Illinois-Indiana Gameday Binoculars: Blogging, Play-by-Play & Analysis

First Quarter

Indiana wins the toss and elects to receive. Illini placekicker Derek Dimke kicks the ball to IU’s Tandon Doss, who returns the ball from the 1-yard line and to the 25. There is a flag on the play. Indiana is called for a block in the back.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 7: IU quarterback Ben Chappell lines up in the shotgun and throws a pass to Terrance Turner, who drops the ball. 2nd and 10 Indiana from its own 7: Chappell lines up in the pistol and throws to tight end Ted Bolser, who can’t grab a pass tipped away by Martez Wilson. 3rd and 10 Indiana from its own 7: Chappell is picked up at the 16-yard line by Tavon Wilson. Illinois gets great pressure off the edge and up the gut on that play, with Corey Liuget providing a strong rush.

Illinois turns over Indiana on the game’s first possession, with a Tavon Wilson pick setting up the Illini at the IU 16-yard line. Chappell has thrown only 3 interceptions entering this game, so that’s a huge turnover there.

1st and 10 Illinois from the IU 16: Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase lines up in the shotgun and hands off to Mikel Leshoure for 4 yards. 2nd and 6 Illinois from the IU 12: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and hits A.J. Jenkins on a pass for no gain. 3rd and 6 Illinois from the IU 12: Scheelhaase floats a pass to Jenkins for a couple of yards. 4th and 5 Illinois from the 11 yard line: Derek Dimke drills a 28-yard field goal.

Illinois leads 3-0 with 12:52 to go in the first quarter as Derek Dimke drills a field goal following a Tavon Wilson interception that set up the possession at the Indiana 16. Illinois couldn’t put the ball into the end zone or pick up a first down for that matter.

Dimke kicks the ball to the IU 4, where Doss returns the ball to the 20-yard line.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 20: Chappell lines up in the pistol and hands off to Trea Burgess, who is stuffed for no gain by a swarm of Illini defenders. 2nd and 10 Indiana from the 20: Chappell lines up in the gun with five receivers and hits Bolser for a gain of 5 yards. Ian Thomas makes the tackle. 3rd and 5 Indiana from its own 25: Chappell lines up in the gun and fires an incomplete pass as Corey Liuget and Clay Nurse got great pressure. 4th and 5 Indiana from its own 25: Chris Hagerup punts the ball to the Illinois 31-yard line, where it is downed.

Illinois forces another three-and-out.

1st and 10 Illinois from its own 31: Scheelhaase lines up under center and hands off to Leshoure for 5 yards. 2nd and 5 Illinois from its own 36: Scheelhaase lines up under center and hands off to the short-side of the field, where Leshoure loses 1 yard. 3rd and 6 Illinois from its own 35: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun with 4 receivers and overthrows Jarred Fayson over the middle. 4th and 6 Illinois from its own 35: Anthony Santella punts the ball to the IU 15, where it is downed.

Another three and out for the Illini offense. There have been 4 possessions in this game, and no first downs for either team.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 15: Chappell lines up in the pistol and hands off to Burgess, who runs for 4 yards before Akeem Spence makes the tackle. 2nd and 6 Indiana from its own 19: Chappell lines up in the gun and hits Tandon Doss for a big gain and a first down. That was an 18-yard reception there, with Chappell avoiding the pressure of Martez Wilson. Trulon Henry made a big tackle there or Doss might have ran that to the house.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 35: IU backup quarterback Dusty Kiel is in the game for Chappell, who moves out to the wide receiver position. Kiel keeps the ball up the gut for 2 yards. 2nd and 8 Indiana from its own 37: Chappell is back in at quarterback and lines up in the gun with 5 receivers. Chappell steps up and avoids the pressure, falling forward for one yard as Martez Wilson and Whitney Mercilus make the tackle. 3rd and 7 Indiana from its own 38: Illinois is called for an offsides. 3rd and 2 Indiana from its own 43: Chappell lines up in the gun and avoids the pressure from Spence before running for a first down.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 46: Chappell hands off to Burgess for a gain of about 1 yard. 2nd and 9 Indiana from its own 47: Chappell lines up in the gun and hits Doss, who is blown up by Terry Hawthorne for a loss of 1 yard. 3rd and 10 Indiana from its own 46: Chappell lines up in the gun with one back and hits Terrance Turner for a big gain. Illinois defensive lineman Michael Buchanan got good pressure but Chappell avoided the pursuit before hitting Turner for 29 yards.

