The Illinois football team did something on Saturday that Illini fans haven’t seen in a long time.
Illinois welcomed in Minnesota to Memorial Stadium and then put up 55 points against this Golden Gophers program. The offensive power the Illini showed on Saturday was extremely encouraging. They were clicking in every aspect of the game and it showed on the scoreboard.
Minnesota kept the game close through the first half, though. After the first quarter, the Golden Gophers were only down seven points after two big Illinois touchdown runs and a Minnesota drive that picked apart the Illini defense.
The score was within three points in the second quarter until AJ Bush hit Ricky Smalling on a 10-yard pass and he took it the distance for a 67-yard touchdown. Minnesota tacked on a field goal and it was 24-17 at halftime.
Illinois came out of the halftime locker room firing. They put a touchdown on the board after a great stop by the defense. This touchdown was followed by two more touchdowns and just like that, Illinois had a 28-point lead.
The game ended up being 55-31 with the Illini coming away with a win. This was a great showing by the Illini. They really started to put stuff together and, hopefully, we can continue to see that happen the rest of the season.
Here are five observations from the Illini win over Minnesota.