CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS – Illinois (5-1, 2-1) defeated Iowa (3-3, 1-2), 9-6, on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.
A tie game at 6-6 at halftime went Illinois’ way with a winning fourth quarter wild goal.
Illinois’ win snapped Iowa’s eight-game winning streak in the series. It was the Illini’s first win over Iowa since 2008.
The 15 combined points scored are the lowest in the series since 1948 – a 14-0 Illinois win.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
TE Sam LaPorta made a career-high nine catches for 107 yards. It is his second career 100-yard receiving game (7-122-1 TD vs. Kentucky in Citrus Bowl).
WR Nico Ragaini made his 100th career catch with a 15-yard completion in the second quarter. Ragaini made seven catches for 46 yards in the game, giving him 104 career receptions for 1,125 yards.
RB Leshon Williams tied a career-long with a 21-yard rush in the third quarter. He was Iowa’s leading rusher with 32 yards on seven attempts.
LB Jack Campbell had 13 tackles, his fourth game with 10+ tackles this season and the ninth of his career. He has had eight or more tackles in all six games this season. Campbell is now tied for 38th place on the all-time tackles list with 240.
DB Quinn Schulte tied a career high with nine tackles and had his second career interception.
DL Noah Shannon finished with a career-high eight tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss, and DL Logan Lee tied a career-high with eight tackles.
K Drew Stevens went 2-for-3 on field goal attempts, converting from 32 and 27 yards (and missing from 45 – his first career miss). Stevens is 6-for-7 on field goal attempts this season.
OL Tyler Elsbury made his first career start.
MISCELLANEOUS
The Hawkeyes drove 59 yards over 10 plays on their first drive, leading to Drew Stevens’ 33-yard field goal. It is the team’s longest game-opening drive of the season, and it is the second time Iowa scored points on its first drive (Iowa State).
Iowa forced three turnovers in the game – on consecutive possessions in the second quarter and a fourth-quarter interception. They were the team’s eighth, ninth and 10th forced turnovers this season.
Illinois muffed a punt and Jack Campbell recovered the fumble (his third career fumble recovery.)
DB Riley Moss forced a fumble on WR Isaiah Williams (his second career forced fumble) and LB Seth Benson recovered (his first career fumble recovery) at the Illinois 5.
DB Quinn Schulte notched his second career interception (at Maryland, ’21) on second-and-goal from the 4.
Iowa turned the three turnovers into three points.
Iowa’s fourth quarter interception was the team’s first turnover since Week 2 against Iowa State.
Iowa won the toss and elected to defer. The Hawkeyes have played 294 games under head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa has opened the game on offense 216 times (138-78). The Hawkeyes have opened the game on defense 78 times (43-35).
INSTANT REPLAY
Illinois catch and fumble (confirmed)
Targeting on Illinois (not confirmed)
Illinois fumble (overturned)
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes are idle on Oct. 15. Iowa returns to action Oct. 22 at Ohio State.
