Former South Carolina QB Ryan Hilinski leads Northwestern to upset win over Nebraska
Playing in the marquee game of college football’s Week 0 slate, former South Carolina football quarterback Ryan Hilinski led Northwestern to a 31-28 upset victory over Nebraska in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday afternoon.
In perhaps the best game of his career, Hilinski completed 27 of 38 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
More importantly, he commanded a balanced Wildcat offense that put up 527 yards of total offense including Hilinski’s 313 through the air and 214 yards on the ground.
Hilinski started the game on fire, completing his first eight throws and then 20 of 23 first-half passes for both of his passing TDs.
Northwestern entered the contest as an 11-point underdog to Nebraska, meaning Huskers’ head coach Scott Frost’s already-hot seat just hit another level before the greater college football season has even begun.
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A former four-star prospect, Hilinski originally signed with South Carolina as part of the 2019 class out of Orange (Calif.) Orange Lutheran where he was ranked the No. 5 quarterback and No. 61 overall prospect in the country by the recruiting industry.
Hilinski chose the Gamecocks over Stanford and concluded his high school career with 8,102 passing yards and 85 total touchdowns.
Hilinski spent two seasons with the South Carolina football program before transferring to Northwestern prior to the 2021 season.
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As a freshman in Columbia, Hilinski started 11 games and completed 236-of-406 passes (58.1 pct.) for 2,357 yards and 11 touchdowns with five interceptions.
In Hilinski’s second season he played in just two games and completed 4-of-6 passes after transfer quarterback Collin Hill won the starting job prior to the season.
In his first season at Northwestern, Hilinski played in nine games and completed 95 of 176 passes for a team-high 987 yards and three touchdowns with four interceptions.
Hilinski won the battle with sophomore Brendan Sullivan to start for the Wildcats this season.
South Carolina wide receiver Dakereon Joyner, who competed with Hilinski for the backup quarterback job prior to the 2019 season, appeared to be watching the game and wished his former teammate well on Twitter.
The Gamecocks kick off their 2022 campaign next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium against Georgia State.
