Nov. 11, 2006

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1. Pierre Thomas returned three kickoffs today for 92 yards, breaking the all-time kickoff return yardage record with 1,420 yards, breaking the former record of 1,383 yards by Clinton Lynch from 1990-93.

2. Juice Williams rushed for 145 yards against the Boilermakers, breaking both the single-season and career records for rushing yards by an Illini quarterback, now with 522 yards. The previous single-season record was 420 yards by Tim Brasic in 2005, and the previous career record was 516 yards by Fred Custardo from 1963-65. Williams has now rushed for over 100 yards twice this season (also had 103 yards at Michigan State, Sept. 30).

3. Illinois recorded 316 rushing yards, its second-highest rushing total this season (behind 345 rushing yards vs. Eastern Illinois on Sept. 2). The offense has now rushed for over 200 yards six times this season.

4. Illinois' 316 yards rushing today marks its highest total in a Big Ten game in 10 years, since rushing for 333 yards at Minnesota on Nov. 16, 1996.

5. With 105 yards rushing, Thomas improved to sixth on the all-time rushing list with 2,498 career yards.

6. With Williams rushing for 145 yards and Thomas rushing for 105, it marks the second time this season and the 16th time in school history that the Illini have had a pair of 100-yard rushers in a game. In the win at Michigan State earlier this season, Thomas had 110 yards rushing while Williams had 103 yards.

7. Thomas rushed for his 20th career touchdown, which moves him into the Illinois all-time rushing touchdown list at 10th.

8. Thomas has nine 100-yard rushing games for his career, which ranks third all-time for the Illini. Against Purdue today, Thomas averaged 10.5 yards per carry.

9. Thomas also had 197 all-purpose yards today to move him to second on the Illinois career all-purpose list with 4,296 yards.

10. J Leman had a game-high 13 tackles today, his 10th straight game leading the UI in tackles and marking his eighth game this season reaching double figures. Leman leads the Big Ten and ranks fourth nationally with 130 tackles on the season, an average of 11.8 per game.

11. Travon Bellamy recorded his second interception of the season and his career today. His return of 47 yards bests his previous return of 41 yards recorded against Wisconsin on Oct. 28.

12. Jason Reda made his 14th field goal of the season, the most in a single-season for Reda. He now has 34 made field goals in his career, which ties him for sixth all-time in school history with Neil Rackers.

13. Reda has now connected on nine consecutive field goal attempts over the last four games (4 at Penn State, 1 at Wisconsin, 1 vs. Ohio State and 3 vs. Purdue).

14. Williams scored the first rushing touchdown of his career on a 13-yard run in the first quarter.

15. Rashard Mendenhall scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the season on an 8-yard run. That score was set up by Pierre Thomas' 62-yard run, the second-longest run from scrimmage this season.

16. The 73 points in today's game is the highest combined point total of the Illinois-Purdue series. The previous high was 72 points, a 38-34 Illinois victory over Purdue on Oct. 9, 1982 at Memorial Stadium.