rushed for an average of 172.5 yards per game against the Illini, but are averaging just 3.5 yards per carry. Through the air, Illinois is giving up an average of 257.2 passing yards per game.

Illinois possesses one of the nation’s top return men in V’Angelo Bentley, who has returned 12 kickoffs for 324 yards and four punts for 65 yards. His 389 combined return yards ranks second nationally.

Series History
Nebraska leads the all-time series with Illinois, 8-2-1. The Huskers are hosting the Fighting Illini for the second straight season, and Nebraska owns a 6-1 advantage in Lincoln, including a 2-1 edge inside Memorial Stadium.

The teams met as conference foes for the first time last season, when the Huskers ran to a 39-19 victory. Ameer Abdullah rushed for a then-career-high 225 yards in the win, as Nebraska totaled 335 rushing yards and 521 total yards.

Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini
Bo Pelini is in his seventh season as Nebraska’s head coach and owns a 62-24 record with the Huskers. Pelini has won or shared four divisional titles in his first six seasons as head coach, including the 2012 Big Ten Legends Division crown. He guided NU to three straight Big 12 North Division crowns from 2008 to 2010, becoming the first coach in the history of the Big 12 to win at least a share of a division title in each of his first three years. 

He has guided Nebraska to at least nine wins each of his six seasons, and three 10-win seasons. Pelini is third on the Nebraska career victories list, trailing only Tom Osborne and Bob Devaney. 
Pelini took charge of the Huskers after a highly successful five-year run as a collegiate defensive coordinator, including orchestrating NU’s defensive efforts in 2003. Pelini picked up his first college head coaching victory as NU’s interim coach in the 2003 Alamo Bowl against Michigan State.

Following his one season at Nebraska, Pelini served as the co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma in 2004, helping the Sooners to the Big 12 title and BCS title game. He then followed with three seasons as the defensive coordinator at LSU. With the Tigers, Pelini led three consecutive defenses to No. 3 national rankings in total defense. He culminated his time in Baton Rouge by helping the Tigers to the 2007 national championship.

In addition to his five seasons as an assistant at the collegiate level, Pelini coached in the NFL for nine seasons, serving three years each with the San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers. Pelini was a team captain and four-year letterman as a safety at Ohio State from 1987 to 1990.

Illinois Head Coach Tim Beckman
Tim Beckman is in his third season at Illinois, where he owns a 9-19 record. The Fighting Illini have shown improvement each season under Beckman. Illinois was just 2-10 in Beckman’s first season in 2012, but the Illini doubled their win total with a 4-8 record in 2013. Illinois has nearly matched last year’s win total with a 3-1 record entering tonight’s game. The Fighting Illini are 1-15 in Big Ten games under Beckman.

Beckman is in his sixth season as a collegiate head coach. He guided Toledo to a 21-16 record from 2009 to 2011. Before accepting the head coaching job at Toledo, Beckman had 21 years of experience as an assistant coach. He served as the defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State (2007-08), the cornerbacks coach at Ohio State (2005-06), the defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Bowling Green (1998-2004), the defensive coordinator at Elon (1996-97), the secondary coach and recruiting coordinator at Western Carolina (1990-95) and as a graduate assistant at Auburn (1988-89).

A graduate of the University of Findlay, Beckman is 0-1 against Nebraska as a head coach, but he was on the Oklahoma State staff that handed the Huskers a 45-14 homecoming loss in 2007.

 

Huskers to Wear Red Rising Uniforms on Saturday Night
Nebraska will wear Red Rising TECHFIT football uniforms this Saturday night when the Huskers take on Illinois on Homecoming at Memorial Stadium. 

Celebrating the 125th year of Nebraska football, the new all-red uniform features black metallic stripes on the jersey and pant, ultra-light black and silver metallic numbers and a large Nebraska “N” on the chest of the TECHFIT compression base layer.

Nebraska’s uniform also incorporates TECHFIT Shockweb technology. The adidas TECHFIT Shockweb uniform is the only true compression uniform system in the industry. Shockweb fits tighter to the body, making players more difficult to tackle. TECHFIT Shockweb is lighter, helping to make the player fast and increasing his range of motion, to support the athlete’s performance at the highest levels.

