CHAMPAIGN, Ill. --Â Illinois fell to Wisconsin, 25-21, at Memorial Stadium on Saturday evening. The Badgers scored their game-winning touchdown with less than one minute left.
Kaden Feagin, making his second consecutive start, put together a career-best day, amassing 24 carries for 97 yards and registering the second touchdown of his career. Feagin became the first Illini true freshman to start at running back in back-to-back games since 2017.
Luke Altmyer tallied a career-high 100 yards on the ground as the Illini totaled 223 rushing yards as a team, a new season-high. Altmyer also recorded 100 yards through the air and two passing touchdowns.
Tanner Arkin registered a touchdown reception in the first quarter, which marked the first score of his college career and his first catch as an Illini. Tip Reiman made his second touchdown catch of the season on a 3-yard grab just before halftime.Â
AP Midseason All-American Jer'Zhan Newton had a huge game with eight quarterback pressures (by PFF), 1.0 sack, and his first forced fumble of the season, which set up Illinois' first touchdown. Newton was ejected in the fourth quarter in a game-defining play prior to Wisconsin taking the lead. On what appeared to be another sack, Newton was called for targeting on a controversial call. Wisconsin proceeded to drive down the field and cut the deficit to three with a touchdown eight plays later. Newton's eight quarterback pressures led the Big Ten during Week 8 and were the most pressures in the nation among defensive tackles this week.
Illinois will take its bye week next weekend before returning to action on Nov. 4 against Minnesota away from home.
PRESS CONFERENCE
TEAM NOTES
- Illinois rushed for a season-high 223 yards…most rushing yards in a game since running for 258 yards on Aug. 27, 2022, vs. Wyoming.
- First 200-yard rushing performance against a Big Ten opponent since Oct. 15, 2022, vs. Minnesota.
- The 12-play, 7:53 scoring drive in the second quarter was the longest touchdown drive of the season for the Illini in both plays and time of possession.
- The Illini defense held the Wisconsin offense to a 51.2 percent completion percentage, the fifth time this season the Illinois defense has held an opponent's passing attack to a sub-60 percent completion percentage.
- Today's attendance was 54,205. It's the largest Memorial Stadium Crowd of the season and the most since Nov. 5, 2022, vs. Michigan State.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Junior DT Jer'Zhan Newton had eight quarterback pressures, six tackles (4 solo), 1.0 sack, 1.0 tackle for loss, and one forced fumble.
- Newton was the highest rated player in the nation (all positions) during Week 8 according to PFF (95.1)
- Led the Big Ten in quarterback pressures with eight during Week 8, while playing defensive tackle
- Most quarterback pressures in the nation during Week 8 among defensive tackles
- Most quarterback pressures by a defensive tackle in any Power-5 game this season
- Forced fumble to set up Illinois on the 46-yard line, leading to the Illini's first touchdown of the game
- 95.1 PFF grade is the best single game by any defensive player in the nation this season (min. 25 snaps)
- 95.1 PFF grade is the best single game by any Big Ten defender since 2019 (min. 25 snaps)Â
- Sophomore QB Luke Altmyer completed 13 of his 21 passes for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. Altmyer also rushed 16 times for 100 yards.
- Has back-to-back games with two passing touchdowns…three total on the season.
- First Illini QB with a 100-yard rushing game since Isaiah Williams on Dec. 19, 2020, at Penn State.
- First time in his career with 100 yards both passing and rushing…first Illini QB to perform the feat since Isaiah Williams on Dec. 19, 2020, at Penn State.
- First QB to rush for 100 yards against Wisconsin since 2012 (Taylor Martinez, Nebraska).
- Freshman RB Kaden Feagin rushed 24 times for 97 yards and one touchdown.
- Kaden Feagin is the first Illini true freshman to start at running back in back-to-back Big Ten games since Ra'Von Bonner in 2017.
- Feagin is the ninth true freshman running back in Illini history to start multiple games, joining Robert Holcombe (6, 1994), Ke'Shawn Vaughn (5, 2016), Jason Ford (5, 2008), Rocky Harvey (5, 1998), Wagner Lester (4, 1989), Mike Epstein (3, 2017), Ra'Von Bonner (3, 2017), Mark Dismurke (3, 1978) since starters began being tracked in 1975.
- Set career-high marks in carries and yards.
- Junior WR Isaiah Williams caught 4 passes for 16 yards.
- Has at least one catch in all 32 games since he switched from QB prior to the start of the 2021 season, the longest active streak in the Big Ten and tied for the 9th-longest active streak in the nation.
- Has at least three catches in 22-straight games.
- Williams now has 1,811 receiving yards in his Illini career, moving him into ninth in program history…passed Malik Turner (1,804) during today's game.
- Sophomore TE Tanner Arkin caught 1 pass for 1 yard and 1 touchdown.
- His touchdown reception in the first quarter was the first catch of his Illini career and the first touchdown of his career.
- Sophomore DB Xavier Scott had a game-high 3 passes broken up.
QUOTES
Opening statement:
"Obviously, this is a very tough one to swallow. I give a lot of credit to the fans. The Homecoming crowd out there today was absolutely awesome. I really thought we did enough to win this game with our preparation; the guys were into it and locked in. I really thought offense, defense, and special teams, I felt good about the plan coming in. We had a lot of guys stepping into new roles, new opportunities.
"I thought on offense, we got Kaden more involved in the game. Luke continued to do good things in the creative department with his legs. He did a lot of different things and got a couple guys involved offensively in the pass game.
"Defensively, we had a few guys get back healthy, but we have been paper-thin a couple times at certain positions. The flow of the game was very frustrating. One thing we have now is a bye week to gather our thoughts. We have a four-game schedule. We have all Big Ten teams in front of us. We obviously have to take it one game at a time."