1st and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 25: Kiel is back in the game and keeps the ball for a 3-yard rush. 2nd and 7 Indiana from the Illinois 22: Chappell lines up in the gun and hits a wide open Bolser for a touchdown. It looks like Illini linebacker Evan Frierson blew the coverage there, biting on the fake handoff and failing to cover Bolser. Mitch Ewald hits the PAT, and Indiana leads 7-3.

Indiana leads 7-3 with 4:03 to go in the first quarter following a 22-yard touchdown pass from Chappell to Bolser. Illinois got good pressure all drive long but couldn’t get a hold of Chappell when it mattered. Evan Frierson blew coverage on the touchdown pass, biting on a fake handoff and allowing Bolser to get free.

Indiana kicks the ball to the Illinois 3-yard line, where Troy Pollard makes the catch and is smacked at the 17-yard line. There is a penalty on Illinois linebacker Jonathan Brown, who blocked an IU player in the back.

1st and 10 Illinois from its own 10: Scheelhaase lines up under center and hands off to Leshoure, who is smacked at the line of scrimmage for a gain of nothing. 2nd and 10 Illinois from its own 10: Scheelhaase lines up in the pistol and hands off to Leshoure, who rips off a 40-yard run to midfield.

1st and 10 Illinois from the 50-yard line: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and options late to Leshoure, who loses 5 yards. That was a bad decision by Scheelhaase. Leshoure is a bit banged up after that pitch. I don’t know how he held onto that pitch. 1st and 15 Illinois from its own 45: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and runs the ball to the Indiana 30-yard line. Scheelhaase ripped off 25-yards on that play.

1st and 10 Illinois from the IU 30: Scheelhaase lines up in the pistol, fakes a handoff and hits tight end Evan Wilson off the play fake for a touchdown. That was a beautiful fake and throw by Scheelhaase, who showed some great touch on that score. Dimke makes the PAT and Illinois leads 10-7 with 1:45 left in the first quarter.

Illinois responds quickly following the Indiana touchdown, marching 90 yards in only a few minutes. Scheelhaase’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Evan Wilson was set up by a 40-yard run by Mikel Leshoure and a 25-yard run by Scheelhaase. Illinois is back out in front, leading 10-7 with less than 2 minutes to go in the first quarter.

Dimke kicks off to Doss, who will take a knee in the end zone.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 20: Chappell lines up in the gun and hits Bolser for a big gain.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 41: Chappell lines up in the gun and hands off to Antonio Banks, who runs for a few yards before Spence makes a tackle. 2nd and 5 Indiana from its own 46: Chappell lines up in the pistol and hits Turner for 3 yards. 3rd and 2 Indiana from its own 49: Chappell lines up with 5 receivers and fails to get the play off as the first quarter comes to an end.

At the end of the first quarter, Illinois leads 10-7. Indiana is facing a 3rd-and-2 from its own 49.

Second Quarter

3rd and 2 Indiana from its own 49: Chappell lines up in the gun and its Demarlo Belcher for a first down.

1st and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 41: Chappell lines up in the pistol and hands off to Banks, who is mauled at the line of scrimmage by Akeem Spence. 2nd and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 41: Chappell lines up in the gun with 5 receivers and throws an incomplete pass off the hands of Doss, who was covered nicely by Martez Wilson. 3rd and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 41: Chappell lines up in the pistol and fires a pass out of bounds as Illinois brought some nice pressure. 4th and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 41: Chris Hagerup punts to the 8-yard line, where Jarred Fayson makes a fair catch.

Illinois will start with the ball deep in its own territory (the 8-yard-line) after the defense slowed down and stopped the Hoosiers.

1st and 10 Illinois from its own 8: Scheelhaase lines up under center and hands off to Leshoure for a gain of 11 yards.