For more information and images of Nebraska’s alternate uniform, please visit @Huskers, @adidasFballUS, Facebook.com/huskers and Facebook.com/adidasfootballUS.

Nebraska Boasts Great Success on Homecoming
Saturday will mark Nebraska’s 104th Homecoming game. The Huskers boast an all-time record of 77-22-4 (.767 winning percentage) in Homecoming games, including a 70-16-3 mark against conference opponents (.803). Since 1955, Nebraska has faced a conference opponent on Homecoming every season except 2009 and 2010. The Huskers defeated Illinois, 39-19, last season.

Nebraska won 36 straight Homecoming games from 1969 to 2004. Since then, the Huskers are 6-3 on Homecoming, and Bo Pelini is 5-1 on Homecoming in his career, including five straight victories. The 1962 Homecoming matchup between Nebraska and Missouri marked the start of the Huskers’ ongoing NCAA-record consecutive home sellout streak, which will reach 337 on Saturday. During the sellout streak, NU has won 47 of its 52 Homecoming games.

Huskers Have History of Success in Conference Openers
Saturday’s game will mark the Big Ten opener for both Nebraska and Illinois. The Huskers are 2-1 in Big Ten openers since joining the league in 2011, including a 39-19 home victory over Illinois in last year’s conference opener. Overall, Nebraska is 88-20-2 all-time in conference openers (.809 winning percentage). The Huskers have won their first conference game in 36 of the last 39 seasons dating back to 1975. Bo Pelini owns a 4-2 record in conference openers, with both losses to top-10 teams on the road.

Nebraska has been even better in its first conference game in Lincoln, winning 86 percent of those games (87-13-4). The Huskers’ first two Big Ten home openers were especially memorable. In 2011, Nebraska posted the largest comeback in school history, rallying from a 27-6 deficit to defeat Ohio State 34-27. In 2012, NU again came from behind, this time rallying from a 17-point third-quarter deficit to top Wisconsin, 30-27. Last year, Ameer Abdullah ran for a then-career-high 225 yards in the Huskers’ victory over Illinois.

Nebraska Among Big Ten’s Best Over Past Three Seasons
Nebraska finished 5-3 in Big Ten play in 2013 and has won 17 of 24 regular-season Big Ten games since joining the conference in 2011. Nebraska is the only team in the Big Ten to have a winning conference record each of the past three seasons. Overall, Nebraska has had a winning conference record each of the past six seasons, and is one of only eight schools in the country to accomplish that feat.

Nebraska’s 17 conference wins since the start of the 2011 season are the third-most regular-season Big Ten victories in that time period. Nebraska captured the Legends Division crown and made a trip to the Big Ten Conference title game in 2012. The Huskers have won 11 of their last 14 regular-season Big Ten games.

Huskers Complete Perfect Non-Conference Season
Nebraska improved to 4-0 with a 41-31 victory over Miami on Saturday night in Lincoln. The win allowed Nebraska to complete a perfect non-conference campaign, marking the third time in seven years under Bo Pelini NU has been perfect in non-conference play, but the first time since 2011.

- Nebraska now has 24 unbeaten non-conference seasons since 1970.

- The 4-0 non-conference record marks the 33rd straight season NU has had a winning non-conference record since a 2-2 record outside of Big Eight play in 1981.

Abdullah Continues Impressive Start with Dominant Effort vs. Miami
Senior I-back Ameer Abdullah has shown early in the 2014 season why he is a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy. Abdullah opened the season against Florida Atlantic with 21 carries for a career-high 232 yards and a touchdown in a 55-7 win over the Owls. His play earned him Big Ten Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors for the second time in his career.

While the numbers in the opener were impressive, Abdullah produced a signature moment against McNeese State when the Huskers needed it most. With the game tied 24-24 in the final minute, Abdullah unleashed a highlight-reel 58-yard catch and run for a touchdown that gave Nebraska a 31-24 victory. Abdullah finished the day with 184 all-purpose yards, including a career-high 96 receiving yards on three receptions.

