Halftime review – The referees are in top form in the middle of the season!: HUSKERS 17 ILLINOIS 10

With their arms tired from throwing laundry and waving wildly after official timeouts, Dylan Raiola and Dante Dowdell led the Huskers on a 9-play, 70-yard drive that culminated first with a 27-yard pass to Jahmal Banks on the 11-yard line and then a rainbow pass to Isaiah Nayor, who deftly pulled a toe just inside the chalk for his second touchdown. After seeing on replay that the toe was clearly in, Bert still burned his last TO on a tackle with just :16 seconds left in the game and the TD was quickly confirmed.

The game went against the grain, with both teams successfully moving the ball in what many expected to be a defensive battle. The two teams combined for 395 yards of offense and 54 points. The Blackshirts once again gave up a long Illinois offensive drive, this time for a 27-yard touchdown from Luke Altmeyer to Pat Bryant. After that, however, they went into “bend but don't break” mode and gave up a ton of yards — a couple of yellow-card bails — but held the Illini to just one field goal.

Neyor's first point came on a 6-yard throw and was the result of a fumble forced by John Bullock after a pass from Altmeyer that Deshon Singleton recovered.

On to the second half.