Fighting Illini Top SIU in Nonconference Finale at Sold-Out Gies Memorial Stadium

Saturday, September 19

Champaign, Ill.

1 PM CT

University of Illinois

2-1 , 0-0

Southern Illinois

2-2 , 0-0

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Southern Illinois	7	3	0	0	10
Illinois	14	17	0	17	48

Collin Dixon and Christian Abney TD celebration vs. Southern Illinois 9/19/26

Fighting Illini Top SIU in Nonconference Finale at Sold-Out Gies Memorial Stadium

September 19, 2026 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

Recap

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois closed out nonconference play with a 48-10 win over Southern Illinois on Saturday in front of a sold-out Gies Memorial Stadium. The Fighting Illini improved to 2-1 on the season in front of back-to-back capacity crowds.

After the first quarter, the Orange and Blue owned a 14-7 lead and pushed that to a 31-10 halftime lead. Illinois scored a touchdown on its first four drives of the day.

Aidan Laughery gave Illinois the lead for good with a career-long 77-yard rushing touchdown in the opening quarter. The play was Illinois' longest rush since Chase Brown's 80-yard run during the 2021 season.

With his second touchdown reception of the day, senior Collin Dixon broke Illinois' single-season touchdown receptions at Gies Memorial Stadium record. Through three home games, Dixon has grabbed seven touchdown receptions to surpass the previous record of six set by Pat Bryant in 2024.

Ethan Moczulski bookended halftime with a pair of field goals, connecting from 36 and 42 yards. Illinois improved to 23-3 under Coach Bielema when scoring the last points of the first half and first points of the second half.

Matthew Bailey snagged his first interception of the season and took it to the house for the second touchdown of his career, an 88-yard score.

Javari Barnett broke through late in the fourth quarter for a 5-yard touchdown run - the first of his career - to give Illinois a season-high 48 points in the victory.

Katin Houser completed 23-of-29 passes for a season-high 305 yards. He connected with receivers for two touchdowns and completed 10-consecutive passes at one point.

The Illinois defense did not allow the Salukis to score for the final 32:18 of the game.

NEXT GAME

Illinois hits the road for the first time of the season next weekend, heading to Columbus, Ohio, to visit #6 Ohio State. Kickoff is slated for 11 AM CT on FOX.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

POSTGAME NOTES

Team Notes

Illinois is 14-3 at Gies Memorial Stadium over the last three seasons (2024-26).
Illinois is 21-8 overall over the last three seasons (2024-26) and has the fourth-best winning percentage in the Big Ten (.724).
Saturday's game marked the 83rd sellout in Gies Memorial Stadium history. Illinois has now sold out 6 of its last 9 games including the last two contests.
Bret Bielema is 39-27 during his six-year Illinois career. His .591 winning percentage trails only Robert Zuppke's .618 for the best in Illinois history (50 game minimum).
Illinois has won 12 straight games when it has forced at least one turnover
The Fighting Illini are now 23-3 under Coach Bielema when scoring the last points of the first half and first points of the second half.
Illinois rushed for a season-high 198 yards and passed for a season-best 305 yards in the win, surpassing 500 yards of total offense.

Player Notes

Katin Houser threw for 305 yards and two passing touchdowns.
- Up to eight touchdown passes through three games.
- First 300-yard passing game as an Illini.
Collin Dixon broke Pat Bryant's record (6) for single-season touchdown receptions at Gies Memorial Stadium with his second touchdown catch of Saturday's game.
- Back-to-back games with 100+ receiving yards for the first time of his career.
- Caught 8 of his 9 targets for 131 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.
Ca'Lil Valentine eclipsed 1,000 career rushing yards becoming the 51st player in program history to do so.
- Finished with 9 rushes for 33 yards.
Aidan Laughery recorded a career-long 77-yard rushing touchdown for Illinois' longest rush since Chase Brown's 80-yard run vs. Charlotte on 10/2/2021.
- Tied for the 20th longest run in program history
- Finished with 93 yards on 4 rushes.
Matthew Bailey registered an 88-yard interception and return for touchdown.
- His first interception of the season
- Second career touchdown
  - First was a fumble recovery in the endzone (9/10/2022 vs. Virginia) - in the third game of his career.
Javari Barnett scored his first career touchdown - a 5-yard rush.
- Logged 50 yards on 8 runs.
Champ Smith became the first Illini true freshman to start in one of the five offensive line positions since Vederian Lowe and Alex Palczewski on Nov. 25, 2017, against Northwestern.

