Illinois found a way to pull out a miraculous finish and stun Rutgers on Saturday at SHI Stadium.
Rutgers did everything to put itself in position to finish off a comeback for the ages. Then, Illinois eviscerated all of it.
The game-winning touchdown came after Rutgers called a timeout to ice the kicker and the attempt came up 15 yards short of the goal post. Instead of sending Ethan Moczulski back out for the game-winning kick, Illinois sent Altmeyer and company back out, completing the miracle finish and solidifying a thriller.
When Rutgers needed a key second-half drive, Rutgers turned to Monangai, who carried seven times for 49 yards on the 14-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a tush-push score by Kaliakmanis and extra point by Jai Patel, which put Rutgers up 24-15 with 14:51 to play. With the turnover, Illinois needed eight plays to find the end zone and swing the momentum back in its favor. Josh McCray ran in a 4-yard touchdown but the Illini two-point conversion was no good, making the score 17-16 in favor of Rutgers with 6:41 left in the third quarter.How much confidence does Rutgers have in sophomore Ian Strong? Look at the final seconds of the first half as your answer.
Rutgers was flagged twice on special teams while Illinois drew more penalties in a single quarter than it came in averaging across all four quarters, drawing seven penalties in the first quarter alone. The penalty pileup was uncharacteristic of both teams. Rutgers entered ranked 11th nationally in penalties per game . Illinois, meanwhile, checked in ranked 16th .— All three of Rutgers’ drives that resulted in touchdowns reached double-digit plays.
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