CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Despite a strong start on both sides of the ball, Illinois fell to the No. 19 Hawkeyes at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, 35-21. Illini starting quarterback Brandon Peters finished the game with 10 completions for 116 yards and two touchdowns.
OFFENSE SETTING THE TONE EARLY
Illinois got off to a hot start against the Hawkeye defense, opening up the game with 14 unanswered points. Brandon Peters completed 8 of 11 passes for 101 yards and two touchdowns in the first half as the Illini went into the locker room with a one-point lead.
On their first drive of the game, the Illini offense went 70 yards on nine plays capped off by a 24-yard touchdown reception by Daniel Barker, his first of the season. The Illini would also score early in the second quarter as Peters hit Josh Imatorbhebhe on a perfect throw and catch to extend the lead.
IMATORBHEBHE CIRCUS CATCH
Wide receiver Josh Imatorbhebhe made back-to-back incredible catches during the Illini's second scoring drive of the game. Imatorbhebhe would finish the afternoon with four catches for 48 yards and a touchdown.
QUARTERBACKS COMBINE FOR THREE TDS
Illini quarterbacks Brandon Peters and Isaiah Williams went a combined 17-35 with 199 yards and three touchdowns. Williams entered the game during the fourth quarter and provided a bit of a spark to the Illini offense, completing seven passes for 83 yards and a touchdown.
SENIOR DAY
Illinois honored 33 seniors before Saturday's game, including 12 starters. Prior to the start of the 2020 season, the NCAA approved a blanket waiver for all athletes to compete this fall without using a year of eligibility, giving current seniors the choice to return for the 2021 season.
NOTES
• Today was tied for the latest regular season game in Illinois football history. Illinois and Fresno State also played on Dec. 5 in 2009.
• Illinois is 38-36-2 all-time against Iowa, including a 20-10 record at home.
• Illinois honored 33 seniors prior to the game.
• Illinois has an all-time record of 46-62-2 on Homecoming.
• Illinois captains: LB Jake Hansen, P Blake Hayes, CB Nate Hobbs, C Doug Kramer, QB Brandon Peters.
• Illinois started an all-Illinois offensive line of LT Vederian Lowe (Rockford, Ill.), LG Kendrick Green (Peoria, Ill.) , C Doug Kramer (Hinsdale, Ill.) RG Verdis Brown (Chicago, Ill.), RT Julian Pearl (Danville, Ill.).
• Illinois started six transfers - RB Chase Brown, LB Milo Eifler, WR Brian Hightower, WR Josh Imatorbhebhe, QB Brandon Peters, DL Roderick Perry II.
• Seven of Illinois' 22 starters against Iowa have 20+ starts: , OT Vederian Lowe (38th), OL Kendrick Green (33rd), LB Jake Hansen (28th), DB Sydney Brown (26th), CB Nate Hobbs (35th), DB Tony Adams (25th)
• Senior LT Vederian Lowe started for the 32nd straight game.
• Junior OL Kendrick Green started for the 33rd straight game.
QUOTES
Lovie Smith
"Disappointing of course not to get the win, especially after you get off to a good start like that. Have to give Iowa a lot of credit, they hung on early on, established themselves late, really from the end of the second quarter on. Offensively, of course when you get a quick 14 points on the board that's a good thing, but we weren't able to get a lot going after that. It felt like we needed to do something a bit different at the end so we put Isaiah [Willams] in and I feel he gave us a spark. Defensively, I thought we started off pretty good, but [we] weren't able to maintain it. Injury wise, we took a few of them, especially on the defensive side of the football. Jamal Woods, Nate Hobbs, Kahlan Tolson… those hurt us. But anyway, disappointing. We'll go back and try to play better next week against Northwestern. I'll take your questions."
After going up 14 [to] nothing, what do you think changed the most for your team, giving up 35 unanswered points?
"Couldn't stop them defensively, couldn't score on offense. Pretty simple. You know what happened. Believe me, we were trying to stop them, we were trying to score. Momentum shifted, you have to give them a lot of the credit."
Lovie, you kind of mentioned it there, but injuries, how much do you think that played a role in your defense's performance, especially in the last three quarters?
"I don't think you even need to talk about injuries when you lose and give up yards and points like that. I mean everyone saw the game. We did lose some guys. Defensive players were out. Some key guys were out. When that happens other players have to step up and that didn't happen tonight."
And then obviously 14-0 lead after the previous games you've had, how do you feel about where your team is at and how do you rebound from that or learn from this?
"Oh well I think we made a lot of progress. I know the final score, I know what that says but, there are some reasons why that happened. We don't have a choice, we play our rival next week. So we'll bounce back, disappointed for the day. We'll bounce back for next week."
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RB Chase Brown
You had a good performance, can you talk about what gives you the fight for the extra yard as a tough runner?
"That started in high school, finishing plays and falling forward is a part of me. An extra yard is better than no extra yards."
What has it been like playing with the seniors?
"They are really important to this team. I just wanted to send these seniors out in a positive way, that's what homecoming is all about sending the seniors off the right way. We will miss them all."
What happened to the running game after the first quarter?
"They made good adjustments, I don't think we hurt ourselves. Iowa is a tough defense and when you go up to a team like that you know it's going to be tough to run the football. We just need to finish better."
What did you think about Isiah Williams?
"He came in and made plays, made big throws. I don't think we could have asked for more from him."
How hard is it to get momentum back?
"We need to maintain energy, maybe we got too comfortable .When you're up, you need to step on their neck and finish them. We didn't put points on the board and that doesnt help the team at all."
What was going through your head up 14-0?
"Words can't describe how I was feeling, I was so happy, we were playing great. That's what the fans want to see, that's what we want to see. When we were up we needed to use that to our advantage. We just need to come back from this, we want to win, we want to be great."
How do you bounce back?
"Hopefully we look back and learn from this. That is the best we can do as a team and as individuals so that next week doesn't end like this."
What kind of team did you see going into this game?
"I see a good football team on a week to week basis. We had the mindset we would win, coming off a two game win streak where we have been playing great football."
Is it hard to look forward and talk about improving when there are so few games left?
"We are lucky to even play this year, we need to finish strong. I want to keep improving each week, I'm looking forward to playing a good Northwestern team."
What is different about this team vs other teams?
"This team has gone through something that is life changing. Our minds have been everywhere, this team is tough as nails. That's the big difference, we are all there mentally, we're all strong. This year has built character for this team."
On Isiah Williams' play
"He has juice and he's only going to get better as he builds experience. I'm proud of him."
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OL Doug Kramer
On Senior Day
"Obviously, it's senior day and it's a bit emotional. It's emotional playing in that stadium possibly for the last time. Yeah, the outcome was disappointing and we were off to a good start but we just didn't finish."
On emotions from coming off back-to-back wins
"Confident coming into the game , especially offensively. We felt good about the game plan that we had. Jumping off to the lead was great, but when the momentum swings you just gotta keep battling back. It didn't really happen for us."
On keys to getting over the hump
Going back to work, trusting the process, getting back to the grind really, think about this one, and get fired up for the next game.
On Mike Epstein being out
"Hurts when you have a guy out like that, that next man up mentality where guys are stepping up, and that guy was Reggie. When things are missing, you just gotta pick up and keep going."
