If the Nebraska football team has any chance of beating the 17th-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday it’s going to need to play near error-free football. There are some questions that the Huskers are facing and will need to answer in order to win.
That’s easier said than done for an Illini team that has shocked most of the college football world by looking like easily the best team in the Big Ten West. Granted, the B1G West might be the weakest Power 5 conference division in football these days.
That’s good news for the Cornhuskers, considering they still have a shot at taking the division crown. Of course, in order to have a real shot, they need to bounce back from their loss to Purdue with a win in a game where Illinois is 7.5-point favorite. If the Huskers have real, positive answers to these questions, they may have a shot at the upset.
Can Nebraska Football Bottle Up Chase Brown?
Yes, the first question on this list is the most obvious. Can the Huskers stop the best running back in college football? Yes, it’s obvious and no we won’t know the answer until game time. “Bottling up” also seems like it might be too much to ask.
After all, Brown hasn’t rushed for less than 100 yards in a game yet this season. Weirdly enough, his lowest output of the year was against Chattanooga. While his workload was diminished a bit, he still got 20 carries but just 108 yards and a touchdown.
Did the FCS provide any kind of blueprint for holding the all-world back down? It doesn’t seem so since he ran for 129 yards, 146 yards, and 180 yards in the three games after.
It seems the best way to try and stop Brown is to indeed try and limit his touches. That’s going to mean finding away to either put Illinois behind big, quickly or get them off the field quickly when they get the ball. While he went for 180 against Minnesota last week, he needed 41 carries to do it. Normally, this would be where I’d say there’s a chance he’ll be tired, but like the Nebraska football team, Illinois had a bye week, so he’s all rested up.