Illinois has been selected to play back-to-back Friday night games to start its final month of the 2026 regular season including a home game in the Dad’s Weekend contest against Nebraska.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Football Writer/Analyst

May 8, 2026

CHAMPAIGN — Illinois will be playing two of its regular season games this upcoming season on a Friday night as part of the FOX broadcast package with the Big Ten Conference.

The Illini will have its first two games in the final month of the 2026 season be back-to-back Friday night games.

Illinois will host Nebraska on Nov. 6, which is part of the on-campus Dad’s Weekend festivities, on FOX with kickoff slated for 7 p.m. CST. It will mark the third straight time the Illini and Cornhuskers will face each other in a Friday night game. The two programs didn’t match up in 2025 but Illinois won at Lincoln’s Memorial Stadium in a 31-24 overtime affair in 2024 while Nebraska won on 20-7 on a Friday night game in 2023 inside the Memorial Stadium in Champaign.

The Illini will then have a week six days of preparation for another Friday road game at the Rose Bowl against UCLA and Bruins first-year head coach Bob Chesney on Nov. 13 for a game slated to begin at 8 p.m. CST and 6 p.m. local time in California. This will mark Illinois’ first Big Ten Conference game against UCLA, the Illini’s first game in Pasadena, Calif., since the 2008 Rose Bowl loss to Southern California and first game against UCLA since victory over Bruins in the 2011 Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco.

FOX Sports reveals its Friday night lineup of games on the May 8 afternoon that will include defending national champion Indiana opening its Big Ten Conference season on Sept. 25 against Northwestern, the Missouri-Kansas Border rivalry game on Sept. 11, Northwestern Northwestern unveiling the new Ryan Field stadium against Penn State on Oct. 2 and culminating with the Mountain West Championship Game on Dec. 4.

Since Bret Bielema has taking over the Illinois program at the start of the 2021 season the Illini are 4-4 all-time in weeknight games with a 1-4 record against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents and a 3-2 record at Gies Memorial Stadium.