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Jake Hansen says Illinois ‘owes’ fans big performance vs. Nebraska
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Disappointment loomed over Champaign on Saturday afternoon. A 34-31 loss to Eastern Michigan at Memorial Stadium spoiled the Illini’s chances of starting the season 3-0, a preseason goal for Lovie Smith and the program.
Sure, Illinois showed some fight near the end, overcoming a two-touchdown deficit to tie the game at 31-31 late in the fourth quarter, but it just wasn’t enough to get the job done. Eastern Michigan trotted right down the field and knocked home a game-winning field goal, delivering a major gut punch to the Illini on their home turf.
That performance, particularly early on, is something that has left Illinois players with a bad taste in their mouth. So much so, in fact, that they’re wanting to get one back in a bad way, for themselves and for their fans.
In a video posted by Jeremy Werner of Illini Inquirer, Illinois linebacker Jake Hansen took full responsibility for the loss, and says that his team owes it to the fans to show up this weekend when Nebraska comes to town.
“We deserve everything that you guys are going to give us,” Hansen said. “All the Illini fans out there, I think we owe it to them this Saturday to go out there and have a big performance.”
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Illinois is 2-1 on the season with nine games to play. If the Illini can squeak out four wins over that stretch, they’ll be bowl eligible for the first time since 2014. Still, it feels like the margin for error is pretty slim. A win over an improved Huskers team would be a definite sign that things are still headed down the right track, despite the slight derailment last Saturday.
Saturday’s game between Nebraska and Illinois is scheduled for primetime, with kickoff coming at 8 p.m. ET. The game will air on BTN.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB