CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 23 Illinois defeated No. 21 USC, 34-32, on a Homecoming Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd at Gies Memorial Stadium.
Illinois (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) ran its two-minute drill to perfection, ending the game on David Olano's 41-yard game-winning field goal as time expired. USC (4-1, 2-1 Big Ten) had erased a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter and took a 1-point lead with 1:55 to go before Luke Altmyer and the Illinois offense stormed the Illini back to victory, Altmyer's national-leading sixth game-winning drive in the final minute or overtime over the last three seasons.
Altmyer did it all against the Trojans, recording 359 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns: one rushing, one receiving, and two passing. He is the first player to record a rushing, receiving, and passing touchdown in a Big Ten game since 2011 (Vincent Smith, Michigan vs. Minnesota).
Altmyer finished with 328 passing yards and completed 20 of his 26 passes, while adding 28 yards on the ground. His receiving touchdown, the first of his career, came off a pass from Hank Beatty on a third-down trick play in the second quarter.
Behind a strong performance from the Illinois offensive line, Kaden Feagin totaled 127 all-purpose yards. He highlighted the day with a 64-yard touchdown catch, his career-long reception and the Illini's longest passing play of the season.
Dylan Rosiek notched his first career interception in the third quarter and finished the game with six total tackles.
Illinois came out strong right out of the gate when Leon Lowery Jr. forced a fumble that bounced right to Jaheim Clarke to end USC's first drive of the game. Altmyer continued this momentum in the backfield, leading a 70-yard scoring drive capped off by a 12-yard Altmyer rushing touchdown to put the Illini on the board, 7-0.
After the Trojans responded with a touchdown of their own, the Illini fought back with a 75-yard drive highlighted by an 18-yard toe-tapping catch from Beatty. The drive was crowned by a double-reverse trick play, as Altmyer scored on a three-yard pass from Beatty. Not only was this the Altmyer's first-career receiving touchdown, but it was also Beatty's first passing touchdown.
The Trojans narrowed the deficit to 14-10 with a 21-yard field goal with just two seconds remaining in the first half. Olano responded with a 45-yard field goal just three minutes into the third quarter to make it 17-10 Illinois.
Rosiek snagged his first career interception on USC's next drive. Feagin caught a screen pass and took it to the house for a 64-yard touchdown, advancing the Illini lead to 24-10.
USC surged back at the end of the third quarter, as Waymond Jordan rushed for his second touchdown of the day, 24-17.
The Illinois offense kept fighting. After a 32-yard reception from Beatty, Altmyer connected with Bowick for a 25-yard touchdown to crack the 30 point threshold, 31-17. USC then took its first lead of the day with two consecutive touchdowns and a two point conversion from Makai Lemon, making the score 32-31 with just under two minutes remaining.
On the final drive of the game, Altmyer marched the Illini 51 yards down the field to put Olano 41 yards away from a game winning field goal. As time expired, Olano split the sticks giving Illinois its fourth win of the season, 34-32.
Illinois is back in action next weekend at Purdue. The game is scheduled to kick off at 11 a.m. CT on Big Ten Network.
HIGHLIGHTS
PRESS CONFERENCES
Postgame Notes
Team Notes:
- Illinois is 5-3 against AP Top 25 opponents over the last two seasons. From the 2008 Rose Bowl game through the 2023 season, Illinois went 3-40 against AP Top 25 teams.
- Illinois' 5-3 record against ranked teams over its last eight games is tied for the program's best eight-game run since 1951-53. It is tied for the second-best eight-game run vs. ranked opponents in program history.
- Illinois has beaten a ranked opponent in back-to-back seasons for the first time since an eight-year run from 1988-94.
- The Illini won a ranked-vs.-ranked game for the first time since #22 Illinois defeated #24 Michigan on Oct. 19, 2024, during the Rededication Game.
- Illinois has now earned ranked-vs.-ranked home wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 1990-91 campaigns.
- Bret Bielema is 7-8 against ranked teams as Illinois head coach. His .467 winning percentage against ranked teams is second-best in Illinois history, behind only John Mackovic (8-8, .500).
