Lovie Smith: "We're Going Bowling"

Illinois' improbable come-from-behind 37-34 victory at Spartan Stadium against Michigan State gave Smith's club its sixth "W" of the season, assuring itself of bowl eligibility for the first time in five years.

Battling back from a first-half, 25-point deficit and outscoring its hosts 27-3 in the fourth quarter, the fourth-year Illini head coach absolutely beamed when talking about his team's accomplishment.

"To some programs, getting to a bowl game may not be that big of a deal," Smith said. "But for our program—where we are right now—we needed to cross this hurdle to be able to take some more big steps."

Though there were several individual heroes, nearly everyone on Illinois's travel squad can personally claim a portion of the credit for the football program's biggest comeback in history. Whether they scored the winning touchdown (Daniel Barker), led the team in tackles (Dele Harding), picked off game-changing opponent passes (Sydney Brown and Stanley Green), recovered a crucial fumble (Khalan Tolson), or compiled record-setting receiving yardage (Josh Imatorbhebhe), the list of Illini supermen seems never-ending. Some stepped in for ailing teammates who were unable to make the trip to East Lansing.
"Defensively, Jake Hansen and Oluwole Betiku Jr. are back in Champaign," Smith said. "Milo Eifler went out the first couple of plays, but those young guys just stepped up. Dawson DeGroot. Khalan Tolson … guys that you don't know an awful lot about. Sydney Brown getting his first touchdown. All of those plays were big."

Smith's quarterback, Brandon Peters, stepped forward with a personal career-best effort, passing for 369 yards, the most by a Michigan State opponent at Spartan Stadium in a dozen years.

"It's coach talk," Smith said, "but it's always about how you finish. Brandon would be the first guy to tell you that he'd like to have that (interception) ball back, but he got another opportunity to do something special. That's what you judge quarterbacks on. How do they play when the game is on the line, when you're down and you have to make plays? He's just been outstanding."
Trailing 28-10 at halftime, the Illini coaching staff preached a message similar to the one it had shared with its troops in previous games against Michigan, Wisconsin and Rutgers.

"Experience teaches you an awful lot and we've been in that situation before," Smith said. "They don't crown the champion after one half of ball, so we went over the things that we did wrong and we made the corrections that we needed to make. We were down at halftime in the biggest game of our lives and we didn't play our best ball. But we were all thankful that we had another half of football. We knew if we came back out and played ball, we would have a chance. We talked about making the next play, putting good plays together, and that's what we were able to do."

Heading into the fourth quarter, Illinois trailed 31-10 and prospects for winning a fourth straight game appeared to be remote. But that's when the storybook comeback began.

At 14:48, Peters connected with Imatorbhebhe on an 83-yard touchdown pass to trim the lead to 31-17. The Illini defense held MSU's offense to three-and-out, then staged a five-play, 53-yard touchdown drive that was capped by Reggie Corbin's six-yard score. Now, the Illini deficit was seven points.  When Sydney Brown intercepted a Brian Lewerke pass and ran it back 76 yards for a touchdown, Illinois drew to within one point.

Following a Spartan field goal with 3:17 left that increased MSU's lead to 34-30, the Illini had one final opportunity for a miracle. Stared down by a fourth-and-17 dilemma, Peters dialed up a 37-yard completion to Imatorbhebhe, putting the Illini back in business. On fourth-and-four, MSU bailed out Illinois again by committing pass interference in the end zone. Then, as the clock ticked down to the final seconds, Peters hooked up with Barker for the winning score.

"I'll say it again," said Smith. "It's how you finish. You just have to keep fighting. It's always about the next play. There were a lot of disappointing moments in that game, but you don't have time to harp on them. You have to move onto the next play. As it turned out, we didn't give them the opportunity to get the ball back, so it all worked out the way we needed it to."

"It's hard for me to talk about personal things that I'm feeling right now," Smith continued. "I'm so pumped up for our team. We're all really feeling good right now. This is how we envisioned it. How does it feel for me? I'm overjoyed."

Offensive coordinator Rod Smith was especially pleased that his boss could be rewarded with a historic victory.

"It feels good because Lovie is not just a great coach, he's an even better person," he said. "Every player and every coach wants to win for him."