Illinois Offense Explodes In Victory

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Illini offense exploded for a season-high 38 points and the defense forced three Scarlet Knight turnovers to lead Illinois to a dominant, 38-17, win Saturday in Piscataway, N.J.

Bush is Back

After missing two games due to injury, senior quarterback A.J. Bush Jr. made his return and led the Illini to a season-high 38 points. The Alpharetta, Georgia, native made his mark on the ground, rushing the ball 18 times for 116 yards and a pair of scores.

Bush Jr. also added 89 yards on 10-of-18 passing, including an 11-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Ricky Smalling early in the fourth quarter.

Juiced Up Reg

It was a career day for running back Reggie Corbin, as the junior rushed for a career-high 137 yards on just 11 carries (12.5 yards per carry). Corbin blew the game open in the second quarter, breaking free on a 73-yard run to put the Illini up 24-7.

On the season, Corbin has rushed the ball 59 times for 492 yards to go along with five touchdowns.
Turnovers

It didn't take long for the Illinois defense to push its takeaway streak to 19 games, as freshman cornerback Jartavius Martin jumped in front of a Sitkowski pass early in the first quarter to come away with his third interception on the season.

Senior linebacker Del'Shawn Phillps matched Martin in the second quarter, snagging his third pick of the year and setting the Illini up with great field position to take a 17-7 lead.

Team Notes

    Illinois won for the third time this season, already one more win than in 2017 (2-10).
    Illinois snapped a streak of 13 straight Big Ten losses with its first conference win since beating Michigan State 31-27 on 11/5/2016.
    Illinois is 3-2 all-time against Rutgers, including a 2-1 mark in Piscataway.
    Illinois has scored 30+ points in three games this season, tying its most 30+ point games in a season since 2013 (7).
    Illinois won a Big Ten game by 21+ points for the first time since beating Purdue 48-14 on 11/7/2015.
    Illinois allowed fewer than 20 points to a Big Ten opponent for the first time since a 24-7 win at Rutgers 10/15/2016.
    Illinois rushed for 330 yards, its most since rushing for 382 at Purdue 11/7/2015.
    Illinois had three players with 40+-yard touchdown runs: Reggie Corbin (73 yards), AJ Bush Jr. (41 yards), Mike Epstein (41 yards).
    Illinois had two 100-yard rushers (137 Reggie Corbin, 116 AJ Bush Jr.), the first time an Illinois duo both had 100+ rushing yards since at Purdue 11/7/2015 (180 Ke'Shawn Vaughn, 133 Josh Ferguson).
    Illinois was 8-for-16 on third downs, while holding Rutgers to 4-for-14 on third downs.
    Illinois has forced a turnover in 19 straight games.
    Illinois started three true freshmen, all on defense (NB Sydney Brown, CB Jartavius Martin, NB Delano Ware).
    Illinois started zero true freshmen on offense. It snapped a streak of 15 straight games with at least on true freshmen starter on both offense and defense.
    Illinois' true freshmen have combined for 16 starts, tied for the 10th-most in a season in Illinois history. Last year, Illinois set the program record with 86 cumulative true freshmen starts.
    Two defensive linemen made their Illinois debuts: LB Drew Murtaugh, DL Deon Pate, DL Julian Pearl
    Illinois captains: OL Nick Allegretti, RB Reggie Corbin, LB Dele Harding, LB Del'Shawn Phillips