- Bielema's seven ranked wins as Illinois head coach is the third-most in Illinois history, behind only Ray Eliot's 23 ranked wins from 1942-59 and John Mackovic's eight ranked wins from 1988-91.
- The Illini scored a touchdown on their opening drive for the first time since Week 1 vs. Western Illinois.
- Illinois held USC to 10 first-half points, the Trojans' fewest in an opening half this season
- Today's attendance of 60,670 marked the 79th capacity crowd in Gies Memorial Stadium history.
- Illinois has won three straight games when selling out Gies Memorial Stadium (2024 Kansas, 2024 Michigan, 2025 Western Michigan).
- Illinois will have at least three consecutive sellouts for the first time since 2008, as the team's next home game vs. Ohio State (Oct. 11) is also sold out.
- Saturday marked the fourth home sellout under head coach Bret Bielema.
- The Illini are 4-0 in home sellouts during Bielema's time at Illinois.
- Illinois is now 11-4 in one-score games over the last three seasons (2023-25).
- The Fighting Illini recorded 502 total yards of offense in the game (331 passing, 171 rushing).
- First game with 500 yards of offense since Oct. 12, 2024, vs. Purdue (556 total yards).
- First time with 500 yards against a ranked opponent ranked in the AP Top 25 since Aug. 30, 2008, in a 52-42 defeat vs. No. 6 Missouri (532 yards).
Player Notes:
- Luke Altmyer registered four total touchdowns – two passing, one rushing, and one receiving – while throwing for 328 yards on 20-for-26 passing.
- First player to record a rushing, receiving, and passing touchdown in a Big Ten game since 2011 (Vincent Smith, Michigan vs. Minnesota).
- Last 24 games at Illinois: 424-661 (64.1%), 5,212 yards, 43 passing TDs, 9 interceptions, 7 rushing TDs, and has led Illinois to a 17-7 record.
- Registered his second rushing touchdown of the season and the ninth such score of his career.
- Made his second career reception and the first touchdown catch of his career.
- His 64-yard TD pass to Feagin equaled the longest passing completion of his career.
- Became the first Illinois QB to throw, catch, and rush for a touchdown in the same game since Kurt Kittner in the 1999 MicronPC.com Bowl.
- Has now led six game-winning drives in the final minute or overtime during his Illini career, the most in the nation during that span.
- Hank Beatty logged a team-high 81 yards on his six catches.
- Threw his first career pass for a 3-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
- Beatty is the first Big Ten player to record a passing TD, rushing TD, receiving TD, and punt return TD in a season since Michigan's Steve Breaston in 2003.
- Became the first Illini to do so since at least 1995.
- Kaden Feagin finished with 127 all-purpose yards and a touchdown.
- Hauled in a 64-yard touchdown catch-and-run, the Illini's longest passing play this season and the longest reception of his career.
- Tied a career-best mark with three receptions, including his second-career TD catch.
- Rushed for a team-leading 60 yards on 14 carries.
- Justin Bowick hauled in one pass for 25 yards and a touchdown.
- Recorded his fourth receiving touchdown of the season.
- Collin Dixon recorded four catches for a team-leading 90 yards.
- Tied career highs for receptions (4) and receiving yards (90), including a career-best with a 61-yard reception
- Leon Lowery Jr. tallied two solo tackles, a forced fumble, and a quarterback hurry.
- Posted the first forced fumble of his career, which came on the opening drive in the first quarter.
- Jaheim Clarke collected three tackles, a pass breakup, and a fumble recovery.
- Recovered his first fumble of the season and the second of his career.
- Made his 2025 debut after missing the first four games.
- Dylan Rosiek secured six tackles, three of which were unassisted, and an interception.
- Recorded first-career interception to halt USC's opening drive of the third quarter after the Illini took a 17-10 lead.
- Miles Scott led the Illini defense in tackles with 10 (seven solo), including one TFL.
- Set a new career high with 10 total tackles.
- Saboor Karriem recorded a career-high mark with nine tackles (six solo).
- Jojo Hayden recorded a career-most seven tackles (two solo).
- Tanner Heckel tied a career high with five tackles (three solo).
- Angelo McCullom tied his career high with three tackles.
