Matt Rhule addresses concerns over fire at Illinois' stadium
On Tuesday night, it was reported that a fire broke out at the Illinois Fighting Illini’s Memorial Stadium. That is also the sight of their Week 6 matchup against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
There has been no change to the venue for the Week 6 clash between the two Big Ten programs. However, there are still some concerns as they draw near Friday night when the game takes place.
As his Nebraska squad prepares for their Friday night matchup against Illinois, head coach Matt Rhule revealed his level of concern with the fire at Memorial Stadium and added in a little suggestion that he would have liked to see as a solution to the concerns.
“Yeah, I know Susan talked to their people last night, and they said it was not as big of a deal as it sounded like. I was hoping we could play here,” said Rhule jokingly. “Nah, but I’m glad everything is okay there. “
Susan Elza is the Cornhuskers football program’s chief of staff. She was brought on in February as a part of several changes made to adjust the direction of the program under Rhule.
From his statement, Rhule and his Nebraska staff are okay to play at Illinois. But if a change in venue is needed, except for the Cornhuskers headman to share his sentiments on playing in Lincoln in a more serious tone.
Rhule reveals his confidence level in his QBs
While the Cornhuskers are trying to bounce back from their Week 5 loss at the hand of Michigan against Illinois, Rhule is also trying to work out the bugs in his quarterback situation.
Nebraska started the year with Jeff Sims as their starting quarterback. However, after an injury during their Week 2 loss to Colorado, backup quarterback Heinrich Haarberg took over, leading them to a 2-1 mark with wins over Louisiana Tech and Northern Illinois. In Week 5, ahead of their game with Michigan, Sims returned to practice but did not play against the Wolverines. Now, this week, with his quarterback to start the season back and ready to contribute, who does Rhule have the most faith in when it comes to leading the offense?
“I feel very confident with Heinrich being the starting quarterback. That being said, I also have a lot of confidence in Jeff. I know it’s not probably a great answer,” said Rhule.
“We practice, practiced last night. And Jeff looked awesome; Jeff looked great. Heinrich looked great; (Luke) Longval looked good. So I’m getting both of them ready. In the midst of losing, I saw things from Heinrich that I wanted to see. I saw him compete; I saw him and Billy (Kemp) work well versus man and win on some option routes.”