Illinois Extends Winning Streak to Four With Home Victory Over Nebraska

Friday, November 6

Champaign, Ill.

7 PM CT

University of Illinois

6-3 , 4-2

Nebraska

5-4 , 2-4

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Nebraska	0	7	0	6	13
Illinois	0	7	7	10	24

Varsity Network

November 6, 2026 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

RECAP

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois extended its winning streak to four games with a 24-13 home victory over Nebraska at Gies Memorial Stadium under the lights on Friday night.

Owners of the second-longest active winning streak in the conference, the Fighting Illini improved to 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten play behind another complete team performance in all three phases.

Collin Dixon set the program's single-season touchdown receptions record, hauling in two receiving scores while finishing with eight catches for 129 yards. Hudson Clement ended the night with 87 yards on five catches, with Katin Houser completing 22 of his 36 passes for 292 yards and three scores.

The Illini defense was led by Matthew Bailey's team-high 11 total tackles, a forced fumble, and a half sack. Mason Muragin recorded a sack on the Huskers' final drive, while James Kreutz made 10 tackles, including four solo stops.

A seven-play, 73-yard drive late in the second quarter saw the Illini tie the game with just under two minutes left in the first half. The possession, which used 2:44 of clock, ended with Dixon's record-breaking 3-yard touchdown reception, which saw the sides enter the break even at 7-7.

The Illini took their first lead of the night on the opening drive of the second half. Converting on a third-and-9 near midfield, Illinois found itself facing a fourth-and-12 from the Huskers' 32-yard line. A successful fake field goal – featuring a 29-yard rush from punter and holder Lars Rau – moved the Orange and Blue inside the 5. Three plays later, Jordan Anderson hauled in the first receiving score of his career, putting the Illini in front, 14-7, with 8:33 remaining in the third quarter.

Forcing a turnover on downs on its next defensive series, the Illini went back to work on offense. Illinois doubled its advantage on the third play of the fourth quarter via Dixon's second receiving score of the night, capping an eight-play, 74-yard drive that spanned four minutes.

A 21-yard Ethan Moczulski field goal re-established the Illini's two-possession lead after the Huskers scored on their next trip down the field.

A fourth-down stop by the Illini defense halted what was a promising Husker drive, bringing the Orange and Blue offense back on the field with 2:11 remaining. With Illinois forced to punt, the Illini defense made one more stop on Nebraska's final possession before Illinois ended the night in victory formation.

Illinois (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) heads to Los Angeles for a ranked road game at #5 UCLA on Friday night. Set for their third ranked contest and their second away from home this season, the Fighting Illini will battle the Bruins under the lights at 8 p.m. CT on FOX.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCES

POSTGAME NOTES

Team Notes

Illinois' 24 points are the most allowed by the Nebraska defense this season.
Illinois' 292 passing yards are the most allowed by the Nebraska defense this season.
Illinois held Nebraska to seven first-half points, tied for the Huskers' fewest scored in an opening half this season.
- The Illini held the Huskers scoreless in the first quarter for the second time this season.
The Illinois defense held Nebraska to its second-lowest scoring total (13).
- The Illini held the Huskers to six points in the second half, Nebraska's second-fewest points this season.
Illinois is 26-3 when scoring the last points of the first half and the first points of the second half during Bret Bielema's six seasons (only losses: 2021 Purdue, 2023 Iowa, 2025 Ohio State).
Illinois won its fourth straight game, the second-longest active winning streak in the Big Ten behind only undefeated UCLA.
- The Illini's four-game Big Ten winning streak is their longest since 2022.
Illinois improved to 16-4 at Gies Memorial Stadium over the last three seasons (2024-26). The 16 home wins are tied for the fourth-most in the Big Ten since 2024, behind only Indiana, Ohio State, and Oregon.
Illinois improved to 18-5 against unranked teams over the last three seasons (2024-26).
Illinois won its sixth game this season to become postseason eligible for a third straight season. Illinois is bowl eligible in three straight seasons for the first time since 1992.
Bret Bielema is set to become the first head coach in Illinois history to coach the Illini in four bowl games.
Illinois won as an underdog for the 16th time under Bielema. The 16 underdog wins since 2021 are tied for the most in the nation with Coastal Carolina, Old Dominion, and West Virginia.
Illinois has won five of its last six matchups against Nebraska since 2020, including a 4-1 record under Bielema. Bielema has as many wins against Nebraska (4-1) as the previous 18 meetings combined (4-13-1).
With his fourth win over Nebraska, Bielema became the winningest head coach in the history of the Illinois-Nebraska series, passing Nebraska's Walter C. Booth, who won three games from 1903-05.
Bielema is 43-29 during his Illinois career. His .597 winning percentage is the second-best in Illinois history among head coaches that have coached at least 50 games for the Fighting Illini behind only Robert Zuppke's .618 winning percentage from 1913-141 (131-81-13).
Illinois has 43 wins during Bielema's six seasons in Champaign, the winningest six-year stretch by a head coach in program history. The next closest is Mike White's 40 wins from 1980-85.
Bielema is currently on the winningest three-year stretch (25), five-year stretch (38), and six-year stretch (43) by a head coach in Illinois history. He also owns the program records for the winningest season (10; 2024), two-year stretch (19; 2024-25), and four-year stretch by a head coach (32; 2022-25).