1st and 10 Illinois from its own 19: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and hands off to Leshoure for no gain. 2nd and 10 Illinois from its own 19: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and avoids the Indiana rush by lofting an incomplete pass off of Leshoure’s hands. 3rd and 10 Illinois from its own 19: Scheelhaae lines up in the gun with two running backs and hits Jarred Fayson for about 8 yards. 4th and 2 Illinois from its own 27: Santella is in the game to punt and booms the ball inside the Indiana 30. That was a 46-yard punt from Santella.

Illinois’ offense stalls on that drive, picking up one first down before getting stopped by the Indiana defense, which did a nice job of bringing some pressure.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 25: Kiel is in the game and fumbles the ball on a keeper. Illinois linebacker Ian Thomas came up with the football after the Illini defense swarmed Kiel.

Ian Thomas comes up with a fumble recovery as Illinois forces its second turnover, setting up the Illini offense inside the Indiana 30-yard line for the second time in the half.

1st and 10 Illinois from the Indiana 23: Scheelhaase lines up in the pistol and pitches late to Jason Ford, who picks up 3 tough yards. 2nd and 7 Illinois from the IU 20: Ford runs to the short sideline for a tough two yards. 3rd and 5 Illinois from the IU 18: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and hits Jarred Fayson over the middle. Fayson avoids two tackles and runs into the end zone for a touchdown. Dimke makes the extra point, and Illinois leads 17-7 with 9:47 remaining in the first half.

Illinois takes a 17-7 lead as Scheelhaase picks up his second touchdown pass of the game, hitting Fayson on an 18-yard score.That touchdown was mostly all Fayson, who caught the short pass, avoided a couple of hits and then scampered into the end zone.

Dimke kicks off to the IU 20, where Duwyce Wilson makes the catch and falls out of bounds.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 21: Chappell lines up in the pistol and hands off to Burgess, who is smacked by Martez Wilson after a two yard run. 2nd and 8 Indiana from its own 23: Chappell lines up in the gun, but Indiana is confused and will take a timeout. 2nd and 8 Indiana from its own 23: Chappell hits Wilson for a quick gainer after Clay Nurse brought the pressure. 3rd and 2 Indiana from its own 29: Chappell lines up in the gun and hands off to Banks, who drags Ian Thomas for a first down.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 37: Chappell lines up in the pistol and hits Belcher for 7 yards. 2nd and 3 Indiana from its own 44: Chappell lines up in the gun and keeps the ball up the gut, running all the way to the Illinois 36 yard line.

1st and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 36: Chappell quickly snaps the ball and fires the pass over the head of Belcher. 2nd and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 36: Chappell lines up in the gun with 1 running back before the referee blows the whistle. The previous play is under review. Indiana is claiming that Illinois had 12 men on the field. Illinois looked to have 12 players on the field but the refs said the Illini were good. 2nd and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 36: Chappell lines up in the gun and throws the ball into the ground as a screen pass was sniffed out by Martez Wilson and Corey Liuget, who got good pressure. 3rd and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 36: Chappell lines up in the gun and fires a pass over the head of Doss. 4th and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 36: Indiana is going to go for it given the field position. Chappell lines up in the gun and fires a weak pass across his body that is picked off by Patrick Nixon-Youman, who returns the interception 68 yards for a touchdown. What a bad throw by Chappell! There is a flag on the play at the 10-yard line. Illinois is called for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play, on Joelil Thrash. The touchdown will stand. Dimke makes the extra point.

Illinois leads 24-7 with 7:07 remaining in the half following a 68-yard interception and touchdown return by Patrick Nixon-Youman. The Illini defense has forced 3 turnovers, and Illinois has scored 17 points off those IU mistakes. This interception was just a flat-out, bad decision by Chappell. Nixon-Youman showed his speed on the return.

Dimke will kick this ball from the Illinois 15-yard line following the unsportsmanlike penalty on Thrash. Dimke kicks the ball to the IU 20, where Doss catches the ball and returns it to the IU 35. Evan Frierson makes the tackle.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 35: Chappell lines up in the gun and hits Turner for two yards. 2nd and 8 Indiana from its own 37: Chappell hits Belcher for a first down.

1st and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 47: Chappell hits Wilson to the Illini 20-yard line. Indiana is quickly picking up the yards.

