Welcome back to Throwback Thursday, and we’re not taking the time machine very far this time because we have to get ready for a Friday night game between the Fighting Illini and the Cornhuskers of Nebraska.
Since 2013, Illinois has opened Big Ten conference play with Nebraska, and this will be the last year of this heavily corn-centric new tradition — next year’s conference slate opens with Penn State. The first two games were big losses in Lincoln by Tim Beckman’s Illini to Bo Pelini’s Cornhuskers, but, in 2015, interim head coach Bill Cubit had the Fighting Illini at 3-1 at this juncture.