Illinois Claim Explosive Win Over Minnesota

By Logan Hanson

FightingIllini.com

Two plays. 39 seconds. That's all it took for the Illini offense to establish what kind of day they would have against Minnesota at Memorial Stadium. On the second play of the game Illini big-play machine Reggie Corbin delivered another explosive play bursting through the middle of the Minnesota and racing to a 72 yard touchdown. The Illini finished out with a 55-37 victory Saturday.

"I think it got everybody fired up," said Corbin. "When you see those guys running down, those horses running down. They're smiling and they're happy. It doesn't get much better than that."

After a Minnesota touchdown drive, the Illini rushing attack responded in a similar fashion. Two plays. 30 seconds. This time junior running back Dre Brown broke off a 72 yard touchdown run of his own, the first of his career, and gave the Illini a 14-7 lead. For Brown, it was a special moment for a player who had a tough journey to their first touchdown.

"That was amazing," said Brown, "It's a long time coming. Lots of long hours in the rehab room and it felt good, it felt natural. It was awesome."

The Illini passing game would not miss out on the big-play action. After a holding penalty backed up the Illini into their own territory, senior quarterback AJ Bush Jr. connected with sophomore wide receiver Ricky Smalling on a short slant route and Smalling did the rest. Shedding initial contact, Smalling raced down the sideline and into the end zone for a 67-yard touchdown reception and putting the Illini ahead 24-14 and helping the Illini to a 24-17 lead going into the half. The two touchdown runs and the touchdown reception marked the first time in Illini history that the team scored two 65+-yard touchdown runs and a 65+-yard touchdown reception in the same game.

The Illini offense would not stop there though. In the third quarter, a 44-yard carry by Bush would set himself up for a three yard touchdown carry two plays later extending the Illini lead 31-17. A Minnesota fumble on the subsequent drive set up the Orange and Blue offense inside enemy territory and one play later, a 30-yard connection from Bush to true freshmen tight end Daniel Barker would put the Illini up 38-17.

"(The ground game) opened up everything honestly I felt bad for Minnesota because it was kind of like pick your poison," said Bush. "I honestly felt like we couldn't be stopped in this game. That was a feeling I had and apparently we all had."

Corbin was not done making history for the Illini. With just over four minutes in the third quarter, Corbin burst for a 77-yard touchdown run to put the Illini up 45-17. It marked the first time since 1944 that an Illini player had two 70+-yard touchdown runs when both Buddy Young and Don Johnson accomplished the feat. During the play, Corbin was escorted to the end zone by his quarterback making for one of the most memorable plays of the night.

"That was so fun. I think that was the best play for me honestly," said Bush after the game. "I don't care how many touchdowns I had that was the most fun just escorting Reggie. Us running down the field celebrating that moment it was cool."

Corbin would finish the game with 213 rushing yards and the two long touchdown runs. The yardage gave Corbin the eighth most in a single game in Illini history passing Red Grange's 212 against Michigan in 1924.

The explosive plays both on the ground and through the air gave the Illini balance throughout the game and forced Minnesota to guess which way the offense would attack next. This allowed the offense to catch the Minnesota defense off guard and produced big chunk yardage throughout the contest.

"It makes it a little bit easier because now they have to guard everyone, they have to be aware of everyone so you can't just do one thing try to load the box or anything like that so I was happy because it made our job easier," said Corbin.

The Illini ended the day with 55 points, the team's most since 2010, 646 total yards, the team's most since 2007, and 430 rushing yards. It was a performance that left the head coach with too much to say.

"Outstanding job by the offensive staff," said head coach Lovie Smith. "I could really talk the rest of the day about what we did offensively."

The Illini offense showed just how explosive it can be against Minnesota. If Illini fans aren't careful, they could miss a big play in the blink of an eye.