CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Fighting Illini brought another Big Ten matchup down to the wire but were unable to overcome visiting Rutgers in a 20-14 setback at Memorial Stadium. The passing game led the Illinois offense as Brandon Peters returned to the starting quarterback role and threw for 199 yards and two touchdowns.
Illinois will be back on the road next weekend against Minnesota for an 11 a.m. kickoff.
Pass Game Improves
After being in and out of the lineup this season due to injury, Brandon Peters resumed the starting quarterback role against Rutgers and had his best performance of the year. In the first half, he completed touchdown passes to Isaiah Williams and Daniel Barker.
Peters completed a 52-yard dime to Williams early in the second quarter before throwing a 26-yard pass to Barker near the end of the half. The first touchdown marks Williams' longest catch as a receiver and the second score extended Barker's program record for career touchdown receptions by a tight (11).
Several Illini receivers got involved in the action; Williams and Barker led the way with 67 and 47 receiving yards, respectively. Casey Washington, Donny Navarro and Carlos Sandy each added a pair of catches.
Special Dad's Weekend for Hayes
It had been 650 days since Blake Hayes saw his family who resides in Australia. But on Thursday, Hayes' parents surprised their son at the Smith Center ahead of Illinois' annual Dad's Day weekend.
After being separated for over a year and a half, the Hayes family will be together in Champaign for six weeks, with their stay extending through Senior Day against Northwestern on Nov. 27.
Hayes wrapped up the exciting week with a strong outing against Rutgers which included landing three punts inside the 20-yard line. Two of his punts also traveled over 50 yards.
Highlights
Press Conference
Team Notes
- The Fighting Illini move to 3-6 (2-4 B1G) following Saturday's game vs. Rutgers (4-4, 1-4 B1G).
- The series between the Illini and Scarlet Knights now stands at 5-3 overall in Illinois' favor, and evens at 2-2 in games played in Champaign.
- The Fighting Illini defense held Rutgers to 20 points, the unit's sixth straight game allowing 24 or fewer points. It marks the longest such streak for the Illini program since an eight-game stretch that spanned the final five games of the 2002 season and the first three games of the 2003 campaign.
- Illinois captains: DB Tony Adams, OLB Owen Carney Jr., LB Jake Hansen, P Blake Hayes, OL Doug Kramer, OL Vederian Lowe.  Â
Individual Notes
- OL duo of Vederian Lowe and Alex Palczewski each made their 49th career starts on Saturday, breaking the Illini record previously held by QB Nathan Scheelhaase (2010-13), C Ryan McDonald (2005-08), and OL Tim Simpson (1988-91). Lowe has now started in 43 consecutive games.
- Illini C Doug Kramer also continues to climb the career starts list, making his 45th career start, now tied for 11th on the all-time list.
- QB Brandon Peters threw a season-most two touchdown passes. It is the eighth game of his career with multiple TD passes, including seven such games at Illinois at one as a redshirt freshman at Michigan in 2017.
- Peters' 52-yard touchdown pass to WR Isaiah Williams at the 10:13 mark of the second quarter was the longest pass completion of the season for the Fighting Illini. Williams finished with three receptions for 67 yards to lead the Illini in both categories.
- WR Casey Washington hauled in a career-long reception of 31 yards on the Illini's final drive of the first half. Washington finished with 34 yards on two receptions.
- TE Daniel Barker recorded 47 receiving yards and moved up to No. 6 on the Illinois career list for tight ends with 772 yards, eight yards behind No. 5 Jeff Finke (780 yards, 1988-90).
- LB Tarique Barnes led the Illini defense with 11 tackles, his third game of the season with double-digit tackles (12 vs. Wisconsin and 11 vs. UTSA).
- DB Sydney Brown recorded 10 tackles for the Illini defense, his second game of the year with double-digit tackles. His eight solo stops also matched a career-best total.
- DL Keith Randolph's nine tackles marked a career-most, surpassing his previous high of five set earlier this season vs. Wisconsin.Â
Quotes
Head coach Bret Bielema
Opening statement…
"Very discouraging, we wanted to play well at home. We have done really good things for a while but can't play a four-quarter game at home, so that will be our next challenge.
Give credit to Rutgers, I thought they took advantage. It was a bit of a punt fest out there and they capitalized on field position and took advantage when they were in the red area. Our defense continued to do good things, that last stand to hold them to a field goal and make it a touchdown and PAT game, but we weren't able to capitalize.
I thought the way we threw the ball in the first half; I knew they were going to load the box and prevent us from running the football, but they took advantage of it in the passing game. It's on me to get this group to play a four-quarter game, and we came out in the second half and laid an egg, and certain aspects we need to get better at, and that's all 100% on me.
We came out of the game pretty clean from an injury standpoint. Josh McCray was a little banged up and didn't know what he was able to do today. I thought Chase Brown continued to do some good things.
We're really excited to have that big play connection between Brandon Peters and Isaiah Williams, that's a connection I've been waiting to see happen and it did in a big way.
But I'm just utterly disappointed in our performance in the second half, and as head coach that's on me."
QB Brandon Peters
On the connection with Isaiah Williams…
"We ran the ball really well last week so that opened some things up in the pass game… I think Isaiah made a great play on the ball, and we just need to continue doing things like that to be successful in the Big Ten."
On what the season has been like for him…
"There has definitely been some highs and lows but through it all its always great to be around the guys and going out there and playing with them. This group of guys always makes it fun to go out there, same with our coaches. I'm super proud of what we have been through, and obviously our record doesn't show that, but even with the lows I'm super grateful for it."
LB Tarique Barnes
On losing momentum after not converting 1 yard…
"We're still out there and still sticking through. It can kill momentum, but that's where we come in and fight and keep pushing, keep going."
On what was the difference today…
"No loss is a good one, I'd say just go back to the drawing board. We have to learn to be consistent and deal with the highs and lows. We need to stay constant and produce the same thing week in and week out."
WR Isaiah Williams
On translating from practice to games…
"The biggest thing is just confidence, going out there with swagger. At the same time, having your guys make plays for you...having people make plays for you makes your job a lot easier."
On building consistency…
"It's a new week, we have to prove it again and that's the biggest thing. When we have a little bit of success, we have to use that as momentum and we didn't do that today."
Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano
Opening Statement
"That was a team victory I think, we went through some hot and cold spells. The kicking game was consistent throughout the day. I really think all three phases complimented each other- we were far from perfect, but that's what we said it was going to be."
"It was a tough, midwestern football game, you know it was cloudy and you really had to get dirty today in order to win. I think our guys just kept chopping every play. Can you sustain that and focus? That's the hardest thing."
On Noah Vedral's performance
"That's who he is. He's a tough, tough guy and a tough, tough competitor. He got knocked out of the game twice. The first time I didn't think he was coming back, but when he did, he executed at a very high level. The stuff that he does no one sees, no one knows about, getting himself right, getting us right is very valuable for a quarterback. I'm very, very inspired."
On Wimsatt's clutch conversion
"Yeah, it was a beautiful throw. He came in and avoided the rush and put it right on Bo [Melton's] chin. It was a big time play in a clutch situation."
