Illinois Storms Past No. 19 Kansas at Sold-Out Memorial Stadium

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Oh, what a night.

Illinois took down No. 19 Kansas, 23-17, in front of a sold-out Memorial Stadium crowd on Saturday evening behind a fourth-quarter comeback and three interceptions from the Illini defense.

The Illini's first sellout since 2016 saw the Illini defeat the Jayhawks for the team's first ranked home win since 2019.

Xavier Scott recorded three total takeaways: a first-quarter interception, a second-quarter pick six, and a forced fumble on the final play of the night. He also made eight solo tackles and was credited with a sack.

Miles Scott came down with an interception for his third-consecutive game.

Zakhari Franklin finished with nine receptions for 99 yards, both of which were team-best tallies. Pat Bryant registered three catches for 70 yards, including two receptions on the Illini's fourth-quarter touchdown drive.

David Olano went a perfect 3-for-3 on field-goal attempts, making kicks from 23, 43, and 50 yards.

Luke Altmyer went 16-for-25 with 192 yards.

The Illini forced a turnover on the Jayhawks' first possession of the evening. After Kansas moved past midfield, Xavier Scott recorded his first interception of the season, bringing the Illinois offense onto the field at its own 33-yard line.

The Orange and Blue marched down the field before facing fourth-and-1 deep in Kansas territory. Converting via Kaden Feagin's sixth rush of the drive, the Illini capped off a 14-play, 62-yard drive with a 23-yard field goal from David Olano.

Kansas responded with a field goal of its own, tying the game at 3-3 early in the second quarter. After the Illini offense stalled on their next possession, the defense forced a big stop on a fourth-and-2 with Kansas driving into Illinois territory.

The Jayhawks took their first lead of the night with 3:32 to play in the first half, but the Illini cut into their deficit on their next trip down the field. A 42-yard one-handed snag by Franklin highlighted the drive before Olano converted a career-long 50-yard field goal. The kick reduced the Kansas advantage to 10-6 with just over one minute left before the break.

On the third play of Kansas' next possession, Xavier Scott swung the momentum back in Illinois' favor. The junior defensive back flew in and came down with his second interception of the night, returning it 30 yards for a pick six and putting the Illini in front, 13-10, late in the half.

After Illinois went into the break with a 3-point advantage, Kansas retook the lead on its first drive of the second half. The Illini stalled on their next possession, but the defense forced another turnover, a Miles Scott interception, with the Jayhawks in the red zone.

Both teams came up empty on their next drives, but Illinois jumped back in front with nine-and-a-half minutes to play. Receptions of 37 and 28 yards by Pat Bryant helped the Illini get down to the 1-yard line before Kaden Feagin punched it in to move the Illinois edge to 20-17.

The Illinois defense then forced a three-and-out before the offense added onto the Orange and Blue advantage with Olano's third field goal of the night, this time from 43 yards with 58 seconds left.

Xavier Scott came through with a forced fumble on the Jayhawks' final possession, leading to Orange and Blue fans rushing the field and the Illini securing the victory.

Illinois closes its three-game homestand with its Homecoming contest next week, when the Fighting Illini host Central Michigan on Sept. 14 at 11 a.m. CT. Kickoff will be available to stream on Peacock.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

POSTGAME NOTES

Team Notes

• Bret Bielema improved to 20-19 in his Illinois career with tonight's win.
  • Tied for the sixth-fastest head coach in program history to 20 wins.
• First Illinois head coach to start .500 or better through their first 39 games since Lou Tepper started 20-18-1 in 1995.
• Illinois picked up its best nonconference win since beating #17 Arizona on Sept. 16, 1995. 
• The Illini outscored the Jayhawks, 10-0, in the fourth quarter, while out-gaining them, 122-45.
  • Illinois also held a 11:04-3:56 edge in time of possession over Kansas in the final period.
  • The Illini went 4-for-6 on third down in the quarter, while holding the Jayhawks to a 1-for-3 mark.
• The Illinois defense has recorded at least two interceptions in each game this season and in three-straight overall dating back to 2023.
  • Forced Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels into his first-career three-interception game.
  • The Illini defense also forced four turnovers for the second-straight game.
• Illinois now leads Kansas, 4-3, in the all-time series between the two programs.
  • The Illini have gone 4-1 in games played at Memorial Stadium.
• The attendance at tonight's game was 60,670, the first sellout of the season and the first since Sept. 10, 2016, vs. North Carolina.
  • First win in a sellout since Nov. 1, 2008, vs. Iowa (27-24).
  • First win in a sellout against a non-conference opponent since Sept. 6, 1986, vs. Louisville (23-0).

Player Notes

• QB Luke Altmyer completed 16 of his 25 passes for 192 yards.
• WR Zakhari Franklin caught nine passes for 99 yards.
  • Both are career-high marks at Illinois.
• WR Pat Bryant caught three passes for 70 yards.
  • Has at least one reception in 14-straight games.
• RB Ca'Lil Valentine rushed eight times for 25 yards.
  • Both are career-high marks.
  • Had a 10-yard rush on third-and-6 with 2:32 remaining in the fourth quarter to extend the Illini's drive which resulted in David Olano's 43-yard field goal.
• DB Xavier Scott recorded his first-career pick six and his first-career two-interception game.
  • Also forced a fumble on the final play of the game.
  • Has three-career interceptions against Kansas.
  • His first interception came in the first quarter on Kansas' opening drive.
  • His second interception, a pick six, came with 36 seconds left in the second quarter and gave Illinois a 13-10 lead.
    • First Illini with an interception return for a touchdown since Miles Scott on Nov. 25, 2023, vs. Northwestern.
    • First Illini with a two-interception game since Sydney Brown and Devon Witherspoon each had two picks at Northwestern on Nov. 22, 2022.
  • Recorded a game-high eight solo tackles.
• DB Miles Scott recorded his second interception and the fourth of his career in the third quarter.
  • Has recorded a pick in three-straight contests.
• K David Olano made all three of his field goal attempts.
  • Made a career-long 50-yard field goal in the second quarter.
  • His 43-yard field goal in the fourth quarter with 58 second remaining gave the Illini a six-point lead. 

