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No. 21/23 Michigan State 49, Illinois 14

October 11, 2003 * Champaign, Ill. * Memorial Stadium

Illinois Post-Game Notes

1. Illinois' 158 rushing yards were the most by a Michigan State opponent this season. The previous high against the Spartans was Indiana's 117 rushing yards last Saturday. The 158 yards were the highest rushing total for the Illini since their 254 yards on the ground against Illinois State on September 6.
2. All five of Mark Kornfeld's receptions today resulted in first downs. He had a 21-yard catch in the first quarter, a 10-yard TD reception (also a first down) on the first play of the second quarter, a 13-yard catch at the end of the second quarter, a six-yard catch in the third quarter and a 16-yard catch in the fourth quarter. On the season, 22 of Kornfeld's 27 receptions (81 percent) have been for first downs.
3. With 65 rushing yards in the first quarter, Illinois registered more rushing yards than MSU's first three opponents had for the entire game (Western Michigan-6, Rutgers-2, Louisiana Tech-61).
4. Illinois quarterback Jon Beutjer threw his 31st career touchdown pass when he connected with Mark Kornfeld on a 10-yard strike in the second quarter. He moves to seventh on the all-time touchdown pass list, tying Jeff George's 31 TDs from 1988-89. Beutjer also had 27 pass attempts to improve his career total to 584, which also is seventh on the career list.
5. Illinois' second drive was a 15-play, 92-yard drive that lasted 8:19 en route to a touchdown. That ranks as Illinois' longest drive of the year both by yards and by time of possession.
6. With 75 rushing yards today, freshman E.B. Halsey moved into fifth place on the Illinois freshman rushing list with 464 yards on the season.
7. With a six-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter, Halsey has now scored at least one touchdown in each of the last four games. He score two touchdowns against both California and Wisconsin, and has had one in each of the last two weeks vs. Purdue and Michigan State.
8. Redshirt freshman Chris Pazan set career highs in pass completions, attempts and yards by connecting on 7 of 11 passes for 67 yards. He threw his first career touchdown pass on a six-yard strike to Halsey in the fourth quarter. In addition, he had a career long completion of 16 yards to Mark Kornfeld, eclipsing his previous long of 14 yards, set last week at Purdue. In his only other action as an Illini, Pazan was 5-5 for 46 yards last week against the Boilermakers.
9. By connecting on both extra point attempts this afternoon, PK John Gockman extended Illinois' consecutive streak of made extra points to 185. Gockman is now 14-14 on PATs in his career.