CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois returned to winning ways with a dominant 35-13 victory over Rutgers at sold-out Gies Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
In Illinois' fourth straight sellout, the Fighting Illini improved to 4-1 at home while moving to 6-3 overall with three regular-season games left on the schedule.
Luke Altmyer amassed 323 total yards (235 passing, 88 rushing), while posting a career-high five total touchdowns (4 passing, 1 rushing). Altmyer led the Illini on a 99-yard touchdown drive on its first possession by throwing for 66 yards on 7-of-8 passing and the Illini never looked back in a total team effort.
Altmyer's four touchdown passes went to four different receivers. Kaden Feagin made his second touchdown reception of the season in the first quarter, while Hank Beatty hauled in his third receiving touchdown of the year.
Hudson Clement registered his first receiving score as an Illini while tallying five catches for 84 yards, while Collin Dixon was the fourth different receiver to get into the end zone with his third-quarter catch.
Gabe Jacas highlighted the defense with 2.0 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss. He moved into sole possession of third place on the program's career sacks list.
The Illini finished with a season-most 210 rushing yards as a team while totaling 445 total yards of offense.
After the Illini defense forced the Scarlet Knights to punt on the visitors' opening possession, Illinois began its first drive on its own 1-yard line. Six minutes, 12 plays, and 99 yards later, the Orange and Blue found the end zone for the first time via a 7-yard receiving score from Feagin, marking the Illini's longest scoring drive since 2013. The touchdown put the hosts in front, 7-0, with just over four minutes left in the first quarter.
Rutgers cut its deficit to a single point via field goals on its next two drives before Illinois found the end zone once again. Altmyer accounted for 55 yards on the ground on the possession, capping the scoring drive with a 3-yard rushing touchdown to extend the Illini edge, 14-6, late in the second period of play.
Forcing another Scarlet Knight punt on the away side's next possession, the Illini drove 70 yards down the field in less than a minute to further add to their advantage. Altmyer found a wide-open Beatty for a 1-yard score, which sent Illinois into the break with a 21-6 lead.
The Orange and Blue finished the first half with 267 total yards of offense, nearly evenly split between the run and pass games. The Illini converted on all three of their trips to the red zone while going 4-for-5 on third-down conversions across the opening two quarters.
Just over four minutes into the third frame, Illinois scored its fourth touchdown of the afternoon on its first drive of the second half. The Illini converted on third down twice before Altmyer found Clement for an acrobatic 20-yard score to push the Illini edge to 28-6.
A Scarlet Knight three-and-out sent the Orange and Blue offense back to work, and they found the end zone yet again. Illinois capped off an 11-play, 65-yard drive with a 7-yard strike to Dixon on fourth down, ballooning Illinois' lead up to 35-6 with 3:25 left in the third quarter.
Rutgers ended a stretch of 28 consecutive Illinois points with a late touchdown, the final score of the afternoon. Â
Illinois will take its second bye week before hosting Maryland at Gies Memorial Stadium on Nov. 15 for its Military Appreciation Game. Kickoff time and broadcast information will be announced at a later date.
HIGHLIGHTS
PRESS CONFERENCES
POSTGAME NOTES
Team Notes
- Illinois is postseason eligible in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010-11.
- Illinois is postseason eligible three times in a four-year span for the first time since 1991-94.
- Illinois has 16 wins over the last two seasons, its most wins over a two-year period since 1989-90, when the Illini tied the program record for wins in a two-year period with 18 under John Mackovic.Â
- Most wins over a two-year period in Illinois history:
- 18 — 1989-90; 1902-03; 1901-02
- 17 — 1983-84; 1982-83; 1903-04
- 16 — 2024-25; 1988-89; 1950-51
- Illinois has 21 Big Ten wins in Bret Bielema's first five seasons at Illinois. It is Illinois' most Big Ten wins in a five-year period since winning 23 Big Ten games from 1990-94.
- Illinois has 29 wins over the last four seasons, its most wins over a four-year period since winning 30 games from 1988-91.
- Illinois' opening 99-yard touchdown drive was its first since Sept. 7, 2013, against Cincinnati.
- With the 445 yards of total offense today Illinois has eclipsed 400+ yards of total offense in five out of nine contests.
- The Illini's 210 rushing yards marked a new season-high.
- Illinois scored 28 consecutive points between the second and third quarters.
Player Notes
- Luke Altmyer tallied five total touchdowns while throwing for 235 yards and rushing for 88 yards.
- Luke Altmyer won his 20th game as Illinois' starting quarterback (20-10 record), the third-most wins by a quarterback in program history.
