After defeating No. 7 Penn State 20-18 in a nine-overtime thriller last weekend, Illinois (3-5, 2-3) returns to Memorial Stadium to host Rutgers (3-4) on Dad’s Weekend for Illinois students.

Illinois head coach Bret Bielema said that he made a point to have the team turn the page away from the big upset last week on Sunday and turn all attention towards the Scarlet Knights, a team that Illinois beat last season on the road.

“We put the game to bed very quickly (Sunday) night and moved into our Rutgers preparation,” Bielema said on Monday. “A team that is obviously 3-4 and won their first three games and faced a pretty daunting Big Ten scheduled and played very, very well against them.”

Rutgers is coming off of a 21-7 loss on the road last week against Northwestern but was blown out in their two previous games against an undefeated Michigan State team 31-13 on Oct. 9 and a one-loss Ohio State team 52-13 on Oct. 2.

Here are some last-minute storylines before Saturday’s 11 a.m. kickoff in Urbana-Champaign.

Illinois’ will have Brandon Peters back under center on Saturday after losing his starting job against Penn State to Art Sitkowski. Sitkowski suffered a broken arm in overtime against Penn State and will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on the arm and getting an additional procedure on a shoulder injury he suffered before arriving transferring to Illinois this season.

Peters completed the game-winning pass to Casey Washington last week but has been disappointing this season. Peters enters Saturday’s game with a completion percentage of just 48.8 percent and 410 yards with one touchdown and one interception in five games this season.

In the five games that Peters has played in this season, he has been knocked out of two of them – the season opener against Nebraska and a loss to Wisconsin – with an injury. If Peters were to get hurt or be removed from the game for another reason, Illinois will turn to Northern Michigan transfer Ryan Johnson. As a sophomore in 2019, Johnson completed 203 passes for 1, 263 yards and eight touchdowns in the games he appeared in. Johnson hasn’t appeared in a game for the Fighting Illini this season.

Bret Bielema said on Monday that reigning Big Ten offensive player of the week, running back Chase Brown, was expected to return to practice on Tuesday after clearing protocols. Brown suffered a hit to the head in overtime last week and wasn’t able to return to the game. On Thursday, Bielema confirmed that Brown would make his return to the lineup against Rutgers.

“Chase Brown has been cleared 100 percent,” Bielema said. “Practiced with us all week, passed all the things he needed to get to where he is.”

Brown ran for 223 yards against Penn State, the second time he topped the 200-yard mark this season. Brown ran for a career-high 257 yards against Charlotte on Oct. 2. Getting a healthy Brown in the rushing attack helps Illinois’ rushing attack, which ranks fourth in the Big Ten in rushing yards this season behind Michigan, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Left tackle Vederian Lowe who missed most of the Penn State game with a lower right leg injury is expected to be “full throttle, I believe” Bielema said. “Barring anything setback-wise, between now and Saturday to get to where we want to be with him.

Outside linebacker South Coleman missed the Wisconsin and Penn State games with an injury, but he has had a full week of practice. Coleman has 21 tackles this season and two sacks and has been one of Illinois’ three best outside linebackers along with Owen Carney and Isaiah Gay.

“Set Coleman has a had a good week of practice,” Bielema said.

At wide receiver, deep threat Deuce Spann is still battling a soft-tissue injury in his leg that has caused him to miss games against Wisconsin and Charlotte. Spann has four receptions this season for 117 yards and two touchdowns but didn’t have a catch against Purdue or Charlotte – the two games he last appeared in.

“Got back in the mix at the end of last week,” Bielema said of Spann’s availability. “But he wasn’t really ready to be game speed ready. He’s still a question for Saturday’s game. but if he doesn’t play this Saturday, he’ll definitely play the week after that.”

Meanwhile, quarterback Art Sitkowski, who will miss the remainder of the season with a broken arm and an offseason shoulder procedure, underwent a “very” successful surgery on Wednesday, according to Bielema. In late November, he will go under the knife again for surgery on his throwing shoulder.

On Saturday, Illinois football is set to honor current and veteran military service members as well as celebrate dad’s weekend, an annual tradition that returns in 2021 after taking a pause in 2020, due to Covid-19.

Memorial Stadium is named in honor of students who died fighting in World War I and their names are engraved on the pillars that line the east and west sides of the stadium. Prior to the game, pilots from the Air Force’s 122nd Fighter Wing will conduct are pregame flyover with two A-10 Thunderbolt jets, which will be flown by two Illinois graduates Nate Sunderland and Christian Telle.

Illinois will also have the game ball delivered by the Rappel Team from Bravo Company 4th Battalion 399th Infantry Regiment out of Kentucky. The team will enter the stadium from the Northwest Tower of the stadium during the Marching Illini’s pregame performance. But earlier in the week members of the University of Illinois ROTC made a 22-mile ruck to deliver a game ball to Bielema and two players – Luke Ford and Tyler Strain – who have family connections to the military.

“That ROTC group that gave me the football, I believe was a 22-mile march that they were on,” Bielema said. “It was a representation of the 22 service members that potentially take drastic actions of their own life on a daily basis. It was a representation of that. It just makes you come fully circle and to how much this place, this stadium more than football.”