Luke Altmyer threw four touchdown passes, including a short pass to Pat Bryant in overtime, leading No. 24 Illinois to a 31-24 victory over No. 22 Nebraska on Friday night.
The Illini (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) achieved a significant milestone by beating two ranked teams in the same season for the first time since 2007, marking their best start since 2011.
This win also meant they defeated the Cornhuskers in Lincoln for the third consecutive time, interrupting the celebration of their 400th straight sellout at Memorial Stadium.
“I told our players the other day that you control the vibe in the stadium,” Illinois 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 now lost 25 straight games against ranked teams since 2016 and has a record of 8-31 in one-possession games since 2018.
In the second half, both teams exchanged touchdowns before the Illini drove 75 yards in nine plays to tie the game at 24. Altmyer connected with offensive lineman Brandon Henderson for a 6-yard touchdown on a fourth-and-2 play with 10:36 left in regulation.
This was Henderson’s first career catch, despite being 6-foot-5 and 335 pounds.
“We repped that pass this week, and as a staff, we kind of took a vote on 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 their last two possessions of regulation. Backup kicker John Hohl, filling in for the injured Tristan Alvano, missed wide left from 39 yards with 2:59 left to play.
Illinois fumbled and punted, leading to Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola taking a knee to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, Illinois’ Kaden Feagin ran for 21 yards on the first play before Altmyer threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Bryant.
