LINCOLN - Nebraska retuned home to Memorial Stadium on Saturday to host #17 Illinois, and the Big Red suffer their fifth loss of the season and the 20th consecutive loss against ranked opponents.

The main story lines include quarterback Casey Thompson going down with an injury in the second quarter and remain out of the game with what Interim Head Coach Mickey Joseph called an arm injury. He says Thompson is "day-to-day" and that his throwing arm went numb on the hit. Additionally, Nebraska committed four costly turnovers 

Illinois started with the football and scored. Facing a third and medium, quarterback Tommy DeVito went across the field and hit Isisah Williams for a 46-yard throw and catch -- the PAT was no good, Huskers trailed 6-0. That touchdown pass was the first of two for DeVito and the start to a really nice day where he went 20-22 for 179 yards and two touchdowns. 

Nebraska’s first drive ended with the first of two Casey Thompson interceptions, but the defense bailed the Huskers out, and Nebraska got within three at 6-3 at the end of the first. 

Nebraska has been looking to get their tight ends involved more and they did that on Saturday. Chancellor Brewington, Nate Boerkicher, and Travis Vokolek combined for 58% of Nebraska's passing yards, catching four combined passes for 105 yards and a touchdown. Vokolek scored that TD, his second as a Husker, to give Nebraska their only lead at 9-6. It was a 56-yard throw and catch from Thompson to Vokolek.

Casey Thompson would go down in the second quarter on an interception. The ball got up in the air and picked off by Sydney Brown. Thompson, as he threw, took a shot that knocked him out of the game. That pick set up a 1-yard Chase Brown score, then Brown did with his hands, a walk-in 12 yard touchdown reception to give the Illini a 20-9 lead at half. Brown, one of the best backs in the conference, finished with 149 rushing yards and a touchdown, plus 13 yards through the air and a touchdown.

Chubba Purdy started the second half for Nebraska and after the Blackshirts force a turnover, Purdy gave it right back with an easy pick for Sydney Brown, who made his second of the day. 

The Huskers trailed 23-9 heading to the fourth and early in the fourth, Anthony Grant coughed up the football on a big hit, and the Illini converted for another field goal to go up 26-9.

"Good football team just like we thought," Interim Head Coach Mickey Joseph said. "Skilled defensive football team and they're efficient with the clock on offense. We're going to have to go review the tape and see where this thing went wrong at."

Nebraska's offense was held to 29 yards in the second half by an Illini defense who came into the game allowing just 8.9 points per game. With the loss, things get tougher for Nebraska in the race for the Big Ten West, but it's also a blow to their chances of reaching bowl eligibility -- Nebraska now has to go 3-1 against Minnesota, Michigan on the road, Wisconsin, and Iowa on the road to do so. Nebraska hasn't made a bowl since 2016. 

Next week's tilt with Minnesota is a home game for Nebraska, kick off time has yet to be announced.