Individual Notes

    Junior RB Reggie Corbin had a career-high 137 rushing yards on only 11 carries (12.5 yards per rush), including a 73-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, the 25th-longest touchdown run in Illinois history. Corbin started for the first time this season and for the first time since 2016.
    Senior QB AJ Bush Jr., who started for the first time since Sept. 8 vs. Western Illinois, ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries (6.4 yards per rush). Bush is the first Illinois quarterback to reach multiple 100-yard rushing games in a season since Nathan Scheelhaase recorded four in 2010. Bush was 10-of-18 passing for 89 yards and one touchdown, his first career Illinois passing touchdown and the second of his career (1 for Virginia Tech in 2017).
    Junior WR Trenard Davis had career highs in receptions (5) and receiving yards (59).
    Sophomore WR Ricky Smalling caught his third touchdown pass of the season.
    Sophomore RB Mike Epstein had a 41-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. He had nine rushes for 63 yards (7.0 yards per carry).
    Sophomore WR Carmoni Green started for the first time in his career.
    Freshman CB Jartavius Martin had his third interception in his first five career games.
    Senior LB Del'Shawn Phillips had his third interception of the season.
    Sophomore LB Jake Hansen led the Illini with nine tackles (six solo).
    Sophomore CB Nate Hobbs had his first career interception during the fourth quarter.
    Junior DL Jamal Milan returned from an injury and played for the first time this season.
    Junior LB Jimmy Marchese returned from an injury and played for the first time this season.
    Senior OL Nick Allegretti started for the 29th straight game.
    Sophomore OL Alex Palczewski started for the 16th straight game.

Murray State 48, EIU 41

CHARLESTON, Ill. – On a night of offense around the Ohio Valley Conference, the Saturday game between Eastern Illinois and Murray State held its own in terms of both scoring, total yards and a dramatic finish.  In the end Murray State scored with 26 seconds remaining to beat Eastern Illinois on Hall of Fame Day at O’Brien Field, 48-41.

The Panthers offense has now scored 40 or more points in four straight games as the Panthers dropped to 1-5 on the season, 1-2 in the OVC.  Murray State improved to 2-0 in the OVC, 2-3 overall.

Last season in Murray, it was the EIU defense with a blocked field goal attempt in the second overtime that handed the Panthers the win.   Tonight the Racers put themselves in position to win it with a field goal after Rodney Castille burst out for a 37-yard to put the ball in EIU territory in the final two minutes of the game.  Quarterback Drew Anderson had a chance to score the touchdown with about 40 seconds remaining but dove short of the goal line after gaining a first down to keep the clock moving and set up what might have been a game winning field goal attempt.  Instead Penick scored on the next play to cap a 180 yard rushing night with three touchdowns.  Castille rushed for 142 yards as Murray State had 449 yards on the ground, the fourth most ever allowed by an EIU team.  The Racers had 658 yards to total offense, the third highest total ever allowed by EIU.

While Murray State was putting up numbers, EIU countered with its own high powered offense.  The Panthers had 643 yards of total offense which is the ninth best single game total in school history.  Trailing by a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, the Panthers marched down the field to tie the game at 41-41 on a Jamal Scott 35 yard touchdown run with 3:07 remaining.  Scott had 115 yards on the ground on 16 carries as he started in place of the injured Isaiah Johnson in the game.

The two teams traded punches in the first quarter with the Racers taking a 10-7 lead.  EIU went in front 14-10 with 11:53 to play in the second quarter as Johnathan Brantley hit Nick Atoyebi with a 4-yard pass.  Brantley came off the bench and was 28-of-42 for 328 yards with three touchdowns.  During the game Brantley became the EIU school record holder in consecutive passes thrown without an interception.  His streak continues at 174, breaking the previous mark of 164 set by Jalen Whitlow in 2014.  EIU plays at Jacksonville State next Saturday with the game airing on ESPN3.

Brantley connected twice with Alexander Hollins on touchdown strikes of eight and 45 yards.  Hollins finished the game with ten catches for 132 yards and two touchdowns.  It was his fifth 100-yard receiving day of the season.  Hollins entered the game ranked first in the nation in touchdown receptions and second in both receptions and receiving yards.

Murray State and EIU continued to trade the lead until the fourth quarter when Gabriel Vicente put the Racers up a by touchdown with 35-yard field goal with 12:48 remaining.

Nolan Dean led the Panthers defense with 12 tackles while Joe Caputo reached double figures with 11 stops.  Edwyn Brown had an interception and Josh Price a fumble recovery as EIU had two turnovers gained in the contest.

Quincy Williams had ten tackles to lead Murray State.  Kenney Wooten had two sacks including a big one on fourth and three that ended a Panthers drive at the Murray State 27 yard line with 5:37 left in the fourth quarter.