{"id":18824,"date":"2023-10-07T07:48:41","date_gmt":"2023-10-07T12:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=18824"},"modified":"2023-10-07T07:48:41","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T12:48:41","slug":"final-take-nebraskas-sunday-full-padded-practice-set-the-tone-at-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/final-take-nebraskas-sunday-full-padded-practice-set-the-tone-at-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Final take: Nebraska\u2019s Sunday full-padded practice set the tone at Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. <\/strong>\u2013 Not much was pretty about Nebraska\u2019s 20-7 win at Illinois on Friday night. But something tells me Matt Rhule\u2019s<\/a><\/strong> full-padded Sunday practice featuring live work wasn\u2019t either. <\/p>\n

Rhule put his team through a mental and physical test this week. Their backs were against the wall on the game\u2019s opening drive in Champaign. The Illini drove down 14 plays for 74 yards, and NU\u2019s defense held up on back-to-back plays from inside the 1-yard line. <\/p>\n

RELATED \u2013 Steven Sipple: Yes, the win was ugly, but this is no time for Nebraska fans to get picky<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

This game started with adversity. Illinois had the Huskers off-balanced on their opening drive, but Rhule\u2019s guys dug in when it mattered. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe that\u2019s what we needed,\u201d Rhule said. \u201cWe needed that resilient beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhule has said multiple times this season that the Huskers are a defensive-led football team. This team will go as far as the defense takes them. <\/p>\n

On Friday, they rode the tails of their defense, who held Illinois to 16 yards of offense on it\u2019s next nine plays after their opening 14-play, 74-yard drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a tone-setter,\u201d linebacker Jimari Butler said of the opening defensive stand at the goal line. \u201cIt kind of felt like Sunday\u2019s practice again. That was probably one of the hardest practices I had ever had by far.<\/p>\n

Rhule tested his team this week. Sunday was a calculated gamble by Rhule, but his team responded. <\/p>\n

Great leaders know their football team and what they can handle. Now, the Huskers can hang their heads high over the next two weeks. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think (Sunday) just really helped us to see that when it\u2019s just football, it doesn\u2019t matter the circumstance and how sore you are. You can play with anyone, and play really well\u201d linebacker Nick Henrich <\/a><\/strong>said. \u201c(The coaches) sent a message to just play football. Don\u2019t worry about anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, on to the breakdown\u2026<\/p>\n

What I saw on Friday<\/h2>\n

***Wide receiver Marcus Washington<\/a><\/strong> left the game early with a leg injury and did not return. In his place, we saw several newer faces in the wide receiver rotation, including Malachi Coleman<\/a><\/strong>, Jaidyn Doss<\/a><\/strong> and Ty Hahn<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

As for Washington, Rhule said it was a \u201cknee\u201d injury, but they would not know more until an MRI was done later this week. <\/p>\n

***Offensive lineman Ethan Piper <\/a><\/strong>left the game before halftime but was able to return in the third quarter. Running back Anthony Grant<\/a><\/strong> also hurt his ankle but was able to come back in the game late. <\/p>\n

***Illinois did a great job honoring the legacy of the late Dick Butkus on Friday. Even Illini athletic director Josh Whitman wore a Butkus jersey. There were several different tributes done as well on the big screen boards. <\/p>\n

***Several unlikely in-state players stepped up in Friday night\u2019s win for the Huskers. Phalen Sanford<\/a><\/strong> forced a fumble. Grant Tagge<\/a><\/strong> recovered a fumble on a muffed kickoff, and Ty Ha<\/a><\/strong>hn came up with a key third-down catch on a scoring drive. <\/p>\n

***Nebraska had 10 penalties for 70 yards on Friday, but Rhule did defend his team on some of the false starts. Rhule said Illinois mimicked cadences and shifted before the snap to draw the Huskers off. He jumped on the officials for allowing Illinois to do this. <\/p>\n

***Illinois head coach Bret Bielema<\/a><\/strong> was very upset in his post-game press conference. One Illini beat writer said it was the maddest he\u2019d ever seen Bielema. After Friday\u2019s performance, there\u2019s even some talk about him parting ways with his offensive coordinator. <\/p>\n

The final grade out<\/h2>\n

Grade<\/strong>HOL Take<\/strong>Rushing offense<\/strong>DNebraska produced 162 sack adjust rush yards and averaged 3.4 yards per carry. Anthony Grant and Emmett Johnson each had costly fumbles and had long runs of 12 yards. Passing offense<\/strong>C-Heinrich Haarberg was 12-of-24 for 154 yards and an interception. He made a few big throws on third and fourth down that helped produce early points. Besides that, the passing game struggled to get into a consistent rhythm. Rushing defense<\/strong>ANebraska\u2019s rushing defense made Illinois one-dimensional. Their only success on the ground was QB scramble runs on pass plays. The long run of the game for Illinois was 10 yards. Passing defense<\/strong>BThe Huskers passing defense forced two turnovers and did an excellent job bottling up the Illini\u2019s screen game in space. They allowed eight passes of 15+ yards but managed seven pass break-ups and held Illinois to 5-of-19 on third and fourth down. Special teams<\/strong>BNU recovered a fumble on a muffed kick return, and they made 2-of-3 field goals. The missed field goal was due to the hold not being handled by Brian Buschini. The wind really played a factor in the kicking game on Friday. <\/p>\n

Sean Callahan can be reached at\u00a0sean@huskeronline.com<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and is heard daily at\u00a06:45 am and 5:05 pm\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>on\u00a0Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on\u00a0KETV Channel 7\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>in Omaha during the fall, and each week, he appears on Nebraska Public Media\u2019s\u00a0Big Red Wrap-Up<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Tuesdays at 7 pm<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Never miss breaking news or another HuskerOnline article again. Click HERE to sign up for HuskerOnline\u2019s Daily and Breaking News Newsletters.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The post Final take: Nebraska\u2019s Sunday full-padded practice set the tone at Illinois<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. \u2013 Not much was pretty about Nebraska\u2019s 20-7 win at Illinois on Friday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}