Lincoln, Neb.-  The Nebraska football team continued its preparation for Saturday’s Big Ten conference opener against Illinois on Tuesday afternoon. The team practiced in full pads for just over two hours inside the Hawks Center and outside at the Ed and Joyanne Gass Practice Fields.

 Offensive Coordinator Tim Beck addressed the media after practice, beginning with the status of senior quarterback Taylor Martinez.

“We’re just getting (Taylor Martinez) ready mentally right now by making sure he understands the game plan,” Beck said. “He’s played a lot of football around here. If there’s a guy who could miss a couple of practices, it’s probably him, but it’s a day-to-day situation.”

Martinez, suffering from turf toe, sat out the Sept. 21 game against South Dakota State, snapping a 32-game starting streak that dated back to his redshirt freshman season in 2010.

However, Coach Beck made it clear that he has confidence in backup quarterbacks Ron Kellogg and Tommy Armstrong to get the job done if needed on Saturday.

“Those guys are competing hard and having a really good week of practice,” Beck said. “I like how they’re running the offense and competing. It’s very similar to what they were doing leading up to the last game.”

Kellogg and Armstrong combined for 305 yards passing and two touchdowns in Nebraska’s 59-20 victory over South Dakota State. The two quarterbacks alternated series in that game, which is something Beck said he isn’t opposed to doing again.

“I kind of play it by ear as we go into a game,” Beck said. “I like to see if someone’s got a hot hand or is seeing things better. There are so many scenarios that go into the decisions that are made, and those guys understand that. But they’ll both play if it helps us win.”

A large part of the two quarterbacks’ success has been a focus on the mental aspect of the game. Kellogg and Armstrong combined to complete 20 of 24 passes without an interception against the Jackrabbits, helping the Huskers convert seven of 10 third down opportunities.

According to Beck, that’s the recipe for success.

“Most teams that are winning games aren’t turning the ball over,” Beck said. “They’re converting on third downs and they aren’t shooting themselves in the foot with penalties. You are going to win more games than you lose if you’re doing that. I liked our mentality going into last game and I like where we’re at right now.”

Nebraska will hit the practice field again on Wednesday as the team moves closer to its fifth game of the season. NU will face the Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

The Big Ten Conference announced on Monday morning that Nebraska’s Oct. 12 game at Purdue will be televised by BTN with kickoff set for 11 a.m. CT (Noon local time in West Lafayette).

The BTN game will mark Nebraska’s fourth of the season on the network, after three of four non-conference games were also televised by BTN.

Nebraska and Purdue will be meeting for the first time as Big Ten opponents and for just the second time ever. The only previous meeting occurred in 1958.

Before traveling to Purdue, Nebraska will play host to Illinois on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff time this weekend is also set for 11 a.m. CT with the game televised on ESPNU.

Kickoff times and television information for Nebraska’s remaining games will be announced six to 12 days in advance of kickoff.

The Big Ten Conference announced Sunday morning that Nebraska’s homecoming game with Illinois will kick off at 11 a.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPNU. The remainder of the kickoffs and TV broadcasts for the remainder of the 2013 games, with the exception of the Iowa game on Nov. 29, will be announced on either a six-or-12 day basis.

Lincoln, Neb.- The Nebraska football team continued its bye week work during a two-hour practice held inside the Hawks Center and outside at the Ed and Joyanne Gass Practice Fields in shorts and helmets Wednesday afternoon.

Head Coach Bo Pelini met with media after practice, noting that the team has had two good practices so far during the bye week, but will need to continue the progress as the Huskers continue to build toward their Big Ten opening game against Illinois.

“We have got some good work in, obviously it is still a work in progress but I liked how the kids have worked these past couple days.”

Pelini noted that bye week work can provide a lot of benefits for a football team.

“A lot, you can get a lot accomplished. I have said, every day we walk out here it’s important,” Pelini said. “We went through a decent amount of ‘good on good’ scrimmage stuff and did some live scrimmaging today. Obviously we have been using it (bye week) to get a jump on Illinois.”

Pelini also mentioned after practice that the thing the Husker defense needs to work most on is translating what it does in practice, whether it is individual or group work, to the field during a game.

“What we are struggling with the most defensively is taking the things from our individual and group work to bringing it to the team side of things.” Pelini said, “Taking our techniques and transferring it to when all the bullets are flying. I saw a marked jump today, but that needs to continue.”

Nebraska has used a lot of personnel and different rotations early on this season on defense. When Pelini was asked if he expects that to change in conference play, he said that it will not change until some of the young Huskers step up and secure their starting roles.

“When somebody steps out and takes the job that’s one thing, but that has not happened yet.”

Pelini believes that the young Blackshirt defense still needs improvement in the preparation required to be successful at the major college football level.

“If you just look at the last game, we had way too many busts. Just missed assignment after missed assignment, on top of that, just not playing fast and aggressive,” Pelini said. “To me, a lot of that comes in preparation, with great preparation comes great confidence.”

With 16 total tackles and nine assisted tackles, sophomore defensive end Randy Gregory has certainly been one of the bright spots on the Husker defense so far in the 2013 season. Pelini has taken note of that, noting that he really plays with intensity.

“Randy makes mistakes, but Randy plays his butt off. He plays hard and he is obviously still a little raw in some areas. He still has to clean some things up.” Pelini said, “The one thing about Randy is he brings it every down.”

Nebraska will continue preparations Friday as the team moves through a bye week before opening Big Ten Conference play. NU will face Illinois on Saturday Oct. 5, at 11 a.m. in Lincoln, and will be nationally televised on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Tommy Armstrong Jr. and Ron Kellogg III combined to pass for 305 yards, Ameer Abdullah ran for a career-high 139 yards and Nebraska shook off South Dakota State in the second quarter in a 59-20 victory Saturday.

Armstrong got the start in place of the injured Taylor Martinez, but playing time was evenly split between the redshirt freshman and Kellogg.

Nebraska (3-1), which finished with 645 yards, scored 38 straight points after falling behind 17-14 in the first quarter against the Championship Subdivision Jackrabbits (3-1).

Martinez didn’t practice this week because of a turf-toe injury on his left foot and was in shorts and a T-shirt on the sideline. He had started 32 straight games since 2010.

The victory will do little to quell concern over Nebraska’s defense. SDSU’s Zach Zenner ran for 202 yards, tied for 10th-most by a Nebraska opponent, and the Jackrabbits finished with 465 total yards.