Nate Bussey had it.

On Minnesota’s first play of Saturday’s game, quarterback Adam Weber threw the ball straight to the Illini linebacker on a pass to Bryant Allen, and the ball was in his hands. But the ball bounced out of his arms, and Allen caught it.

“It was just a lack of focus, watching the ball, trying to make a play when the play was already there to be made,” Bussey said.

The Illini went on to lose the game, 38-34, and their sixth win eluded them for the second straight week.

Two weeks ago, it seemed as if Illinois had that elusive bowl berth wrapped up, going 5-3 through its first eight games.

The Illini had begun what they called a “new season,” after their loss to then-No. 13 Michigan State. They won their first two games of the second half in impressive fashion, beating Indiana and Purdue with a combined score of 77-23.

A trip to somewhere warm and sunny late December seemed all but a sure thing.

Still, quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase recited a saying that his mother had told him.

“Don’t let your highs get too high or your lows get too low,” he said.

Even after a crazy, triple-overtime loss to Michigan in Ann Arbor, it looked like their sixth win would come easily, with the one-win Gophers next on their slate.

They came out the next Monday with what Scheelhaase called one of the best Monday practices of the season.

But it just wasn’t meant to be for Illinois on Saturday, even as the team had a 10-point lead with about eight minutes to play.

Receiver A.J. Jenkins was mystified as he sat in the interview room after the game.

“They surprised us. I guess we didn’t take them as seriously as we should have. We just,” Jenkins trailed off. “We just lost.”

“I’m confused,” he went on. “I thought this was going to be the game, last home game versus Minnesota. They lost nine straight games or whatever the streak was, we were pretty confident. I guess we didn’t give them the credit they deserve.”

Just two weeks ago, everything seemed different.

Before heading to Ann Arbor, the Illini were 5-3 and looked ready to become bowl eligible, with unranked Michigan and one-win Minnesota next on their slate.

Now, the Illini’s situation is tenuous, and they may need to heed the advice of Scheelhaase’s mother.

Only two games remain — against Northwestern at Wrigley Field on Saturday and at Fresno State a few weeks later.

“It gets out of control a little bit if you don’t grab it,” junior Trulon Henry said. “Maybe we need to have a players’ meeting or something. We need to pick our intensity back up.”

Head coach Ron Zook stressed to his team not to discuss a bowl berth, to focus on each game as its own, even though he said he knew it was in the back of his head.

But just like Bussey on that first play, the Illini may have thought they already had a grasp of something that wasn’t yet a sure thing.

“I guess we didn’t focus as hard as we could have,” Jenkins said.

“Coach Zook has always said, ‘Take every point the same.’ They definitely surprised us,” he added.

The Illini just hope their chance to play in a bowl game didn’t slip through their fingers.