1st and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 20: Chappell hands off to Burgess for 3 yards. 2nd and 7 Indiana from the Illinois 17: Chappell lines up in the gun and hits Wilson in the end zone. However, Wilson was out of bounds and ran into the goalpost, dropping the ball. That looks like it hurt. Chappell is a man on a mission on this possession. This play will be reviewed. Wilson had a foot down before he hit the goalpost. Let’s see if he had possession. It looks like Wilson juggled the ball there. This call will be tough to overturn. The play stands as called — no catch. 3rd and 7 Indiana from the Illinois 17: Chappell lines up in the gun with one running back and hits Doss at the Illinois 4-yard line.

1st and Goal Indiana from the Illinois 4-yard line: Chappell lines up in the pistol and throws an incomplete pass as Clay Nurse blew him up with great pressure off the edge. No one picked up Nurse on that play and Chappell paid the price. 2nd and Goal Indiana from the Illinois 4: Chappell lines up in the gun and Indiana fails to get the play off in time. That will be a five yard penalty. 2nd and Goal Indiana from the Illinois 9: Chappell lines up in the gun and floats an incomplete pass in the end zone. Martez Wilson applied good coverage on that play. 3rd and Goal Indiana from the Illinois 9: Chappell lines up in the gun with 5 receivers and is sacked by Clay Nurse and Akeem Spence. There is a flag on the play. Nurse grabbed the face mask. That will be half the distance to the goal and a first down for Indiana.

1st and Goal Indiana from the Illinois 4: Chappell lines up in the pistol and hands off to Burgess for two yards. Martez Wilson and Michael Buchanan combined for the tackle. 2nd and Goal Indiana from the Illinois 2: Burgess runs up the gut for a yard before Trulon Henry and Corey Liuget made the tackle. 3rd and Goal Indiana from the Illinois 1: Chappell lines up in the gun and can’t hit fullback Max Dedmond, who was smacked by Travon Bellamy. 4th and Goal Indiana from the Illinois 1: Ewald makes a 19-yard field goal and Illinois leads 24-10 with 2:41 to go in the half.

Indiana cuts into the Illinois lead with a field goal, making it 24-10. Illinois will take that stand, however, stopping the Hoosiers on first and goal from the 4. As has been the case for most of the season, the Illini bent but did not break on defense.

Ewald kicks off to Troy Pollard, who catches the ball at the 9 and returns it 41 yards to the Indiana 48.

1st and 10 Illinois from the Indiana 48: Mikel Leshoure runs for a few yards. 2nd and 8 Illinois from the IU 46: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and keeps the ball for a run of 6 yards. 3rd and 2 Illinois from the Indiana 40: Scheelhaase hands off to Leshoure, who picks up a couple of yards and the first down.

1st and 10 Illinois from the IU 36 with 1:10 remaining: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and hits Fayson for a gain of about 7 yards. Illinois takes a timeout with 57 seconds left.

2nd and 3 Illinois from the IU 29: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and hits Leshoure for two yards. Leshoure is hit late out of bounds. Indiana is called for a personal foul.

1st and 10 Illinois from the IU 14: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and throws the ball out of the end zone after looking for A.J. Jenkins. 2nd and 10 Illinois from the IU 14: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and gets sacked by Indiana’s Leon Beckum for a loss of 7 yards. Illinois will take a timeout with 44 seconds left.

3rd and 17 Illinois from the IU 21: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and hits Spencer Harris for a short gain. 4th and 9 Illinois from the Indiana 13: Dimke is on for a 29-yard field goal, which he makes with 4 seconds left.

Illinois adds onto its lead as Dimke drills a field goal to give the Illini a 27-10 lead seconds before the break.Troy Pollard’s kickoff return was huge on that drive.

Dimke squibs one to the Indiana 14 yard line where IU falls on the ball with 3 seconds left.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 14: Chappell takes the knee to end the half.

Illinois leads 27-10 at the break, with the Illini defense and special teams proving to be key. Illinois has 17 points off turnovers, Troy Pollard had a big return that set up a field goal, and Derek Dimke is a perfect 2-for-2 on field goal attempts.

Third Quarter

Illinois will receive the ball first. Can the Illini generate some second-half offense and put this game away quickly?

Egwald kicks off to Pollard, who catches the ball at the 6 and brings it out to the 39 yard line.