- His five total touchdowns are a new career-most
- Posted his sixth game this season with multiple passing touchdowns
- First Illini with five touchdowns since 2013Â
- Tied his career-high with four passing touchdowns
- Now has three career outings with four passing scores
- Recorded his third rushing score of the season and the 11th such score of his career
- Rushed for a season-best 88 yards
- Altmyer recorded his 16th game with multiple touchdown passes, tied for second by an Illini quarterback since at least 1995.Â
- 1. Kurt Kittner, 1998-2001 - 22
- T2. Luke Altmyer, 2023-Present - 16
- T2. Juice Williams, 2006-09 - 16
- 4. Nathan Scheelhaase, 2010-13 - 15
- Kaden Feagin recorded a receiving touchdown and rushed for 26 yards on seven carries
- Registered his second receiving touchdown of the season and the third of his career on his 7-yard score in the first quarter
- Marked the 13th total touchdown of his collegiate career
- Gabe Jacas registered two sacks while making four total tackles
- Recorded 2.0 sacks and to give him 22.5 for his career, third in program history.Â
- 1. Simeon Rice, 1992-95* - 44.5
- 2. Scott Davis, 1983-87 - 23.0
- 3. Gabe Jacas, 2022-Present - 22.5
- 4. Fred Wakefield, 1997-2000 - 21.0
- Hank Beatty hauled in four catches for 40 yards and a touchdown
- Marked his third receiving touchdown of the season (fourth of career) and fifth total touchdown of the season (sixth of career)
- Hudson Clement caught five passes for a team-high 88 yards and a touchdown
- Secured his first touchdown as an Illini on his 20-yard score in the third quarter
- Was the 10th receiving score of his career
- Finished with a season-high 88 receiving yards on his five catches
- Collin Dixon notched two catches for 36 yards and a touchdown
- Recorded his fifth receiving touchdown of the seasonÂ
- Has now hauled in a receiving touchdown in three straight games
Quotes
Opening Statement:
"First, I want to say thank you to the crowd for having our fourth sellout in a row. I knew it was going to be a little late arriving crowd with the 11 o'clock game and it was a little chilly. But I looked up in the middle of that first quarter and saw an atmosphere that our guys are getting used to playing in and I think they took that to heart. This week I challenged them to do what we must do to have home field advantage, and I thought they did a great job in preparing.'
'Offense, defense, and special teams Rutgers provided some unique challenges in what they do. Greg and his crew from a special teams standpoint create a lot of different issues and problems, but I thought our guys executed well. Offensively, Barry and his crew let Luke have those moments with four different guys catching touchdown passes shows the depth and ability of that group. Hudson Clement is a guy on Thursday we were sitting in our staff meeting and Stepp said that he thought he had his best week of practice. I think that showed up out there today. I grabbed him and Ashton Hollins before the game today and told them I enjoyed watching them practice this week.'
'Defensively, I give a lot of credit to Aaron and our players to answer the bell against the Big Ten's leading passer. There are some good things they have done prior to today but I thought our guys were aggressive all day. We put them in a couple fourth downs, and I thought it was fitting to come down there at the end with a nice pass breakup to walk off the field. It was an awesome feeling.'
'I'm super excited for our program with this bye week coming at a good time to take this week to take a deep breath and get some of our guys healthy. Then we'll get ready for the three-game stretch with Maryland here at home will be a fun way for us to kick off after the bye week. Hopefully change the results from bye week one to bye week two in that regard. We'll take some time to do what we must do to get on track."Â
On his defense today:
"Two things I thought we played some man and showed some cover two and Rutgers came out very diligent in what they do. Their offensive coaches were successful in converting some of those third and mediums. Â But I thought Aaron Henry and our crew played a little bit of three down early which I think kept them off rhythm. Then we had them in some fourth down scenarios, I know they converted that one fourth and three early, but for the most part we got off the field on third and fourth down for a good part of the game.'
'I give a lot of credit to Cory and Aaron we talk about contesting the ball and knew what routes were going to be. I thought overall we were aggressive in our play calling and the way we played. On Friday nights I usually have a plan during the week. I will show them games that were similar, so they played at Purdue, Â at Minnesota and at Washington. I also showed them the USC game because I know USC is a good football team and I look at the way we played that game. I know it was a walk-off field goal, but we left two touchdowns on the board. I showed them six plays from that game just how our guys were flying to the football playing with high energy getting our crowd pumped up and in the game. I wanted them to go to bed with the ability to know they are a good football team and have played against good teams and have won. I think that materialized today.Â
On the offensive success:
"Luke was very effective with his feet today and when you have a quarterback that does that it limits what you can do defensively. I think that's a huge part of it and the offensive line giving him time. When you protect the passer and throw the ball accurately good things happen. There was a good play design where Hank got flat on that touchdown and that was 100 percent Barry. Barry knew right away to go to that play call immediately and when he speaks with that intensity usually we have good results. So, when I hear that in the headset it makes me smile because I know good things are coming."