He posted his second 100-yard rushing game of the season with 19 carries for 110 yards at Fresno State. Abdullah broke a season-long 57-yard TD run in the first quarter.

In a 41-31 victory over Miami, Abdullah produced arguably the most impressive game of his career. Abdullah totaled a career-high 313 all-purpose yards, the second-most in school history, and the most in the FBS ranks in 2014. On the ground, he had a career-high 35 carries for 229 yards and two touchdowns, while also catching a three-yard touchdown pass.

The 229 rushing yards against the Hurricanes marked the third 200-yard rushing game of his career. In addition to his career-high 232 yards against FAU, Abdullah rushed for a 2013 season-high 225 yards against Illinois in 2013.

Abdullah is the FBS active leader in career all-purpose yards, while ranking second in rushing yards. His Big Ten-leading 1,690 rushing yards in 2013 were the most for any returning player in the FBS ranks.

The impressive start to 2014 has the Homewood, Ala., native in rare company in Nebraska history.

- Abdullah is the eighth player in Nebraska history to top 3,000 career rushing yards and the third NU I-back to join that group since 2010. With his 229 yards against Miami, Abdullah increased his career rushing total to 3,602 yards to move into the No. 3 spot on the Husker career rushing list. Abdullah passed Roy Helu Jr. (3,404 yards) and Eric Crouch (3,434) in the game. He is now 278 yards behind Ahman Green for the No. 2 spot on the list and is on pace to challenge Mike Rozier’s school-record total of 4,780 yards.

- Abdullah has topped 1,000 yards on the ground each of the past two seasons, and is one of only nine players in Nebraska history with a pair of 1,000-yard rushing seasons. Abdullah is attempting to become the first player in Husker history with three 1,000-yard seasons.

- Abdullah’s 1,690 yards in 2013 were fourth on the NU single-season rushing list. The rushing yardage total was the highest by a Nebraska player since 1997.

- Abdullah was the first Husker to reach 1,000 rushing yards in eight or fewer games since Ahman Green in 1997.

- Abdullah rushed for 100 or more yards in 11 of 13 games in 2013, including a season-high 225 yards against Illinois. His 11 100-yard games tied the school record, also held by Rozier, Green and Lawrence Phillips. Abdullah rushed for 100 yards in eight straight games last season, tying the fourth-longest streak in school history.

- Abdullah has 20 career 100-yard rushing efforts, tying him for second on the Nebraska career list with Ahman Green. He trails only Rozier (26) on the NU career list.

- In addition to his running skills, Abdullah is a receiving threat out of the backfield. He had 26 receptions for 232 yards and two touchdowns in 2013 and has 56 career receptions. His 96 receiving yards against McNeese State were a career high and the most by a Husker running back since Marlon Lucky had eight catches for 115 yards at Colorado in 2007.

- Abdullah’s 313 all-purpose yards against Miami were the second most in Nebraska history and moved Abdullah to the top of the Nebraska career all-purpose yardage list. Abdullah now has 5,762 career all-purpose yards, surpassing Johnny Rodgers previous record of 5,586 career all-purpose yards. Abdullah’s 1,999 all-purpose yards in 2013 were No. 3 on the NU season list. He already has 848 all-purpose yards in 2014.

- With his 5,762 career all-purpose yards, Abdullah has produced 1,175 more all-purpose yards than any other active FBS player. Abdullah is No. 10 on the Big Ten career all-purpose yards list and needs 238 more yards to become just the seventh player in Big Ten history to total 6,000 career all-purpose yards. He is averaging 212.0 all-purpose yards per game - the third highest total in the country - and Abdullah is on pace to finish with more than 7,000 career all-purpose yards. Abdullah would be just the second Big Ten player and only the 11th player in NCAA FBS history to total 7,000 career all-purpose yards.

- Abdullah has scored a total of 33 touchdowns during his Nebraska career and has reached the end zone four different ways. He has 24 career rushing touchdowns, including five in 2014, six receiving touchdowns, as well as a punt return touchdown and a touchdown on a kickoff return.

Click on the "Game Notes" link in the related links section at the top of this page for more notes on this weekend's game.