MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Fighting Illini football team pulled off another Big Ten upset on the road as a late-game interception by Kerby Joseph sealed a 14-6 win over Minnesota on Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium. The Gophers entered the game ranked #20 in the season's initial College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking, marking the Illinois' first ever win over a CFP-ranked opponent. The Illini defense held the Gophers to their lowest point total of the season, while Chase Brown's 150 rushing yards led the offense.
Illinois' win over the Golden Gophers comes just two weeks after its nine-overtime upset at then-No. 7 Penn State. The Illini are idle next week before traveling to Iowa on Nov. 20.
Illini D excels
Ryan Walters' defense showed up in all phases of the game against the Gophers. Coming into Saturday morning, the Minnesota offense was averaging over 200 rushing yards a game, but the Illini allowed just 89 yards on the ground in the win.
The defensive line also put pressure on Minnesota QB Tanner Morgan all game long. Long completed just 54% of his passes and Illinois totaled 6.0 sacks - with six different guys getting in on the action - and 9.0 tackles for loss. Isaiah Gay led the way in both categories, tallying 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss.
Illinois' pass defense had one of its best outings of the season against the Gophers as Tarique Barnes picked off Morgan on the opening drive, which led to an Illinois offensive touchdown. Joseph recorded the second interception of the day on the final play of the game.
Offensive efficiency
The Illini offense set the tone in the first quarter following the early pick from Barnes. With the ball just over midfield, Illinois used a nine-yard completion to Carlos Sandy, followed by a series of runs and 15-yard pass to Michael Marchese to set up a scoring opportunity. Isaiah Williams took advantage and rushed two yards for the touchdown.
On the first play of the second quarter, Brandon Peters connected with Tip Reiman for a 15-yard touchdown, making it a 14-0 game. The completion marked Reiman's first career touchdown.
Illinois' rushing attack continued to dominate throughout the game as Brown racked up at least 150 yards for the third time this season. Peters was also efficient, completing seven of his nine passes to seven different receivers.
Highlights
Press Conference
Team Notes
- The Fighting Illini improve to 4-6 (3-4 B1G) following Saturday's win at Minnesota (6-3, 4-2 B1G).
- Illinois head coach Bret Bielema is now 8-0 in his career vs. Minnesota.
- Illinois has now won multiple Big Ten road games in three straight seasons for the first time since 1992-94. Prior to 2019, Illinois had not won multiple Big Ten road games in a single season since 2010.
- Today's victory marks Illinois' first road win in the series vs. Minnesota since 2009.
- With today's win over Minnesota (#20 in the CFP), the Illini capture the first victory in program history over an opponent ranked in the College Football Playoff top 25.
- The Fighting Illini defense held Minnesota to a season-low six points, the unit's seventh straight game allowing 24 or fewer points. It marks the longest such streak for the Illini program since an eight-game stretch that spanned the final five games of the 2002 season and the first three games of the 2003 campaign.
- Illinois led 14-0 at halftime on Saturday, marking the first time this season that the Illini defense held an opponent scoreless in the first half. The last time that Illinois shut out an opponent in the first half of a game was 10/26/19 at Purdue (W, 24-6).
- The Illini defense recorded a season-most six sacks on Saturday, and tied a season-high total with two interceptions. The Illini have recorded three or more sacks in five of seven B1G games this season. Â
- The Illini offense out-rushed the Golden Gophers, 185-89, led by 150 yards on the ground from Chase Brown. The 89 rushing yards by the Gophers also marks a season-low.Â
- Illinois captains: DB Tony Adams, OLB Owen Carney Jr., LB Jake Hansen, P Blake Hayes, OL Doug Kramer, OL Vederian Lowe.
Individual Notes
- OL duo of Vederian Lowe and Alex Palczewski each made their 50th career starts on Saturday, extending their Illini career record for career games started. Lowe has now started in 44 consecutive games.
- Illini C Doug Kramer also continues to climb the career starts list, making his 46th career start, now tied for 10th on the all-time list.
- RB Chase Brown recorded 150 rushing yards, his third game of the season with at least 100 rushing yards. Brown has now eclipsed the century mark five times in his career as an Illini.
- Brown has now moved into Illinois' top-30 in career rushing yards, coming in at No. 29 with 1,412 in Orange and Blue. Including his 352 yards as a freshman at Western Michigan, Brown now has 1,764 rushing yards in his collegiate career.
- WR Isaiah Wiliams scored his third touchdown of the season (first rushing) to give the Illini a 7-0 lead on their first offensive possession. Williams now has two rushing touchdowns, two receiving touchdowns, and four passing touchdowns for his Illini career.Â
- TE Tip Reiman gave the Illini a 14-0 edge with his 15-yard touchdown reception from Brandon Peters on the first play of the second quarter. It was just the second reception of Reiman's career, and his first score as an Illini.  Â
- Junior QB Ryan Johnson made his Illinois debut late in the fourth quarter, taking one snap and handing the ball off in place of Brandon Peters who was injured on the previous play. Peters returned under center on the next play.