- Andre Lovett Jr. recorded the first tackle of his Illini career.
- Amar Reynolds recorded the first tackle of his Illini career.
- David Olano made the game-winning 45-yard field goal as time expired.
- Went 2-for-2 on his field goal attempts, including his game-winning 41-yard make as time expired.
- Made kicks from 41 and 45 yards in the win.
QUOTES
Opening Statement:
"My dad got into his first game today. I wanted to make it an enjoyable four quarter game, but my wife does not like those games. I give credit to USC. They're a good football team, we knew we were going to have a tremendous challenge today. I thought our guys from last Saturday to today have responded internally and externally. It showed me a lot about who they were. The part that gave me satisfaction during this week is I know my roster better than anyone in the country right. I know who they are, what they represent, I knew how they would respond during the week, and I saw them hurt. I felt myself hurting but I knew we could respond and do well and I thought we played well today. I thought we did a good job of handling some things that happened during the game with some adversity and I'm excited about that.'
'Don't know much about some of the injuries. I know Matt Baily sustained a shoulder injury, but I think he'll be back with us sooner rather than later. It's good to get a lot of guys out there. I though Jaheim Clarke came in and did some nice things today. Including Jojo and Saboor you got three guys there that really haven't played a lot of football come in and make some tackles for us.'
'Our offense I can't say enough about Barry Lunney and all the offensive coaches. Bart Miller and the offensive line responded and did what they did to put up those numbers rushing and the adversity that Kaden and Ca'Lil faced as well. I grabbed Kaden at halftime, and I said hey man what's behind us is behind us, we must go forward. Then to see him rip off that screen pass and run away from some of those defenders. All 255 pounds of love from ALAH High School is absolutely awesome to watch that unfold."
On his team's response:
"That game last Saturday was so out of sorts. I let everyone Sunday has a moment and let things happen that day. I knew the one thing I could control; there's a million things I couldn't control this week. The one thing I could control this week is my mouth, my response, the things that I do, and I teach that. We teach that every day in our program. You can't control anybody else, but you can control you and what your response is going to be.'
'I said on Monday after all that stuff was taken care of, I pulled the group together and said this program wants to be a winning football team. A championship level team. Championships level teams do three things: they run the ball, defend the run, and cover kicks. I can't go over that every day, that must be a staple. That's part of who we are, it's like getting up every day and brushing your teeth. It's going to happen. It must happen and I thought that happened this week in our preparation. It was a mindset playing these guys. We knew we were going to play a certain type of style and instill our will. They had done somethings in pregame that I knew our guys were pretty riled up about.'
'I told these guys last night there's two things you can't buy in this world. You can't buy time; nobody can buy yesterday or look forward to tomorrow and you can't buy a reputation."
On Luke Altmyer:
"He's a gamer, what you see in practice translates to the game, he's incredibly resilient. Ethan, Carson, Art, Luke, and I all had a meeting yesterday about the end of half and end of game scenarios. Luke studies the end of half and end of the game and reports to all of us. Today when USC scored that touchdown, I knew we had a strong minute, and a half left on the clock with two timeouts. I said there's no one in this country I'd rather be on this field with than Luke Altmyer. I saw him present on Friday what he was going to do, and we ran the ball a little more than I thought we would on that last drive. That was a great indicator of what began to happen, and I think we wore down their will to get a nice win there."
On David Olano:
"David has been incredible since he got here. You want to talk about reputation the first time I saw him kick live and I saw the way that ball comes off his foot into the air and the sound of it. He's got a special leg. He doesn't miss in those moments. The part that was awesome during the week is he's the first kicker I let him call his shot. Where do you want to put it and he's usually stressing himself hard, but he loves that left middle spot. To have that play out the way it did perfectly there was no doubt in my mind that thing was going through. He said something in the locker room after that was amazing. He's a Columbian kid, hiis parents raised an unbelievable kid. He's got this personality and demeanor that's just awesome."
On if he was nervous for the final kick:
"Not really, no. I know that the team trusts me, I know that I trust the offense to go down there and get me in the position. In that moment, it's just another kick."
