Fighting Illini Fall To Iowa Hawkeyes, 33-23

Brandon Peters and the passing attack led Illinois' offense. Peters had a strong start to the game, completing six of his first seven passes and ending the first drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Luke Ford. Peters later connected with Isaiah Williams for a 16-yard touchdown at the end of the game.

Nine different Illini caught passes from Peters on Saturday as he threw for 248 yards. Casey Washington and Luke Ford each had three catches, while Isaiah Williams, Donny Navarro and Chase Brown each had two.

On the defensive end, Isaiah Gay was disruptive, leading the Illini with a career-high 10 tackles and 5.5 tackles for loss. Gay also recorded the team's lone sack against Iowa. Kerby Joseph grabbed his fifth interception of the season after picking Iowa QB Alex Padilla off in the fourth quarter. Joseph is now tied for 11th in program history for most interceptions in one season.

James McCourt had a perfect game in Iowa City, making three field goals all from 45+ yards out. McCourt hit a 53-yarder in the third quarter, tying his season long and adding to his program record for most 50+-yard FGs. 

Illinois will return home next Saturday to host Northwestern for the final game of the season on Senior Day.

TEAM NOTES

The Fighting Illini fall to 4-7 (3-5 B1G) following Saturday's loss at No. 18 Iowa (9-2, 6-2 B1G).

The Fighting Illini defense held Iowa to season-low 83 passing yards, the fewest passing yards given up in a game since allowing 82 passing yards at Northwestern on Dec. 12, 2020.

Illinois out-gained Iowa in the contest, racking up a 312-255 advantage in total offense including a 248-83 edge in passing yards.  Iowa's 33 points are the most surrendered by the Fighting Illini in an eight-game stretch dating back to a road loss at Virginia (42-14) on Sept. 11. The Illinois defense, however, continued its strong play with Iowa getting just 19 points from their offensive unit, while adding both a kick return and an interception return for touchdowns.
Illinois opened the game with a 12-play, 75-yard TD drive that took 8:37 off the clock. 

Illinois captains: DB Tony Adams, OLB Owen Carney Jr., LB Jake Hansen, P Blake Hayes, OL Doug Kramer, OL Vederian Lowe

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

OL duo of Vederian Lowe and Alex Palczewski each made their 51st career starts on Saturday, extending their Illini career record for career games started. Lowe has now started in 45 consecutive games.

Illini C Doug Kramer also continues to climb the career starts list, making his 47th career start, now tied for 6th on the all-time list.Senior OLB Isaiah Gay recorded career highs in total tackles (10) and tackles for loss (5.5).

Gay's 5.5 TFLs are third in a single game in program history, and the most by an Illini player against a Big Ten opponent.

Gay's 5.5 TFls tied for the most TFLs in a Big Ten game this season (Purdue's Leo Chenal, 5.5, at Wisconsin) and the second-most in a game in college football this season.

Gay notched TFLs on three straight plays to halt the Hawkeyes' drive that ended with a 51-yard field goal at the 6:41 mark of the second quarter.Senior PK James McCourt recorded three field goals of more than 45 yards on Saturday, hitting from 46, 45 and 53.

McCourt's 53-yarder at the 2:46 mark of the third quarter tied his season-long (vs. UTSA) and matched the longest FG in program history in a Big Ten road game (Dave Finzer, at Purdue, 10/15/77)

McCourt has now hit 8 field goals of 50+ yards in his career, extending his Illinois program record.

Kerby Joseph, who entered the game ranked fifth nationally in interception, recorded his fifth of the season in the fourth quarter.

Joseph is now tied for 11th on the Illinois list of single-season interceptions, one outside of the top 10.

Sophomore WR Casey Washington and junior TE Luke Ford tied for the team lead with three receptions each.

Washington led the team with a career-high 61 receiving yards.

Ford tallied his second touchdown of the season, hauling in a 13-yard strike from Brandon Peters on the game's opening drive. 

Redshirt freshman WR Isaiah Williams, a former Illini quarterback, scored his fourth touchdown of the season (third receiving) on a 16-yard strike from Brandon Peters with 31 seconds left in the game. Williams now has three receiving touchdowns, two rushing touchdowns, and four passing touchdowns for his Illini career. 

COACH GEORGE MCDONALD

Opening Statement:

"I'd like to give credit to Iowa. They're a tough team, they did a really good job of defending us and obviously we didn't come out on the right end. Our guys, we tried to challenge them to make it a four-quarter game and pour it out for each other and I think that's visible on tape. There's some things we've got to get corrected and we will going back. We're looking forward to getting to do it one more time. We've got a trophy game coming up with a team in-state and I know our guys will be fired up to play. But once again, Iowa did a great job, they're a great program. These are games that are going to sting a little bit, but we're going to be ready to go in the future."

On Coach B:

"I think coach did a great job this week of just having Zoom calls with our staff and just laying out his vision and trying to play the game though us and giving us an opportunity to ask questions. He told us how he felt about certain situations. He gave us a great opportunity and led a great game plan in terms of having guys ready to go."

On the strong start:

"That was one of the things that we've been trying to work on since the bye is trying to get going and get some points early. Tony Peterson did a great job of putting the game plan in, the guys did a great job of executing it. We went down there and Brandon was on target, guys made plays, were able to be balanced. That's something that we were really trying to emphasize is being more balanced and trying to get points early for a defense that's been playing so well. Just trying to build a lead and allow them to have some momentum behind them."