1st and 10 Illinois from its own 39: Scheelhaase hands off to Leshoure for five yards. 2nd and 5 Illinois from its own 44: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and hands off to Leshoure for two yards. 3rd and 3 Illinois from its own 46: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and throws a fastball off Fayson’s hands. That should have been caught. 4th and 3 Illinois from its own 46: Santella punts to the IU 15, where Doss calls a fair catch.

The Illini start the second half with a three and out. Fayson should have caught a third-down pass that would have kept the possession alive.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 15: Chappell lines up in the gun and has his pass deflected by Michael Buchanan. That could have been Chappell’s third interception of the game. 2nd and 10 Indiana from its own 15: Burgess runs for 7 yards before Travon Bellamy pushes him out of bounds. 3rd and 3 Indiana from its own 22: Chappell lines up in the gun and has his pass to Doss fall incomplete. Trulon Henry provided great coverage on that play, and the Illini got great pressure up front. 4th and 3 Indiana from its own 22: Hagerup has his punt blocked by Martez Wilson. Indiana recovers but is tackled at the 21.

The Illini special teams comes up with another big play as Martez Wilson blocks the punt. Illinois will get the ball at the IU 21. The Illini defense has set the Illinois offense up yet again. Can the Illini get in the end zone?

1st and 10 Illinois from the IU 21: Scheelhaase runs up the gut for about 9 yards but fumbles the ball. Indiana’s Donnell Jones recovers the fumble. That play will be reviewed but stay with Indiana.

Illinois turns the ball over right after Martez Wilson’s blocked punt.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 7: Chappell lines up in the gun and throws a rainbow pass out of bounds as Corey Liuget got great pressure. 2nd and 10 Indiana from its own 7: Chappell lines up in the pistol and hits Turner for a gain of 5 yards. 3rd and 5 Indiana from its own 12 yards: Chappell lines up in the gun and is sacked by Corey Liuget at the 7-yard line. That was great pressure all around by the Illini. 4th and 10 Indiana from its own 7: Hagerup is lining up to punt and is blocked again, this time by Nate Bussey. Indiana recovers the ball in the end zone and Illinois gets the safety.

Illinois blocks another IU punt, with Nate Bussey getting pressure and forcing a safety. Illinois leads 29-10 with 11:08 to go in the third quarter.

Illinois will start with the ball at its own 47 after the kick off by Indiana was recovered by Bud Golden.

1st and 10 Illinois from its own 47: Scheelhaase hands off to Leshoure to the short side of the field for no gain. 2nd and 10 Illinois from its own 47: Wide receiver Eddie McGee is in at quarterback for Scheelhaase. McGee lines up in the gun and runs to the Indiana 40-yard line.

1st and 10 Illinois from the Indiana 40: McGee lines up in the gun and hands off to Jason Ford for a gain of about 7 yards. 2nd and 3 Illinois from the Indiana 33: McGee lines up in the gun and hands the ball to Ford, who gains 4 yards for a first down.

1st and 10 Illinois from the Indiana 29: Scheelhaase is back in at quarterback and hands to McGee for a loss of 2 yards. 2nd and 12 Illinois from the Indiana 31: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun, rolls out and fires the ball out of bounds. That was good coverage by the Hoosiers. 3rd and 12 Illinois from the Indiana 31: Scheelhaase lines up in the gun and hits Fred Sykes for a few yards. 4th and 5 Illinois from the Indiana 25: Dimke drills a 41-yard field. However, there is a flag on the play. Illinois is called for holding, specifically Zak Pedersen. That will push the Illini back 10 yards. 4th and 15 Illinois from the 35: Dimke will attempt a 51-yard field goal. The kick has the distance but is just wide left.

An Illinois penalty wipes out a 41-yard field goal by Dimke, who shows he’s human when just missing a 51-yarder on the next play. Illinois leads 29-10 with 7:24 to go.

1st and 10 Indiana from its own 35: Chappell lines up in the gun and hands off to Banks for 10 yards.

1st and 10 Indiana from the Illinois 44: Banks runs for three yards as Patrick Nixon-Youman makes the tackle.

Alright. The rest of the game was covered during live blogging, beginning near the top of page one.

Writing Illini will review the IU game on Monday.

Until then.