ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Illinois fell just short to No. 3 Michigan on the road at Michigan Stadium, 19-17, on Saturday afternoon. A last-minute Wolverine field goal proved to be the difference between the two sides.
Chase Brown recorded 140 rushing yards and two touchdown carries, eclipsing over 100 yards on the ground for a program-record 10th time this season and a joint-program-best 16th time in his career.
Casey Washington reeled in a team-high six catches for 53 yards, while Tommy DeVito completed 70% of his attempts for 178 yards.
The Fighting Illini defense held the Wolverines to four second-half field goals and zero touchdowns over the final 56 minutes in the narrow defeat. Michigan hit three field goals in the fourth quarter, including the game-winner with 0:09 left on a drive that was extended on a fourth-down conversion near midfield despite a controversial no call on offensive pass interference.Â
Illinois will close its 2022 regular-season slate in Evanston against in-state foe Northwestern next Saturday. Kickoff was announced for 2:30 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
Highlights
Press Conference
Quotes
Bret Bielema
Opening statement:
"First, give credit to Michigan. Did enough to win the football game. I also want to say thank you. Obviously, it's been a tough week for me emotionally, but I've had a lot of love and support in the Smith Center as well as the community, and I'm very appreciative of that. With that, I know our guys came up here with the challenge to play a good football team. I thought our guys answered the bell, rose up to the challenge. Extremely frustrated with some of the situations that occurred, especially in the second half. We'll double down, buckle up, have a good week of practice, and get ready to play against Northwestern and a rivalry game that means a lot here at the end."
On his emotions after the game:
"I'm extremely pissed off, just very angry, very upset. I think our kids did a lot to win the football game and continually got things to go against us. Very frustrating, and you gotta stand up for people that you believe in. I believe in that locker room big time, and I know they'll rise up to the challenge once again."
On the team's approach and takeaways from the game:Â
"I think our guys came here to win. It's what we came here to do. I said last year at the end of the year, I didn't come here to win five games. I'm very open about that. I didn't come here to lose to Michigan; came here to beat Michigan. For us now, we got to flip this one, learn from the moments."
On Chase Brown:Â
"Chase is phenomenal. A: He's a phenomenal football player, but his challenge ths week was to get healthy and he lived in that training room. I give our medical staff all the credit in the world."
On Casey Washington:
"Casey's been really impressive last month. I think he's playing his best football. Excited where he can be and what he can do in the future. Very strong receiver. I thought he caught the ball pretty well considering the conditions, so a lot of positives and things that we can build on for this week."
On next week's regular-season finale:
"Northwestern is obviously an in-state rival. It's a trophy game. There's a lot to play for. Obviously, an eight-win team would be really good for bowl-game perspectives and all that goes into it. You never know what's going to happen in the Big Ten West, so a lot of things out there to play for,, but I think our guys play for pride. I would guess that they're gonna go out, prepare, play, and have a lot of pride in your preparation for this week's game."
Sydney Brown
On the defense's response after the first drive:
"The first drive, you don't know what they're gonna throw at you. You practice stuff throughout the week, and they've got their own designers during the week, so they'll hit you and we adjusted. We came out strong in the second quarter. I'm proud of the guys for how they fought throughout. There's some stuff we need to clean up, especially on fourth down and even going into third-down packages and stuff. Just some communication calls, especially in the back end."
On bouncing back:
"We play to win. We didn't come here to just play Michigan; we came to beat Michigan. When there's that expectation, it's hard when it doesn't go your way. This is a really strong team. I trust everybody in that room. I love the staff. I love everybody here. I'm gonna give it my all until I can't be here for the University of Illinois. I'm proud of the guys and the way we fought. It's just about what we can do next week and how we move forward."
Chase Brown
On his performance:Â
"The guys played really well up front, and when the opportunity was there to make a play, that's my job."
On recovering from his injury last week:
"I'm thinking I just broke my ankle, but I found out I got away with a sprained ankle there. I knew all week that I had to attack it if I wanted to play in this one. They're a competitive team, and I didn't want to go out there if I didn't think I was gonna be able to at least be 95%. Each day, I kept on feeling better and better, and today, I made the decision to play. Tough turnout, but played hard."
Alex Palczewski
On the offensive success in the third quarter:
"We were just really quick on offense and imposed our will. It shows that we're able to do it and not have some self-inflicted wounds. It shows that we're very tough to beat, but we have to do that for four quarters. We just have to sustain that."
On Michigan:
"We're here to win games at the end of the day. Props to Michigan. They were able to find a way to win. We need four quarters. We can't do it for three. We can't do it for three quarters and 14 minutes. We have to do it for a full four quarters, be able to execute and not have any self-inflicted wounds to be able to win these games."
On Chase Brown:Â
"Words can't put into how much I love him as a person but as a player also. Every single day in the morning and nights, he's getting extra work, extra treatment, just to be able to make sure that he can be ready for this team so he can help us win. He's put in so much work, and I'm just so proud of him."
On Coach Bielema coaching the game:
"It meant a lot. It's a terrible situation. I can't imagine what he's going through but I'm so proud to have him as my coach."
"He obviously had a terrible thing happen to him but he was able to put on a strong face and be able to overcome it. Obviously it's still a terrible situation, but I love our coach. I love Coach B. I'll do anything for him."
Team Notes
- The seven first-half points allowed by Illinois was the fewest points scored by Michigan in any half this season.
- The Illini scored two touchdowns in the third quarter of today's game. Michigan came into the contest having not allowed a touchdown in the third quarter all season.
Illinois Notes
- Today's captains: WRÂ Isaiah Williams, LBÂ Tarique Barnes, DBÂ Sydney Brown, OLÂ Alex Palczewski.
- OL Alex Palczewski started for the 63rd time in his career, extending his Illinois and Big Ten record for career starts. Palczewski trails only Appalachian State's Thomas Hennigan (65, 2017-21) for the most starts in FBS history.
- RB Chase Brown rushed for 140 yards on 29 carries to go along with two touchdowns.
- Brown rushed for 100 yards for the 16th time in his Illini career, matching Robert Holcombe for the program record.
- It was Brown's 10th 100-yard effort of the season, the most in a single campaign in Illini history.
- Brown has rushed for two touchdowns in two-straight games and for the third time overall this season.
- Brown has now carried the ball 309 times this season, the most in a single season in program history.
- Brown was just the third player to rush for 140+ yards at Michigan in the last eight years, joining Ohio State standouts J.K Dobbins (2019) and Ezekiel Elliott (2015).
- QB Tommy DeVito completed 21 of his 30 passes for 178 yards.
- WR Casey Washington recorded career highs in receptions (6) and yards (53) in today's game.
- LB Isaac Darkangelo recorded a career-best 2.5 tackles for a loss.
- LB Seth Coleman broke up two passes in today's game, the second time this season that he has done so.
- DB Sydney Brown led the team with eight total tackles, five of which were solos.
- P Hugh Robertson recorded a career-best 64-yard punt.
Bowl Info
For the bowl game ticket information request form, click here.Â
