Friday Night Lights comes to the Big Ten with a weeknight matchup featuring Illinois and Nebraska inside Memorial Stadium. At stake for the Illini is their three-game winning streak in the series against the Huskers.

The 2023 season has been a tough one for both programs as they each enter this one at 2-3 overall, and both teams have yet to notch a dubya in Big Ten play. 

Illinois has the tools to score, featuring the Big Ten's leading receiver, Isaiah Williams. Williams already has five more receptions than any other Big Ten receiver and 69 nice more receiving yards than anyone in the league. But so does Nebraska, thanks to Virginia transfer Billy Kemp IV. Kemp is in his first season with NU, but has brought loads of experience, having played in 50 games including 25 starts in five years at Virginia.

Nebraska comes into this contest under the leadership of first-year head coach Matt Rhule, who brings his Huskers to Champaign after a 45-7 loss to No. 2 Michigan at home on Saturday. Rhule and company recorded their two wins this season over Northern Illinois (MAC) and Louisiana Tech (C-USA) respectively.

The trip to Illinois is Nebraska's only road game in a six-game stretch, following the Huskers' recent three-game homestand and back-to-back home contests against Northwestern (Oct. 21) and Purdue (Oct. 28).

Series History: Nebraska vs. Illinois
Saturday's meeting between Nebraska and Illinois will be the 21st all-time matchup between the schools and the 11th consecutive season the teams have met on the gridiron. Nebraska has a 13-6-1 edge in the all-time series, including a 6-4 advantage since Nebraska joined the Big Ten. NU won six of the first seven meetings as conference foes, but Illinois has been on a tear, winning the last three meetings. The only meetings between 1953 and 2013 came in 1985 and 1986 when Nebraska won both ends of a home-and-home series. Nebraska defeated Illinois and Red Grange, 14-0, in 1925, marking the only time in Grange's career he was held scoreless in a home game.

The Huskers do have a long history of playing on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Nebraska has played on Black Friday every year since 1990. Nebraska plays three total games on weekdays this year, including a Thursday night season opener at Minnesota and the Black Friday game against Iowa (Nov. 24).

Illinois Has Some Talent On D
Defensive tackles Jer'Zhan "Johnny" Newton and Keith Randolph Jr., who go by the nickname "The Law Firm," are one of the top defensive tackle duos in the nation over the last two seasons. Newton is second in the nation in QB pressures among interior defenders with 19, according to PFF, and first among Power-5 interior defenders. Newton trails only Tulane's Patrick Jenkins (20). Newton had seven pressures against #7 Penn State in Illinois' Big Ten opener, the second-most by any Power-5 defensive tackle in a game this season. Newton was the highest-rated Power-5 defensive tackle in the nation during Week 3 vs. Penn State (minimum 30 snaps), according to PFF.

Randolph is second in tackles (30) among defensive tackles, behind only UCF's Lee Hunter (32).  Among defensive linemen (both interior and edge), Newton is tied for fourth in the nation in PFF's defensive stops statistic with 17.

Expect to see a lot of Nebraska Football on weeknights. The Huskers' Friday night matchup at Illinois is one of three weekday games on the Husker schedule. Nebraska opened on a Thursday night at Minnesota and will play its regular-season finale against Iowa on Black Friday.

This Friday night's Nebraska at Illinois game will be televised nationally on FS1 with Jeff Levering (play-by-play) and Mark Helfrich (analyst) on the call.