Tonight’s Nebraska-Illinois game is a big moment in a series between two programs that have a proud past punctuated by a pair of significant downturns, and who are working their way back to relevance in major college football. It will be the first time Nebraska has hosted a game between two Top 25 rated teams since 2013 (a 41-21 loss to UCLA). Illinois has not played a ranked-vs.-ranked game since 2008. Both teams were rated when Nebraska clubbed the Illini 52-25 in 1985.

Nebraska leads the all-time series 14-6-1 (7-4 since the Huskers joined the Big Ten). Last season’s 20-7 Husker win in Champaign ended Illinois’ only three-game winning streak over the Big Red.

Both Nebraska and Illinois claim five national championships, but Nebraska’s claims are much easier to defend, all coming since 1970. Illinois’ five purported championships all occurred before the advent of the AP college football poll in 1936, except for their 1951 team, which the Illini say was the best in the nation despite a tie with Ohio State and a No. 4 rating in the final AP poll. Frankly, both schools were strong early in the 20th century. With Red Grange (1923-25), Illinois has the biggest name from those days, but Nebraska more than makes up for it in depth of talent, including Ed Weir, Guy Chamberlin and George Sauer. Of course, Nebraska was far and away the better team the last half of the 20th century.

For today, let’s simply assume that Illinois’ five mythical national championships are legitimate. The Huskers today could realistically claim a sixth national title under Ewald “Jumbo” Stiehm in 1915, and possibly still should, if somebody wants to go to the trouble. There’s a strong case to be made for Stiehm’s 8-0-0 Huskers who gave Notre Dame its only loss, and then smacked around an excellent Kansas Jayhawk squad that finished 6-2-0.

Illinois has 17 former players and coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame, while Nebraska has 27.

The two teams already have intersected at a couple of big moments for each program — both times in Champaign — with Nebraska prevailing in 1986 on the night Illinois retired the No. 50 worn by the legendary Dick Butkus, and again in 2019, when Nebraska got its 900th win in school history. Tonight, Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium celebrates its 400th consecutive sellout. A good omen?

The Huskers have the stronger football history, and quite likely the higher ceiling in the near future. A decisive Husker win tonight would accelerate their climb out of a seven-year stretch of losing seasons, something they hadn’t suffered through since the 1950s. The Illini had a string of 13 losing seasons in 14 years from 1967 through 1980 and reeled off 10 consecutive losing seasons from 2012 through 2021 before Bret Bielema stabilized the program. And it would bring a decisive break in the Huskers’ personal duel with Bielema, who had Nebraska’s number for a while, winning four consecutive times until the Huskers prevailed last fall.

Both teams enter tonight’s contest among the best teams nationally for scoring defense (NU is ninth, allowing 6.67 points per game, Illinois is tied for 15th at 8.67). In rushing defense, Nebraska is 16th (70.3 yards per game) and Illinois 59th (123.0). Both teams have comparable passing offenses. But Illinois hangs its hat on forcing turnovers. The Illini are third in the nation with a positive 2.67 turnover margin. Nebraska was worst in the nation in that statistic last year but has made considerable improvement through three games this year.

In short, if Nebraska channels its history, plays clean football and establishes superiority at running the ball and stopping the run, it will gain valuable momentum as a team whose arrow is pointing up.

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