LINCOLN, Neb. — Luke Altmyer threw four touchdowns, including a short toss to Pat Bryant in overtime, to lead No. 24 Illinois to a 31-24 win over No. 22 Nebraska on Friday night.

The Illini (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) have defeated two ranked opponents in the same season for the first time since 2007 and are off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2011. The Illini defeated the Cornhuskers in Lincoln for the third straight time, spoiling the celebration of their 400th consecutive sold-out game at Memorial Stadium.

“I told our players the other day, you control the atmosphere in the stadium,” Illini coach Bret Bielema said. “We thought if we could turn this into a four-quarter game, it would work to our advantage. I didn’t plan for it to go into overtime, but I wasn’t mad when it did.”

Nebraska (3-1, 0-1) has lost 25 straight games to teams ranked in the Top 25 since 2016, the second-longest active streak among current power conference teams after Rutgers’ 40 straight, according to ESPN Research. The Huskers are 8-31 in one-possession games since 2018.

The teams traded touchdowns in the second half before the Illini covered 75 yards in nine plays to tie the score at 24. Altmyer threw 6 yards to tackle Brandon Henderson on a fourth-and-2 for the touchdown with 10:36 left in regulation. It was the first reception of the 6-foot-5, 335-pound Henderson’s career.

“We replayed that pass this week and as a staff we voted on whether it was going to be thrown and caught, and we all voted yes,” Bielema said. “We didn’t know it was going to be a fourth-down call to put us in position to win the game. A lot of credit to our offensive coaches and players for making that happen.”

Nebraska had to punt the ball and missed a field goal on its final two drives of regulation. Reserve John Hohl, taking the ball in place of the injured Tristan Alvano, missed the ball from 39 yards with 2:59 left.

Illinois fouled and awarded a point, prompting Raiola to kneel and the game to go into overtime.

Illinois’ Kaden Feagin ran 21 yards on the first play of overtime before Altmyer found Bryant for a 4-yard touchdown.

“That was a Big Ten game, your typical losing-to-the-last-play kind of game,” Nebraska defensive lineman Ty Robinson said. “It hurts because we really beat ourselves, especially on defense. We can come back next week and clean up a lot of mistakes.”

Nebraska’s possession in overtime was a disaster, as Raiola was sacked three times, including on fourth down to end the game.

Altmyer threw for 215 yards and Bryant had five catches for 74 yards and two touchdowns.

Altmyer went 21-of-27 against the Huskers and is 75-of-102 for the season (74%) with 10 touchdowns and no interceptions.

“The best is probably yet to come (for him),” Bielema said.

Raiola passed for 297 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Jahmal Banks caught eight balls for 94 yards and Isaiah Neyor had four catches for 90 yards and two scores.

“As I told our guys, the story is they’re going to win all these games. Mine is 1-0 every week. We can learn a lot from this,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.