On the fans:
"I promise you when I saw that crowd out there today, I thought it was amazing. To see all the seats filled is an awesome feeling. I know the game kind of wore on and wasn't too crazy down the stretch. But hopefully next game we can get it full again because I want to do something to thank all the fans with their continued support of our program."
On running the ball more and how it's helped get him in rhythm:
"A little bit, yes. It's always good to feel like you're in the game, getting hit a little bit. I play a lot of football, so it's easier for me to get into a flow kind of early just because I understand the speed of the game, how things work. It's good to be able to feel like you're a part of the game in that way, to be able to feel a shot or two early. It helps, for sure. A quarterback run is an effective play to be able to affect the perimeter and play off numbers and leverage. To add extra hat in the run game with myself, and that's just the reality of the situation. Credit to Coach Lunney for keeping things up and having a good thing going there. I'm excited to keep on doing that and use my abilities that God's given me to be the best, so those are fun moments to be able to break explosive runs."
On being bowl eligible again this season:
"Yeah, it's cool to be able to play in the postseason, those are cool fun moments. Hopefully, we can get another win next week but keep on doing what we do. So it's cool, it's fun knowing that you keep on playing past the end of the regular season is always a good thing. I'm excited for our group, and we love to play. We're excited about it."
On the red zone efficiency today:
"Yeah, we're just hard to defend. We do different things with the center and mixing of personnel, play action, downhill run, using our weapons in different ways and different situations. It's hard for teams to catch our tendencies. Coach does a good job of mixing it up, whether it's a direct run or play action or an exotic trick play. We have a lot of confidence down there and I think during fall camp and spring ball our first couple of practices are in the red zone, so we get a lot of work down there. Using our abilities to maximize those points. We understand how important it is. We have a lot of things going on within our red zone plan, so we use them."
On his and Luke's chemistry improving:
"Yeah, for sure. You know, each week and each day in practice, we're building that and working towards getting better at it. I think today was just a little glimpse of it getting better, and we did pretty good today."
On his touchdown catch:
"It was a close catch. I mean, Luke put it in the one spot that the DB can't get to, so you know that's when I got to make a play right there. There was a little bobble, but I was glad that I was in and glad I made the catch for him. It was a great play."
On how Luke running affects the offense:
"Oh yes, that's electric. We aren't going to get open every time, so sometimes him being able to create space and run the ball is great for our offense to keep the ball moving."
On being aggressive on defense today:
"Being aware of the situation and knowing the play. From that being able to play your hardest and not sit back, worry or be anxious about what the offense might give us and give them problems as opposed to figuring out their problems."
On how the aggressive play style improved their play today:
"The experience for sure, but also the mentality that a lot of guys have. Having that defensive mentality that being aggressive is super important because it allows you to fly around. It allows you to be you, to be your best version, and I think it was a very positive turnaround for this week."
On how they shut out the outside noise this week:
"The outside does say a lot, ultimately, but it's been the same. Aaron's a great leader and we all believe in him, there's no second guessing when it comes to him. We all knew that we needed to play better. Whether from the top down, I'm sure he had things he felt that he could've done better, but so did every player. Every player did not play their best game last week. So, we all knew we needed to get better, and I think that was the emphasis going into this week."
On the nine pass breakups today:
"We emphasize on d-line. If you can't get back there, get your hands up.. A lot of guys bat the ball down and get their hands up so we just say, "hey let's do this" and, as you can see, a lot of balls were knocked down. We capitalize on that."
On the defensive preparation this week:
"I feel like the guys really wanted it this week. They wanted to get after it. I can tell in their preparation and the way they practice. The way we came up here and watched that extra tape. The way we're in the meeting rooms and doing the little things repeatedly, and I think that's one thing that we just didn't do in the past. We weren't doing the little things, and you can tell this week that we were doing the little things, and it made a difference."
On Coach Henry this week:
"Confidence. I feel like last week, he says wasn't his best week and being more aggressive, I feel like he's more aggressive in his game plan, and we executed. That's what it comes down to, is execution. If you don't execute, you can't win any games, and I feel like a lot of guys execute and do their jobs. You can see everybody was having fun out there and loved to dominate."