Quotes

Head Coach Bret Bielema

Opening statement:
"Obviously, we're excited to get back on track. I will say, being in this position now, six years in, we've played some in-state schools, and I want to give Southern Illinois a lot of credit. That's a very good team for the level that they're at. In preparing against Nick, I thought he was probably one of the better game-plan coaches I've ever faced. The way he does things and works through things was impressive. I was very worried about their quarterback in the run game and what he's been able to do in addition to throwing the ball.'

'I'm excited for those guys going forward, but I really liked the way our team responded. I said we had to take advantage of the adversity we experienced last week, and I thought they did that. They had big eyes and ears, they were open. Even my staff, I thought, really took things personally and put themselves in a good position to make a rebound today.'

'We had some adversity out there, but obviously a lot of guys got involved. I thought it was great to have Champ pop in there. You guys saw him get his first start at right guard. Brandon Hansen had two starts in a row. It wasn't perfect, but I'm super excited.'

'We got Eddie Tuerk in there. We got Dez in there. We got Kai Pritchard in there. Then Javari Barnett came in at the end. You can see he's got an exceptional skill set that we'd love to take advantage of.'

'Katin, I thought, was very impressive again. Obviously, the one miscue, I think that kid takes advantage of every opportunity. I'm super excited about him. There were some of those checks that he made at the line of scrimmage. The second-and-one throw in the end zone to Colin Dixon was about as good as you can draw it up. So, just continue to be impressed with him.'

I thought our defense made some strides. We still have to concentrate on some situational football, third-and-medium, second-and-short. There was a fourth-and-two quarterback run. We just have to make sure we're all on the same page, but I was excited to see those guys play well."

On Matthew Bailey's leadership:
"Matt is a very special kid. Thursday nights, I make an edit for him. We had a five-series edit. We took the Purdue game from last year. I thought the best way we could prepare was to find games that were very similar to what we're playing.

'Last year, Southern Illinois was at Purdue in game two. It was a 14-14 game at the end of the first quarter, a 10-point game at halftime, and it ended up being a three-score game. I took the first series at Purdue. I took the first series of West Florida. I did an end-of-half and an end-of-game, both offensively and defensively, I'm sorry, their offense against our defense. I put in the third quarter opening series from last year, I believe it was game six or game seven, just to try to let him simulate it.'

'There are no coaches in the room. I just make that edit and go over it with Matt, what it is and how it is, then it's just him in the room with the players. That's it. No coaches. For him to have that leadership, to work through some things and talk through some things, he's just an exceptional leader and an incredible person. To see him get in the end zone, that was pretty awesome."

On how the players and coaches responded during the week:
"I always say this, it's a cliché, but pride always comes before the fall. Somebody's always too resistant to listen to the things that you're being told or shown because you have too much pride. I have a lot of things where I kind of bow up, and I just have to learn to breathe and let things come at me. I'm really kind of a thermostat. I go opposite of the temperature of everything else.'

'Saturday night and Sunday, I didn't talk to a lot of people. I just didn't want to say anything or do anything that I would regret, so I took a breather. Then Monday morning, the players weren't in the building, but I thought meeting with my staff, going through the keys to victory and talking about where we're at was important. I just took a deep breath and talked about, "Hey, this opportunity that we have is brought through adversity. Let's make sure we take advantage of it." I asked Coach Wheatley, I have coaches that I don't go into their meeting rooms because when I go into a meeting room, the meeting room changes. The only way I know what's going on in those meeting rooms is by looking at the notes they give me or looking at the edits they have.'

'Wheatley and I are from the same era, and he throws things in there as motivational tools. He talked about the headline to his running back room being, "Take advantage of the adversity. Don't lose this moment." I let him explain that to the staff, and the connection that our room has as a staff, if we have that, I think that's something you can't really create except for when it's here. I'm super excited about the way the staff responded."

