LINCOLN, NEB. — Rumors swirled hours before Illinois football’s game against Nebraska on Saturday that sophomore quarterback Wes Lunt would not be starting.

These rumors were confirmed when it was announced that senior Reilly O’Toole would get the nod in place of Lunt at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.

Lunt was hampered by a sprained knee suffered in the third quarter of last week’s game against Texas State. He was limited in practice during the week, and he was said to be available only in an emergency situation against Nebraska.

Illinois head coach Tim Beckman wasn’t going to risk any further injury to his talented sophomore.

“He is like my son, I am going to make sure what is best for him — right now, it was not to play tonight,” Beckman said. “I am going to take care of this football team, let that be known first.”

Offensive coordinator Bill Cubit said the coaches had a pretty good idea Lunt wouldn’t be starting on Thursday and Friday leading up to the game.

At the half, O’Toole was 7-for-13 passing for 140 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. His first interception came after Illini linebacker T.J. Neal intercepted Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr.

The Illini drove down into the red zone, and on third down, O’Toole scrambled and attempted a pass in the end zone that was intercepted by Nebraska cornerback Daniel Davie.

On his second interception, wide receiver Mike Dudek was open down the field, but O’Toole floated a pass just enough to give Nebraska safety Nate Gerry time to recover and pick it off.

Illinois receiver Geronimo Allison did bail out his quarterback a couple times in the first half.

On the opening drive, O’Toole connected with Allison for a 36 yard gain. Later in the second half, Allison made a great catch down the sideline that he ran in for a touchdown.

Allison said he didn’t know who would be starting at quarterback, but he didn’t have a hard time adjusting to Lunt’s backup.

“It was kind of a game time situation that popped up,” Allison said. “Reilly takes just as many reps as Wes does. I was with Reilly all week; I was with Wes all week.”

With just under nine minutes remaining in the game, Daniel Davie picked off O’Toole for a second time. It was O’Toole’s third interception of the game.

O’Toole was thrown into the fire after being called upon to start on the road against a No. 21 Nebraska team. Cubit said the senior quarterback was putting a lot of the blame on himself after the loss.

“I think the kid is taking the loss really hard,” Cubit said. “I thought the kid was pretty courageous out there and took a lot of shots. (He) felt like he let the team down a little. You’ve got to love a kid like that.”

O’Toole finished the game 17-for-38 for 261 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions in the 45-14 defeat.

Sam can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Sam_Sherman5.