NEBRASKA CITY – Huskers Radio Network analyst Damon Benning was quizzing the audience at the Big Red Buzz at Valentino’s Restaurant in Nebraska City Thursday about the feeling among fans heading into Friday’s game against Illinois and answering questions about his own level of optimism for the season.

Benning: “This is a huge game. I’m not a big hyperbole guy, like I’m pretty even-keeled. This is a big game. I think this game will tell you a fair amount about the trajectory of the season. I didn’t like to hear coach Rhule say it out loud, but he says everything else. I’m with him, right? Like I didn’t think he would say it out loud, but I can just tell by talking to him and listening to him at practice, there’s no guesswork. I mean’ this is a big game. And I think for them, if I’m just going by body language, this a pretty angry team.”

Benning said he suspects the Sunday practice in full pads was miserable from a player standpoint, but defensive back Phalen Sanford said a lot of players were fine with it.

Oct. 3 presser Sanford: “We’re in the process of finding who is One Of Us right now. The guys, I think, we’ve responded pretty well. We’ve had really physical practices. The guys know what happened last week wasn’t acceptable, so we’ve got to change that.”

Benning said  “OOU” is symbolic of the “whole is greater than the sum of the parts" idea. He talked about better play at various positions, better execution of game plans and better coaching.

Benning: “No one is safe. No one is safe. Do with that what you will. Like Rhule, he wants to win and I think everybody in those rooms knows that.”

Benning said he likes the coaching staff, not because of any number of wins, but because if something is wrong, they will fix it.

At the Wednesday press conference Coach Rhule talked about his development as a coach.

Rhule: “When I was at the University of Buffalo. I was 24 years old. I was the youngest full-time division I assistant coach in the country and we got fired with three games left. I remember my dad saying how you coach these next three weeks is who you are as a coach. If you coach less, you’re no good and, if you coach harder now because you want to win so you can keep your job, then you weren’t coaching hard enough to begin with. We’re just trying to get these guys to be the same guy every day.”

Sanford talked about the challenge ahead for the defense at Illinois.

Sanford: “They’ve got good players and they are going to try to get them the ball. Physical group, they’ll give you a bunch of different types of personnel, motions, shifts. They’ve got big tight ends with good hands. No. 1 in the slot, they like to get him the ball. The running backs run hard. Overall they are a well-coached team.”

Benning credited Ty Hahn, a sophomore from Johnson, for a touchdown-saving tackle on punt coverage verses Michigan.