On Collin Dixon's explosive start to the season:
"It's incredible. We just handed him a game ball. He just tied a season record for home-game touchdowns at Gies Memorial Stadium. I think he had tied it in his last game, if I'm not mistaken, against Northwestern. He's just extremely talented.'

'I even told Barry this week, now there are going to be times where he's going to get double coverage. On that play in the end zone, they robbed to him knowing where it was going to go. We had a guy running free underneath for a first down. We must learn to take small deposits that make big rewards in the end. Sometimes we don't always have to hit the home-run strike.'

'It's just fun to see Colin. He's so humble. He works his absolute tail off every day. He's super intelligent, comprehends and understands football very, very quickly, and the kids just love him. He's a captain as a junior for a reason. He's special. You need to, as a defensive coordinator, if you've got one, you've got none. I always say that as a wide receiver, but you can kind of do some things to take that away.'

'But if you've got multiple talents, even in the running game, I don't think people appreciate when you've got Aidan Laughery who can pop one, Colin Dixon or Ca'Lil who can pop one. That really helps you in coverage. I think that's a big deal.'

'Jayshon started running this week, so I think he's very, very close as well, getting closer as we go. We're getting healthier, thankfully. We've been as banged up as I've ever had at certain positions during my head coaching career, so to persevere and move forward has been awesome. A lot of credit to those guys. They're living in the training room, and the training staff has been awesome. I think, also, to get the tight ends involved, Kaden caught a little screen pass at the half. Stoffel caught another one or two. To get those guys involved as well is a big deal."

Joe Barna

On SIU QB DJ Williams in the run game:
"Yeah, we knew we had to game plan for him. He's a really good player, and he made guys miss at times, but I think we did a pretty good job containing him. That was kind of the impact.

On carrying the momentum into next week:
"I think we just must keep this momentum going. I mean, guys are feeling good. We were a little bit down on last Sunday, watching that film, but the guys just came together, and they just wanted to practice. We didn't let it break us; we didn't let the loss happen twice. I think we're just going to keep this momentum going."

Aidan Laughery

On the receivers blocking downfield:
"That's part of the identity of our offense. You know, the receivers in our program, they want to block. They know they must block, and I think they've done a really good job so far of embodying that personality and being tough-nosed guys, sticking their heads in there and throwing the block. I think it speaks to the selflessness of those guys."

On the offense's effectiveness early in the game:
"Yeah, I think we come out ready to go. You know, we're really cued into the plan and what we're going to do, especially on opening drives. Guys are detailed early in the game. I think that's something we need to get stronger at, is coming out in that second half and being more detailed and going out there and executing."

Collin Dixon

On what the team will carry into Big Ten play:
"Every play matters, every drive matters. Like last week when we stalled out, and even today when we stalled out, that can change the game in the wrong way for us. It's about being consistent and doing our job every play."

On if he expected his role in the offense to be this big:
"Honestly, no. I knew it might be a bigger role, just because I'm an older guy. I started last year, but to have the start to the season we've had, it's been incredible. It's been a lot of fun. I don't think anybody could have imagined this. I just try to go out there and do my job every play and that's really all I think about."

Juice Clarke

On the tackling:
"Coming into the game, we knew we had to tackle better, especially based on the last two games we'd put on film. We knew their quarterback was a great player, and he was the one who could really beat us. We knew if we took away him and his scrambles, we'd win the game. That's what we focused on."

On what stood out in the team's bounce back:
"Definitely the communication on the field, the growth of everybody. After taking a loss last week, we were all hungry, and the extra work we put in this week to get on the same page, learn the defense, and learn the checks and calls. That's something that showed up today."

Katin Houser

On today's game overall:
"I thought it was good. We came out of the gate swinging, were efficient in the first half, hit a bit of a lull in the second half, and then finished strong with some of the younger guys getting reps. Overall, I thought it was a good game, definitely some stuff to clean up, for sure. We've got a big opponent coming up next week, so I'm looking forward to that. But overall, I thought today was solid."

On his deep ball today:
"I missed a shot at one last game and wanted that one back, so I saw today as an opportunity to get back on a deep ball and find that connection. We've been working on it after practice and during practice this week, so connecting on two of those deep balls felt good."