‘Our team is fired up’: Nebraska football prepares for Illinois

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – As Nebraska football hits the road for the first time in almost a month, the Huskers are still searching for their first Big Ten win of the Matt Rhule era.

With a chance to turn the season around at Illinois on Friday, Nebraska coordinators are focusing on getting their units to play confidently.

The Huskers jumped right into work on Sunday night after Saturday’s 45-7 loss to Michigan.

They held a full-pads, physical practice the day after the game, something junior center Ben Scott said he’s never experienced in his football career.

“When we were told to put on full pads, we knew what to expect,” he said. “And we knew that we had to go out there and physically go against each other and just go to work.”

Defensive coordinator Tony White said the Blackshirts have responded well to the loss, but the telltale sign will be how they play on Friday at Illinois.

“The coaches are challenging the defense every week that we’re a defense-driven team, and that’s how I feel we are,” junior defensive lineman Nash Hutmacher said. “We just have to keep perfecting our craft and getting better every day.”

For the first three weeks of the season, Nebraska led the nation in sacks. But the Blackshirts haven’t had one in the last two games.

That needs to change if the Huskers want to come out of Illinois with a win, according to White.

“If we don’t stop them on defense, we got no chance,” he said. “I mean, we got zero chance.”

Offensively, Marcus Satterfield thinks his unit has found an identity, but there’s still plenty to work on.

“We kind of know who we are now,” he said. “The main thing about an offensive identity is you don’t want to be hardheaded and say, ‘We do a certain thing’ and you may not have the players to do it.”

Satterfield said the coaches kept searching until they put the right players in the right spots to increase production.

Billy Kemp is one of the guys to lean on. The wideout leads the huskers with 17 receptions.

But Nebraska’s ground game also needs a boost.

“Anthony (Grant) needs to continue to take care of the ball and do what he’s been doing,” Satterfield said. “We’re going to lean on him a lot, these next, you know, five or six games, whatever we have left, to help us be productive in the run game.”

Overall, Nebraska is trying to shift the team’s mindset to one of a winning program heading into Illinois.

Scott said the Huskers have “a chip on the shoulder” after Saturday’s blowout loss.

“I think that our team is fired up,” he said. “I think we’re angry. I think that on Friday, we’re going to come out firing.”