The Nebraska football program is taking its show on the road in 2021.Â
Across the Atlantic Ocean, to be more specific.Â
The Huskers are opening the 2021 season against Illinois in Dublin, Ireland, according to a Monday morning news release.Â
The game against the Illini will be played Aug. 28, 2021, and is part of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic series at Aviva Stadium.
It will be the second game in a new five-game series of college games in Dublin. The first of those games will be a season-opening matchup between Navy and Notre Dame in 2020.Â
"Playing a game in Ireland provides another way to spread the Nebraska brand, and in this case on an international stage,†NU athletic director Bill Moos said in a statement. "We are always looking for new scheduling opportunities and when this was presented, Coach (Scott) Frost and I decided this would be an experience of a lifetime for the student-athletes in our program. This will also be a great trip for our fans, and knowing how Husker fans travel, it will be great to see Dublin, Ireland, turned Red."
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The game was originally set to be played at Illinois later in the season. NU recently rescheduled a slated game with Northern Illinois, helping to create the flexibility to travel internationally for an early season game.Â
Instead of NIU, Nebraska will take on FCS Southeast Louisiana at Memorial Stadium on Nov. 13, 2021, the date the Huskers originally would have traveled to Illinois.Â
So the 2021 schedule now includes seven true home games and the neutral-site game in Dublin.Â
It will be the first game Nebraska has played internationally since taking on Kansas State in Tokyo in 1992.Â
“We look forward to taking our team to Ireland to kick off the 2021 season against Illinois,†Frost said in a statement. “This will provide great exposure for the Nebraska football program and the Big Ten Conference. Our first priority for the trip will be to play a football game, but it is also going to give our players a chance to visit a part of the world most of them will not have seen.â€
Nebraska's 2021 season now opens like this:Â
Aug. 28: vs. Illinois (Dublin, Ireland)Â
Sept. 4: ByeÂ
Sept. 11: vs. BuffaloÂ
Sept. 18: at OklahomaÂ
The Huskers then return to Big Ten play with a road game at Michigan State and a home game against Ohio State. So it will be a challenging first month of the season for Nebraska, but also a scenic one.Â