Illinois Football: Illini end great season with heartbreaker to Mississippi State

The Illinois football team fell to a Mississippi State game-winning field goal in the ReliaQuest Bowl, finishing 8-5 for the 2022 season.

The Illini looked to cap off its best season with a victory in the ReliaQuest Bowl. For 58 minutes, it very much looked that way, as Illinois held a slim 10-3 lead against Mississippi State. Behind two interceptions, one from Matthew Bailey and the other from Kendall Smith, the Orange and Blue defense continued to showcase why it was the nation’s best in 2022.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to hold off the Bulldogs, who played with a heavy heart after the passing of Mike Leach just weeks before the game.

The Bulldogs kicked a go-ahead field goal in the final seconds before putting the icing on the cake with an interception for a touchdown during a desperation lateral play from the Illini.

Early in the fourth quarter, Will Rogers found Justin Robinson for an 8-yard score to tie the game, but the Illini offense failed to capitalize and score once more to go ahead for good, as they finished with 253 passing yards but only managed 35 yards on the ground as a team in the absence of Chase Brown.

Even with the loss, head coach Bret Bielema sees a lot of positives as he’ll enter his third offseason in Champaign with some new faces.

"”Last year, we didn’t go to a bowl, this year we’re going to a January bowl game playing an SEC program,” Bielema said after the game. “This is not where we will settle. This is hopefully a springboard for what’s to come. Very thankful to get here to the ReliaQuest Bowl and have this opportunity. We were trying to get to a nine-win season and obviously fell short. I think we did a lot of good things, but I think it’s OK to be disappointed in the end because of how close we were to doing some even bigger things.”"

Uncommon in previous years, Illinois was competitive in every game, as all five losses, including a stunner against No. 2 Michigan in November, saw them lose by just one possession, minus the lateral play at the end of the bowl game. The Illini showcased it could compete against the best in the Big Ten and college football.

"“Michigan State, Purdue and Michigan were all three very tough games that all played out a little differently in the end,” Bielema said. “Michigan, there was a big fourth-down call, Purdue there was a play before the half that flipped the script, and Michigan State there was one game that we just didn’t play well. We kept it close because we were a good football team but we were not playing well that day. Obviously it’s a tough one today. Defensive battle that probably came down to who had the ball last and was able to execute, and unfortunately we came up just short.”"

The Illinois football program will look ahead to 2023.

Illinois will look to build off a three-win swing in 2022 with a new quarterback and defensive coordinator as the two key storylines entering 2023.

The Illini will visit Kansas in early September and rematch Wisconsin and Indiana at home for homecoming and Dad’s Weekend in what should be a critical stretch of the Big Ten schedule.

For now, though, there are a lot of positives to take away from the best season since 2007. Onto next year.