CHAMPAIGN — Week Zero? So it was.
Weak zeros? Maybe not Illinois. Maybe not anymore.
The Illini’s 30-22 upset of Nebraska in the opening game of the college football season was no masterpiece. It probably didn’t keep a national audience on FOX on the edge of its collective seat for anywhere close to 60 minutes. It certainly was a nightmarish start to the season for embattled coach Scott Frost and the Huskers, who fell to 12-21 under the school’s last national title-winning quarterback.
But it was every bit what Illinois needed in Game 1 of the Bret Bielema era. It was a fine place to start — more than just any old building block — as the Illini seek to end a streak of losing seasons at nine.
Illinois starting quarterback Brandon Peters was knocked out of the game in the first quarter and didn’t return. He was replaced by Artur Sitkowski, a onetime highly touted recruit who began his career at Rutgers and had his moments in his Illini debut — the biggest highlight a perfect 45-yard completion to Deuce Spann that set up the touchdown that made it 30-9 in the third quarter.