Player Notes

Collin Dixon finished the night with eight catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns.
- Broke Illinois' single-season touchdown receptions record with his 11th and 12th receiving scores of the season.
  - Broke the previous mark of 10, which was held by Pat Bryant, Brandon Lloyd, and David Williams.
  - Moved into sole possession of fifth place on Illinois' career receiving touchdowns list.
    - 24 - David Williams (1983-85)
    - 21 - Brandon Lloyd (1999-02)
    - 19 - Pat Bryant (2021-24)
    - 19 - A.J. Jenkins (2008-11)
    - 17 - Collin Dixon (2023-)
  - Tallied his fourth multi-TD game of the season/of his career.
- Finished with 100+ receiving yards for the fifth time.
  - His 58-yard catch in the fourth quarter was his longest of the season.
Katin Houser went 22-for-36 with 292 passing yards and three touchdowns.
- Tied his season-high with three passing scores.
  - Has three outings with three passing touchdowns this season.
- His 58-yard strike to Dixon marked his longest completion as an Illini.
Jordan Anderson rushed seven times for 24 yards and made two catches for five yards and a receiving score.
- Hauled in his first-career receiving score and the fourth overall touchdown of his career.
- Has at least seven carries in three straight games.
Hudson Clement caught five passes for 87 yards.
- Has multiple receptions in 20 of his last 21 games.
  - Has at least three catches in eight of nine outings this season.
Matthew Bailey made 11 tackles and totaled a forced fumble, 0.5 sacks, and 0.5 tackles for loss.
- Has sacks in back-to-back games
  - Did not have a sack in any of his previous 46 appearances.
- Registered his first forced fumble of the season and the fifth of his career.
Lars Rau recorded four punts for an average of 45.5 yards while rushing for 29 yards on a successful fake field goal.
- Converted a fourth-and-12 fake field goal with a 29-yard run.
- His 45.5 yards-per-punt average was his second-best mark this season.
Mason Muragin registered a sack in the fourth quarter.
- Was the first sack of his collegiate career.

QUOTES

Head Coach Bret Bielema

Opening statement:
"Thank you, everybody. Obviously, it's a late Friday night, but I thought our guys did a lot of really good things. One of the first things we talked about last week when we got back from Maryland was adjusting to and attacking a short week. I thought our guys did that really well, from Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, all the way through last night.'

'I told them today that we had our pregame meal, and usually we're a little bit early, but I think they were eight minutes early. Everybody had been served before we were supposed to start. Then, when we got to the team meeting, we finished about seven or eight minutes ahead of schedule. I thought our guys bought into everything tremendously well. Obviously, we went out there and executed a four-quarter game. It was really fun to watch.'

'I don't have anything on injury updates, but I did want to point out and give a lot of appreciation to our fans. I know Friday night football games are a tough thing to adjust to. We had nothing to do with it. Obviously, the Big Ten contacted us, and we've had two back-to-back weeks. This week should be a little bit more normal for us. We'll actually have the day off tomorrow for the players, but as coaches, we'll use that as our preparation day. We should be able to jump on Sunday, which will be the Monday of our travel week. I'm super excited about that.'

'I also want to congratulate our players and coaches. I thought our defensive coaches took another step forward and did a lot of really good things. Obviously, what Collin Dixon and Katin Houser continue to do offensively is very impressive. I thought we were going to get Lars in the end zone, but Nebraska made a good play there. I also want to give credit to Nebraska. I think they're a really good football team. You had two 5-3 teams coming in here that had experienced some success and some failures.'

'I've been doing this a long time, and Matt Rhule is a guy I studied early in his career. He's had a lot of success at several places. Nebraska is a very prideful program, and we've had a nice five-game series with them now. We've been on the right side of it four times, so it's fun to have a program like that. As we're building things here at Illinois, we're now three seasons in a row with postseason play, which is absolutely awesome and really difficult to accomplish.'

'To be in this position right now, at 6-3, and beat another 5-3 team is exciting. If we were in the SEC, we'd probably be a top-15 team, right? But we've just got to continue to stay on track, do a really good job of embracing the moment and put ourselves in a position to be successful.'

'This week, we get to play in the Rose Bowl. It doesn't get any better than that. No matter how it comes about, I've been fortunate enough to play there and coach there. It's one of the most heavenly and majestic places to be involved in as a football player. I'm super excited about that opportunity."

On the fake punt:
"If you go back to 2009, Wisconsin at Ohio State, it was the exact same fake. We saw the way they were pressuring us. I had been watching it, and then Chris Hurd brought it to my attention. We were going to maybe do something a little different, but I just said, 'Hey, the best way to run a fake is to let them do what they do.'

'We knew they were collapsing hard from our left. It was actually Charlie Brown. I had to show a video of Charlie Brown with Lucy pulling the ball out from underneath him because not many guys in my generation, or the guys we're coaching, knew who that was. I'm not sure they knew whether Lucy was holding the ball.'

'It's been fun for us all week to go through it and practice it. We don't practice that very much. We probably ran it two or three times, but the whole team was watching. The main thing is just keeping everybody quiet, right? Because with plays like that, everybody's telling their mother, their uncle or Pete from Peoria what they're going to do, and then it gets out. That was a really fun way for them to react."

On the defensive growth the last four games:
"I told the guys on Monday night, when I got a chance to visit with them after the Maryland win, that we had five wins, and all five of those wins, in my opinion, were won differently.'

'When you've coached football for 18 years, you realize that coaching a team that can win in multiple ways is a lot of fun. There have been teams I've coached where, if something didn't happen a certain way, you probably wouldn't win the game. These guys just continue to be extremely gritty. Players rise up, coaches rise up, play callers rise up and make the most of an opportunity.'

'I think situational football is something you have to be aware of, but the players have to understand it, too. Even something as small as taking a field goal requires a certain look that we want to have. We have to get everybody on the same page, and you've got guys from all different positions involved. This group really loves to win, but they also love the process of winning, which is very unique."

On Collin Dixon:
"Collin has his own individual personality. I think Collin would be the first to tell you that part of what he's accomplished is because he watched Pat Bryant do it.'

'Collin has been very forward about watching all the guys who have had success here in the past. He's the same guy every day. I say it all the time: the greatest thing he can bring to an organization is consistency and communication, and he's great at both of those.'

'I just think that kid has an unwavering confidence in himself. Obviously, his quarterback does, too, as do our play callers. He's just a lot of fun to be around, and the best is yet to come."

Juice Clarke

On his PBU at the end of the fourth quarter:
"I just knew they had run the same formation earlier in the game. I think it was third-and-two, and I was anticipating a glance route, so I was playing heavy inside. He gave me an outside release, and I was trailing him.'

'When it was fourth-and-two, I recognized they were in the same formation. I knew I needed to get my hands on the receiver. When I watched the film on Washington, I noticed their defensive backs were being physical with the receivers and getting their hands on them. So, when the receiver released, I used both hands, stayed on his goal-side hip, and the rest took care of itself."