- WR Pat Bryant became the 14th Illini in program history to start 3+ games at wide receiver as a true freshman.
- OLB Owen Carney Jr. recorded his 16th career sack, moving into sole possession of the #9 spot on Illinois' career sacks list.
- DB Sydney Brown led the Illini defense with nine tackles, including one of the Illini's six total sacks, 1.5 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble.
- DB Kerby Joseph sealed the Illini victory with his fourth interception of the season to end Minnesota's final offensive possession. Joseph leads the Illini defense on the season in both interceptions (4) and fumble recoveries (3).Â
- OLB Isaiah Gay recorded a career-high 1.5 sacks vs. Minnesota and now has 7.5 for his Illini career.Â
- P Blake Hayes placed four punts inside the 20 yard line on Saturday, including his final punt of the day that pinned the Gophers' offense at the 2 with 72 seconds remaining.Â
Quotes
Opening Statement...
"I just felt, during the course of the week, we've been challenging our guys all week that the most physical team that showed up the stadium would probably win the game. I know that they're built on the way they rush the football and the way that they defend the run. So I really challenged our guys all week to kind of hop into that mode. This year is a process. We keep learning, we keep putting our best foot forward. At times this year, we've been tough. There's been tough moments, I kind of referred to it as the fog. They got to see through the fog to get where they want to be. And these guys just kept doing that, kept pressing themselves and I'm really impressed with our defense. Offensively to get that first touchdown the first time they touched the ball was a tone setter. I know that they're a good football team. They're winning the Big Ten West. Right before we showed up here today, they were the leaders in the Big Ten West. I told our guys we may not be in that position right now, but we can start to play like that. And I couldn't be more proud of these guys."
On balancing the big road wins with recent losses at home...
"What I said in there, let's act like we've been here. Let's try to put two together. But the formula isn't really different on the home or away, just sometimes when you're dealing with a team that really is kind of finding their way, the way we want to win games, the way we can play, sometimes it's a little bit easier on the road. They take that mentality of us against the world. And I told those guys before the game, let's go get two quarters work, come in and talk about it. At halftime, we said a half day of work is done, let's see what we can do. And our defense especially just kept answering the bell. I thought offensively, we did enough to overcome tough moments. Again, a couple penalties hurt us. But there in the end, the game is in the hands of Blake Hayes and he puts it down on the one yard line. Tailon Leitzey, probably the guy on the roster no one knows anything about except for the people from Illinois, and he downs the ball on the one and it was a big play to have it start that way. I said all along, it's kind of the Bad News Bears. Nobody really knows these guys names but they just keep playing, and fighting and competing. And it's fun to be around."
On the performance of the defense in big third- and fourth-down situations....
"I give a lot of credit to our defensive players, our defensive coaches, Ryan (Walters), JMO (Terrance Jamison), Andy Buh, Kevin Kane, Aaron Henry. They're in that little dungeon in our office, that's right outside my office. Those guys just camp out in there and they grind it. You guys have seen it I'm sure. I think back to that Penn State game and the diligence that they prepare (with), and the craft that they put in front of our players. So Ryan went back three years to watch a two-point play. That's just kind of what he is. Extremely talented coaches and players that have bought into it a hundred times over."
On the impact of scoring early in the game...
"Really challenged the offensive guys was one of their first goals this week. We always talk about three keys on offense, defense, special teams and our first one was score early. One of the things I constantly look at is indicators before the game is played. And one of the things that we look at is play from ahead. Minnesota, just the way they're wired, I believe since 2018, when they're leading at the end of the first quarter, and when they win the turnover margin, their winning percentage is almost through the roof. If they're behind at the end of the first quarter and it kind of progresses after that, the results are in our favor. So we really wanted to get on board first, have a couple big stops early and kind of let the game play out."
On the importance of how they started…
"That was huge. The defense made that turnover to give us great field position, and then we executed really well on that drive. It was a huge moment and got us in good spirits."
On what has flipped for him in the past couple weeks…
"Just the opportunities I have left. Nothing is guaranteed in the future, and I don't know how many more snaps of football I'm going to have in my life. I'm just trying to take full advantage of it. The beginning of the season, it was rocky. We went through some ups and downs, but I got to give all the credit in the world to the coaches for believing in me and keep pushing and not giving up on me."
On the emotions after the game…
"It was like a plan coming together. It was awesome. We developed a lot of different schemes and a lot of different things during the week, our guys do an amazing job, and so to see it all come to fruition is not a surprise. It's awesome to see it all work together."
On catching his first collegiate touchdown pass…
"It was awesome. It's been like two years, so I was excited about it, but I was more excited to celebrate with my teammates. To do it here, on the road in a B1G environment, it was fun."
On the keys to stopping Minnesota's rushing attack…
"Coach Walters came up with a really good plan to stop the run game and we stacked the line, so all the gaps were spaced-out. It really helped us stop the run game, they started to pass and our DB's just played really good this game."
On his success getting into the Minnesota offensive backfield…
"Just watching film on them, I knew what moves I could do, what moves I couldn't do. I was working the edge and using my speed to get the edge against #78. It really helped us out a lot."
