Matt Rhule continues horrible trend against Illinois

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule has taken his teams to Conference Championship games and to a New Year's Six Bowl. When up against AP-ranked teams, though, Rhule's teams normally fall flat.

Rhule's head coaching record against AP-ranked opponents fell to 2-20 following Nebraska's 31-24 overtime loss to Illinois Friday night. Rhule's last win over a Top 25 team came in 2016 when his Temple Owls defeated the No. 19 Navy Midshipmen 34-10 in the American Athletic Conference Championship game.

Since being the head coach at Temple, Rhule took over at Baylor, even leading the Bears to a Big 12 Championship appearance where they lost to Oklahoma for the second time that season, 30-23 in overtime.

It also continued a negative trend for the Cornhuskers, who have now lost 25 in a row to ranked opponents. Their last win over a Top 25 team was also in 2016 when they beat No. 22 Oregon 35-32.

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It looked like Nebraska and Rhule were going to get the monkey off their backs Friday night. The game was tied at 24 and Nebraska was looking at a 3rd and 3 from the Illinois 21-yard line. Cornhuskers quarterback Dylan Raiola overthrew an open Luke Lindenmeyer in the end zone. The touchdown would have given Nebraska back the lead but it fell just out of Lindenmeyer's reach.

Nebraska kicker John Hohl missed the ensuing 39-yard field goal and the game would head into overtime. It took two plays for Illinois to score a touchdown and Nebraska went the wrong way in their overtime drive, losing 42 yards and the game.

Illinois is now 4-0 for the first time since 2011 but will have a huge test next week when they head to Penn State.

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