QUOTES

Head coach Bret Bielema

Opening statement:
"I just want to say thank you to anybody and everybody that came here tonight and put that stadium into a level that I've never seen before. I'd make a reference that I've seen the stadium pulse, but I was a visitor on the other sideline. To see it cheering on our program I thought it was a great moment, not just for our players but the fans too. I can't say thank you enough to that, Barry and the band, to all the things that went on, all the administration, all the things that this brought about are made possible by everyone. I can't say thank you enough."
 
"I want to thank our players. I told them after the game anything in your life that you get isn't worth it if someone just gives it to you. It really means a lot more when you work for it and put a lot of energy and work into it at the end of the night. We gave a lot of credit to Aaron Henry and the defensive staff. They took a very dynamic offense that led the country in a lot of different categories last year. A very dynamic player too, we made some halftime adjustments and some game plan decisions that worked very well."
 
"Miles Scott and Xavier Scott, the new Scott and Scott law firm or whatever we want to call them. They're very productive, opportunistic, very intelligent and very impressive guys. I thought our offense was opportunistic, obviously some things we're going to have to clean up. Luke and the connection that he has with Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin is very real and very fun to watch. I'm proud of Zakhari, he had the fumble early and responded the way he did. Even with his false start, he said, 'coach that's on me' and took responsibility and made a couple huge plays."
 
"It's fun to see that many running backs get into the ball game. I know it's hard to rotate four guys, but it's impressive. It was tough sledding for those guys for a bit and then we cleaned up some things. I'm happy for David Olano, he hit three plus field goals, that 50 yarder into the wind was really impressive. This was a whole team effort, we talked about playing complimentary football and setting the standard going down to that last drive to get that field goal. The defense was in Quatro the entire time until the last minute we knew they had all four downs and no timeouts the whole time. The last play execution was great to get the pressure on him and knock the ball out. It seemed like an eternity watching it, but when that ball came loose, I was excited."

On what this win means:
"There's a lot of positives. We have more recruits here, committed players and guys that we've offered than any other time we've been here. To go out there and play the way that we did, make it a four-quarter game and at the end have that environment and celebration is a memorable thing. You just can't replace moments. I remember being in an environment with this in the past and some other places I've been. I've been waiting for this moment. My biggest win was obviously ranked Penn State on the road. This is the biggest home win since 1995 here, so it was a long time coming, but we must build on this now."

On their mindset coming into the game:
"I told our coaches and players 'when we win this game' several times today and throughout the week. I spoke to them Thursday; I just had a feeling that we were going to match up really well. I liked our demeanor, I thought our game plan was good, and I liked the matchups. This is a very good football team from a year ago. We've been preaching about having rematch games, I wanted our coaches and players really locked into that. I felt good about this game coming into it and it was fun to watch it play out."
 
On the difference in his defense from a year ago:
"I would say three things. They're extremely intelligent, whatever you tell them they literally regurgitate everything we ask them to do. I think what has also happened is playing good defense is understanding what your weaknesses are. Offensive coaches look for your weaknesses and attack your flaws. A year ago, in this game that's what Kansas did. I think our awareness of making game plan adjustments around that has been really good. I like our defensive staff and the way they build relationships with our players. The third thing is they just play with an edge to them. Everything they do there's an edge to them and they're playing extremely clean."

Xavier Scott

On last year's game and how it reflected today's game:
"We've talked about this game all week. We knew that we needed to step up this year and we knew the mistakes we made last year. We didn't want to focus on the past but rather look at the future. This is a very different team from last year, our guys on defense played a great game. It was a tough game all the way to the end, and we came out successful."
 
On his takeaway from the game:
"Don't miss the ball. Just play hard from the frontend to the backend. Put pressure on the quarterback and make his clock speed up. I really appreciate the guys up front putting that pressure on the quarterback and making him think a little bit."

Miles Scott

On how this win helps them prepare for next week:
"It definitely helps with momentum, but we understand that we can celebrate this win tonight. Then tomorrow we start focusing on Central Michigan. We can't get too high, and we can't get too low. We just keep moving one day at a time."
 
On the difference turnover wise with defense this year:
"We're creating them more consistently. We've only had eight turnovers within the past two games and it's complimentary for our offense and defense. It's the emphasis we have in practice and taking the ball away. Last year, this emphasis wasn't there, but this year it was everything throughout fall camp. Now it's showing up in games."

Luke Altmyer

On the fans storming the field:
"I didn't think about it honestly. I knew that the game was going to be sold out and the possibility of them storming the field would be so cool. It didn't really matter if they were going to storm the field or not, at the end of the day it's our job to play well. However, it will be something I will always remember."
 
On the final drives:
"The coaches put us in a good position, but it was up to us to go through with those plays. Our backs were against the wall, and we knew that we needed to go out there and make stuff happen."

Zakhari Franklin

On what changed with the offense in those final couple drives:
"We practice a lot of those situations.  We just trusted in our training, and we executed."

On what this win can do for the team as the year goes on:
"I think it could do a lot.  We're going to watch the film and flush it. On to the next opponent."