Huskers drop 25th straight to ranked opponent

LINCOLN, Neb. — Luke Altmyer threw for four touchdowns, including a short toss to Pat Bryant in overtime, to give No. 24 Illinois a 31-24 win over No. 22 Nebraska on Friday night.

The Illini (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) have beaten two ranked opponents in the same season for the first time since 2007 and are off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2011. The Illini beat the Cornhuskers in Lincoln for the third straight time and spoiled the celebration of their 400th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium.

“I told our players the other day that you control the vibe in the stadium,” Illini coach Bret Bielema said. “We did think if we could turn this into a four-quarter game it would play to our advantage. I didn’t script it to go to overtime, but I wasn’t mad when it did.”

Nebraska (3-1, 0-1) has dropped 25 straight games to Top-25 teams since 2016. According to ESPN Research, that’s the second-longest active streak among current power conference teams, trailing Rutgers’ 40 straight. The Huskers are 8-31 in one-possession games since 2018.

The teams traded touchdowns in the second half before the Illini went 75 yards in nine plays to tie it at 24. Altmyer threw 6 yards to tackle Brandon Henderson on a fourth-and-2 for the touchdown with 10:36 left in regulation. It was the 6-foot-5, 335-pound Henderson’s first career reception.

“We repped that pass this week and as a staff we kind of took a vote whether it would get thrown and caught, and we all voted yes,” Bielema said. “We didn’t know it would be a fourth-down call to put us in position to win the game. A lot of credit to our offensive coaches and players to make that happen.”

Nebraska punted and missed a field goal on its last two possessions of regulation, with backup John Hohl, kicking in place of the injured Tristan Alvano, missing wide left from 39 yards with 2:59 to play.

Illinois fumbled and punted, and Raiola took a knee to send the game to overtime.

Illinois’ Kaden Feagin ran for 21 yards on the first play of overtime before Altmyer found Bryant for a 4-yard touchdown.

“That was a Big Ten game right there — the typical kind of going down to the last play,” Nebraska defensive lineman Ty Robinson said. “It hurts because we really beat ourselves, especially on defense. We get to come back next week and clean up a lot of mistakes.”

Nebraska’s overtime possession was a disaster as Raiola was sacked three times, including on fourth down to end the game.

Altmyer threw for 215 yards and Bryant had five catches for 74 yards and two touchdowns.

Altmyer was 21-of-27 against the Huskers and is 75-of-102 for the season (74%) with 10 touchdowns and no interceptions.

“Probably the best is yet to come [for him],” Bielema said.

Raiola passed for 297 yards and three touchdowns and was intercepted once. Jahmal Banks caught eight balls for 94 yards and Isaiah Neyor had four catches for 90 yards and two scores.

“As I told our guys, the narrative has been they’re going to win all these games. Mine has been go 1-0 each week. We have a lot to learn from this,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.