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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Illinois plays its first game away from Memorial Stadium in Champaign this season when the Illini play at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., this Friday night in a Top 25 showdown against Nebraska.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. The grumbling that sometimes happens when Illinois football plays on Friday night probably won’t ever go away. But the 24th-ranked Illini will certainly have most of the college football world’s attention this Friday when they play at No. 22 Nebraska.
➜ 2. Why? Only two other college football games are on tap, and they don’t carry the same magnitude. Stanford plays at Syracuse at 6:30 p.m. in (checks notes) an ACC game. And at 9 p.m., San Jose State hosts Washington State. That’s it.
➜ 3. Kenta Miyoshi earned the Big Ten men’s tennis Player of the Week on Wednesday. The Illini junior went 4-1 in singles play during the Battle In the Bay last weekend in San Francisco to receive the first Big Ten award of his college career.
Illinois running back Josh McCray dives for extra yards in the first quarter of last Saturday’s game against Central Michigan at Memorial Stadium in Champaign.
Numbers game: 153.3
Rushing yards per game Illinois is averaging through its first three games. That ranks 11th in the Big Ten, helped out by the 244 rushing yards the Illini had in their opener against FCS opponent Eastern Illinois. Not helped out by the 216 rushing yards combined the Illini have had against Kansas and Central Michigan the last two games.
After losing to Penn State in Champaign in 2023, Xavier Scott and the Illini football team will head to State College, Pa., the final weekend in September to take on the host Nittany Lions on Sept. 28.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Illinois at Nebraska football. Speaking of run games, the Cornhuskers average 171.3 rushing yards, good for seventh in the Big Ten. Nebraska’s defense is sixth in the Big Ten and 16th nationally in allowing only 70.3 rushing yards so far.
➜ 2. Kent State at Penn State football. Before the 10th-ranked Nittany Lions host Illinois in a night kickoff on Sept. 28 at Beaver Stadium, they’ll try to avoid an upset on Saturday afternoon against the winless Golden Flashes.
➜ 3. Purdue at Oregon State football. The next home game for Illinois on Oct. 12 is against the reeling Boilermakers, who head west on Saturday after Notre Dame ran away from them in a 66-7 rout.
From left, the Trefren family: Sterling, Chasity, Bronson and Brett.
Coach’s corner
Three questions with first-year Rantoul football coach Brett Trefren. His Eagles, who ended a 41-game losing streak with a 21-15 home win against Pontiac last Friday night, host Prairie Central this Friday night at Bill Walsh Field:
➜ 1. My favorite sports team is … the Green Bay Packers.
➜ 2. Three coaches I’d like to have dinner with are … Matt Rhule, Pete Carroll and Dan Campbell.
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … when people use sour cream as a dipping sauce.