On limiting the outside noise and staying focused:
"I would say it motivates us because we're football players, and if you make one bad play, you're going to hear about it. But we understand that seeing those things can bring stress to a lot of us. Like I told the guys, we have to block out the outside noise because, at the end of the day, we're the ones out there on the field.'

'If you make a mistake, you have to understand that you can correct it and move on to the next game. You just have to trust you're training and rise to the occasion. I would say the biggest thing is tuning out the outside noise. I deleted Twitter, and I'm barely on Instagram. I have a new Instagram account now, but I still try to stay off social media and just focus on myself."

Lars Rau

On his preparation for the fake field goal:
"Yeah, it was just something we saw with Nebraska. Coach came up to me and talked about it and said they liked the look. That's just something we practiced all week. We needed that at the right time for sure. We liked it on the right hash, just so I could kind of get up and run instead of having to feel it out a little bit. But yeah, I mean, we saw the right moment. No game-changing moment. Shoutout to all the guys that put me in the best spot."

On his teammates putting him in a position to succeed:

"Yeah, I mean, obviously, I have a lot of emotions. But like I said, it just can't be done without all the guys around me and it being called at the perfect time. And, you know, stuff on the outside, kicking up to the floater up there. I mean, he just set it perfect, cut inside. It just comes with everybody doing their part, and I think that's kind of like a testimony of the team and how we've done for the past four to five weeks."

Katin Houser

On Collin Dixon's abilities:
"I'm not surprised, and I don't think you guys are either. We've seen it this whole season, the type of player that he is. They had a really good corner, and they mirrored him the entire game. He still went for, I don't know, 100-plus yards and two touchdowns. So, just a testament to who he is as a player. He also broke the single-season receiving record, so big props to him. He's easy to throw to and makes my job a lot easier."

On the winning streak:
"I think it starts with Coach B just setting the foundation for us and that belief. I think we all just believe that we put good stuff on film. We maybe haven't played a full four-quarter game yet, but when we all play together and play complementary football, special teams, defense and offense. We're pretty dang good.'

'I feel like the last couple of weeks we've really just bought into the standard that Coach B sets and the TSD mindset, and I feel like that's what we've been doing. It gives me confidence, too, not having that pressure that they need to go score. We played to go flip the field and have our defense get a stop. I have full confidence in them. They're going to do that. They've been playing really well the past couple of weeks, so I have full trust in them as well."

Matthew Bailey

On Coach Cooper:
"Yeah. Since he's come in, obviously the attention to detail that he has is super awesome, and I kind of noticed that when he first came in. But the confidence in him is through the roof, straight up. I don't even know how to say it, but I really appreciate the way that the coaches have poured into us and believed in us. It means a lot that all of them, like you said, have contributed.'

'The effort as a group as a whole on defense is something that makes me happy. It brings my heart joy because it's not just one guy here and there. It's everybody contributing together."

On the turnaround from Ohio State:
"Yeah, we kind of looked internally at what we were doing wrong and what we needed to fix. Ultimately, with the transition and everything that was going on at that time, we were really trying to find out what the best version of us was.'

'If we can get the best version of each individual player on the field, especially on the defensive side, I think that has been tremendous in contributing to our success. On top of that, I think we've just grown closer through the adversity as a team. With all the transition, transfer guys coming in and freshmen contributing, I think all of that adversity early in the season has allowed us to come closer as a team."

Collin Dixon

On being amongst the best Illinois WRs:
"It's awesome, man. Pat Bryant, Brandon Lowe, David Williams, and Brandon Lloyd are all up on the wall upstairs. To even be considered alongside those guys and have my name mentioned with theirs is crazy. It's something I never thought would happen when I first got here. It's humbling, and it's really cool to see things like that happen."

On his contested catch ability:
"Over the past couple of years, I've learned how to use my bigger frame a little better. I've also learned to understand that the responsibility of the entire team is in your hands when the ball is in the air. If Katin trusts us enough to throw those balls, we have to continue giving him the confidence that we're going to make those plays."