Football

Illinois Football: Key takeaways after thrilling win over Rutgers

Published

41 seconds ago

November 24, 2024

Nov 23, 2024; Piscataway, New Jersey, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini wide receiver Hank Beatty (80) celebrates his receiving touchdown with wide receiver Pat Bryant (13) during the first half against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at SHI Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Crazy Finish in the Illinois Football win over Rutgers

Greg Schiano called a timeout to ice Illinois before a 53-yard FG attempt. Illinois saw the kick had no chance, so after the timeout it decided not to kick the FG and go for it on 4th and 13.

Then this happened.pic.twitter.com/if3bDQKixD

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) November 23, 2024

It was a wild finish for the Fighting Illini against Rutgers. The game was tightly contested, and Illinois seemed to be making things difficult for themselves with penalties and clock management struggles. After finally taking the lead, Illinois let Rutgers QB Athan Kaliakmanis just march down the field to take a 2-point lead.

With one final opportunity and about a minute to play, Illinois found themselves with a 58-yard field goal attempt from Ethan Moczulski, but Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano called a timeout just before the kick. Despite the interruption, Moczulski still tried to make the kick, but it came up short and wide left. The Illini were then forced to regroup, and Bret Bielema sent the offense back onto the field.

Altmyer, under pressure, was able to connect with Pat Bryant for a huge 40-yard catch and run. That makes Bryant’s third game-winning score of the year.

Coaching staff question marks

If the Illini had come up short in this one, there would have been a lot of negative heat surrounding the coaches. The Illini played undisciplined football on both sides today wracking up 11 penalties. Meanwhile, the Illini defense allowed a Rutgers offense that ranks 75th in total yards to wrack up 387 yards and 31 points.

The Illini have struggled all season against mobile quarterbacks. Athan Kaliakmanis took advantage of that today scoring two rushing touchdowns. He also added 84 yards on the ground.

I thought for the most part offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr had a good day. However, on the last drive, he called a head-scratching play. It looked like QB Power and Altmyer was only able to get three yards on the ground. The problem was it forced Illinois to burn their last time out, not in field goal range. That was pretty awful clock management play-calling. Illinois got away with one in New Jersey.

Is Illinois Football Citrus Bowl bound?

We heard multiple times on the broadcast that the Illini could be the Big Ten representative in the Citrus Bowl. The Citrus Bowl is one of the most watched non-playoff bowl games because it is on New Years Day in Florida. They would also matchup with a team from the SEC. It looks like the only thing standing in the way of that happening is the Northwestern Wildcats at Wrigley Field. On paper, the Illini is the better team, but Northwestern will surely look to play the spoiler since they are not bowl-eligible. Hopefully Illinois football is not looking ahead to vacationing in Florida and can take care of business by winning their ninth regular season win.

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Dylan Clemons

Dylan is an experienced content creator who brings years of experience to Armchair Illini. He has had work featured on Writing Illini, Fansided, SI and more.