On what his preparation was during the final drive:
"Nothing different. Just kicking it into the net and just staying level-headed. It's just one of those things where you prepare for that moment for so long, and the kick, no matter the time, doesn't change the outcome of it."
On the emotions after the kick went through:
"It's unreal. You never want the game to come down to a kick, and obviously you know when it does, and you're able to execute, it's just a range of emotions I felt to be able to help the team. All the sacrifice and work I've put in, and seeing it translate, I mean, I was just blessed and grateful to get that opportunity and be able to execute it."
On if he is a receiver now:
"Sure, I can do it all. I catch the ball every play in shotgun, so I've had a lot of reps. We've been practicing that play since fall camp, and it was so cool when that play call came in. I just got ecstatic because I knew it was going to work and shout out to everyone around me. Hank made a great throw, and it seemed like the ball was up there for so long, so I had to look it in, trust my rules and be an athlete. It was so fun I'll remember it forever."
On the ways he can put stress on a defense:
"Maybe two different areas, but probably not catching the football, but I just do what I must do to make the play. God has gifted me with great abilities and talents, and I just try to maximize it to the best of my best ability. To be able to use my legs like that's a big deal for me to be able to threaten defenses that way. I think it's just such a good weapon for us, and then obviously the offensive linemen gave me so much time back there to make plays, you know, in the passing game, and we maximize every single play, and we made some mistakes obviously, but it's cool to have that ability to do all three."
On not getting overwhelmed by the big plays and shootout style of the game:
"Yeah, it was tough because we know USC is such a great offense and they're going to score points, and we knew we just had to maximize all our opportunities down there, so it was very difficult. You know we've become so friendly with adversity all we have is the moment ahead of us and how we react to it and yes it was tough we'll learn from it obviously. It's easy to get discouraged, but we just trusted in the next play, one play mentality, trust the defense. Credit to USC, they were ballers on that side of the field. They're a really great team, but we kept moving forward and made it happen."
On bouncing back from Indiana loss:
"We just got back to work. That's all there is to it. You learn from the losses; you do what you can to make it a different story next week. We got a lot of good guys across the board, a lot of guys that play for the brother next to them. We're not chasing individual stats. We have a team that just wants to win at the end of the day."
On his first career interception:
"It got a little air-y in there. It looked like they were running an RPO, so I was in a half-drop, half above the run, and then I just saw the ball and put my hands on it."
On team defensive effort:
"I think guys were able to fly around a little bit. Our plays allowed us just to be players… At the end of the day, we were able to be physical. We were able to tighten up the gaps where there wasn't much room to run, and when there was space, we got them down and made them play another down."
On the key to his run game today:
"The main thing is reading the blocks and having faith in my o-line to be able to open up the holes for me."
On the physicality:
"Yeah definitely, we knew how physical the game was going to be, that is our identity, we have to be physical to win football games, we preached that every single day since January, so we knew we had to come out today and be the more physical team."
On how he bounced back after the fumble:
"It felt really good, just to be able to break away like that and get going was good, I was a little frustrated with myself, so just to be able to go out there and make an impact for the team was really nice."
On turning the page:
"You must turn the page eventually, we watched the film from Indiana Sunday night, and we have to learn from what happened last Saturday. We took that film and got better this past week to be ready for the game today. It wasn't fun watching the film at all, but we did it, we sat there and took accountability, and it showed this week."
On Bart Miller and their preparation:
"Coach Miller coached his ass off this week, we are all really grateful for him and what he did this week to prepare us for today."
On his thoughts the final drive:
"High confidence, a lot of confidence in Luke Altmyer in the 2 minute drill, I've seen what he can do and all the work he puts in to prepare himself for these situations, and all we have to do is protect him, so he can make plays for our team."
On if it was frustrating seeing the USC receivers make catches through contact constantly:
"Oh yeah, definitely. It kept happening over and over again and kept getting hit like that. Somehow, we got to find a way to take the ball away and just keep hitting them hard. We take the ball away, it eliminates plays."
On how the team feels when Luke steps back onto the field:
"Super confident. He did it all fall camp, he did it last year, he does it in practice all the time. There's no doubt. In situations that keep happening like this, all you do is look back on the past when you get into another situation. Luke is going to handle the situation, he needs to."
