Sept. 20, 2003

Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Quotes

1. 1. True-freshman E.B. Halsey scored his first career touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Jon Beutjer. He becomes the fifth different player to catch a TD for the Illini this season. In addition, Halsey set career-highs in receptions (7), receiving yards (93) and touchdowns (2). Halsey had six of his seven receptions and 83 of his 93 receiving yards in the second half alone.

2. Halsey's 88 kick return yards marked a career-high for the freshman, and Illinois' total of 91 kick return yards are a season-high.

3. Halsey's 43-yard kickoff return is the longest of the season for Illinois, and the longest since the 100-yard return by Eugene Wilson and Travis Williams vs. Purdue on Oct. 12, 2002.

4. Jon Beutjer's 72-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Hayden is the Illini's longest pass since Johnny Johnson's 73-yard TD pass to Jasper Strong vs. E. Carolina in the 1994 Liberty Bowl. The TD was also Beutjer's longest career pass, surpassing his previous career long of 51-yards vs. Michigan on Sept. 28, 2002.

5. Kelvin Hayden's 72-yard TD reception was the longest reception of his career, eclipsing his earlier career-long of 41-yards vs. Illinois State on Sept. 6. The touchdown was Hayden's third of the season.

6. Hayden also set a career high in receptions (11) and receiving yards (158), becoming the first Illinois receiver since Brandon Lloyd (161-yards vs. Purdue, Oct. 12, 2002) to have more than 150 yards receiving in a game. In fact, Hayden topped his previous career-bests in the second half alone, with 10 catches for 155 yards after the intermission.

7. Eric McGoey's 44-yard reception in the third quarter was his first of the year, and was his career-long, replacing his previous career-long reception of 32 yards vs. Northwestern Nov. 18, 2000.

8. Beutjer set a career-high of 430 yards passing, surpassing his previous career-best and the Memorial Stadium record of 426 yards set vs. San Jose State Sept. 21, 2002. It was his second career 400-plus yard passing performance. It also marked the seventh consecutive game in which Beutjer surpassed the 200-yard barrier dating back to the Wisconsin game Nov. 9, 2002.

9. Beutjer's 57 pass attempts give him 493 for his career, moving him into ninth on the all-time career list, 14 behind Mike Wells, who is eighth with 507 career pass attempts.

10. Beutjer's 35 completions and 57 attempts were both career highs, eclipsing his previous career-best marks of 31 completions (vs. Missouri, Aug. 30, 2003) and 49 attempts (vs. Michigan, Sept. 28, 2002). In the second half alone, Beutjer was 30-46 passing for 375 yards and two scores.

11. Beutjer's three TD passes marked the fifth time in his career he has had at least three TD passes in a game, and was the most since his four TD performance vs. Illinois State Sept. 6.

12. Steve Weatherford's punting average of 47.5 yards on six punts marked the third consecutive game he has averaged over 45 yards per kick since becoming the starter vs. Illinois State Sept. 6.

13. Mark Kornfeld's seven receptions were a career-high, surpassing his old career-best of six receptions set last week vs. UCLA.

14. Illinois' third-down conversion percentage was 57% (13-23), marking the third time this season the Illini have converted at least 50% of their third-downs. California's third-down conversion percentage was 38% (5-13), marking the third time this season the Illini defense has held its opponent to under 40% on third down conversions.

15. Illinois marched down and scored a TD on its opening drive for the first time since Oct. 26, 2002, when the Illini scored on their opening drive vs. Indiana.

16. After totaling only 97 total yards in the first half, the Illini torched the Cal defense for 399 total yards in the second half. UI's 496 total yards for the game is the team's highest output this season and is the most since the Illini rolled up 504 yards vs. Wisconsin on Nov. 9, 2002.

17. Senior linebacker Winston Taylor had a career day, totaling 16 tackles,, 11 solo, with one sack and a forced fumble.

18. Freshman Alan Ball saw significant action, recording eight tackles and one pass broken up.