#23 Illinois Takes Down Purdue in Overtime to Claim The Cannon, Move to 5-1

Game Recap: Football | October 12, 2024

RECAP

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 23 Illinois took down Purdue in overtime, 50-49, on Saturday evening to take back The Cannon and remain undefeated at Memorial Stadium this season.

Pat Bryant hauled in the go-ahead touchdown in overtime before Dylan Rosiek sacked the Purdue quarterback on the Boilermakers’ two-point conversion to seal the victory.

Luke Altmyer threw for a career-high 379 yards and recorded four total touchdowns – three passing and one rushing – while going 20-for-34 on his pass attempts. Altmyer also tallied 60 yards on the ground, including a 37-yard gain in the fourth quarter.

Josh McCray finished with three total touchdowns, two on the ground in addition to the first receiving score of his career. He collected 124 total yards of offense, and he ran for 78 yards on 16 carries, both of which were team-best marks.

Pat Bryant amassed 104 receiving yards on his four catches, while Zakhari Franklin notched his first touchdown as an Illini to go along with four receptions and 60 yards.

David Olano went 3-for-3 on his field-goal attempts, including a 49-yard kick for his longest make of the day.

The victory sets up No. 23 Illinois (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) for a matchup against No. 24 Michigan (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) next week at Memorial Stadium. The sold-out contest against the Wolverines marks the Illini’s Rededication Game, with the game set to kick off on Oct. 19 at 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.

HIGHLIGHTS

PRESS CONFERENCE

POSTGAME NOTES

Team Notes

• Illinois is 5-1 for the second time in four years under Bret Bielema (2022).
  • Illinois is 5-1 or better for the fifth time since 2000 (2001, 2007, 2011, 2022, 2024).
  • Illinois is 5-1 with two AP Top 25 wins for the first time since 1990.
  • Illinois is 5-1 or better with two AP Top 25 wins for the fifth time in program history (1950, 1951, 1983, 1990, 2024).

• Illinois has matched its win total from last season (5).
• Bret Bielema is the third coach in Illinois history to have 5+ wins in each of his first four seasons in Champaign, joining John Mackovic (1988-91) and Lou Tepper (1992-95).
  • Bielema is the first Illini coach to have two 5-1 starts during his first four seasons since John Mackovic in 1989 and 1990.

• Bret Bielema improved to 4-0 in overtime games as Illinois head coach.
• The 2024 Illinois schedule has rematches against six opponents that the Illini faced in 2023. The Illini are now 3-1 in rematch games against Kansas, Nebraska, Penn State, and Purdue. Illinois was 0-4 against those teams last season.
  • Through Illinois’ first four rematch games, the Illini have flipped the score of those results dramatically in their favor, with a 17-point turnaround against Kansas, a 20-point turnaround against Nebraska, and a 26-point turnaround against Purdue.

• The Illini snapped a four-game losing skid against the Boilermarkers while also defeating Purdue at Memorial Stadium for the first time since 2010.
  • The 50 points scored by the Illini are also the most ever scored against the Boilermakers.
  • The 99 combined points are also the most in series history.

• The Illini have improved to 3-0 this season in one-score games and are also 8-3 in such contests since 2023.
• Illinois kicked a field goal on its opening drive and have now scored on its first possession in five-straight games (3 TDs, 2 FG)

Player Notes

• QB Luke Altmyer completed 20 of his 34 passes for 379 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing 10 times for 60 yards and one score.
  • His 379 passing yards are a season high…third game this season with at least three touchdown passes.
  • Has 14 passing touchdowns this season, surpassing his total in the 2023 campaign (13).
  • Threw for 215 yards in the first half, a career-high mark for passing yards in any half.
  • Rushed for his first touchdown of the season in the fourth quarter.

• RB Josh McCray rushed 16 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns.
  • Rushed for two touchdowns in a game for the first time in his career…also posted the first three-score game of his career.
    • Recorded his second rushing touchdown of the season in the first quarter…sixth-career rushing score.

  • First-career touchdown reception in the second quarter.

• WR Pat Bryant caught four passes for 104 yards and a touchdown.
  • Has seven touchdown catches on the season and 16 in his Illini career, fourth-most in program history.
  • His 104 receiving yards are a season-high mark and his second 100-yard game of the season.
  • Has recorded at least one reception in 18-straight games.
    • Has at least three catches in all six games this season.

• WR Zakhari Franklin caught four passes for 60 yards and a touchdown.
  • Caught his first touchdown in his Illini career in the second quarter.

• WR Collin Dixon caught two passes for 69 yards.
  • Hauled in a 41-yard reception in the first quarter, a career long.
  • Entered the game with five receptions for 68 yards in his career.

QUOTES

Opening statement:

“I’m super excited for our guys with the resiliency they showed. I knew going into this game that these guys were going to put up a fight. You’ve seen at times when you let a team hang around like that you get exactly what happened tonight. It sounds incredible to say, but I think that was the best thing that could have ever happened to us. To be up like that and have it start to go the other way, then show the resiliency to make plays at the end.”

 

“Luke Altmyer continues to be so impressive in plus situations with Pat Bryant. On the defensive side we got banged up, Xavier Scott hurt himself in pregame and I don’t think it’s going to affect him more than a couple of days. Then his backup Tyler Strain got banged up during the game, so Tyson Rooks came in. There were a lot of guys stepping up with the way the game played out. I thought Dylan Rosiek was great.”

 

“I called it when they won the coin toss. I told Tanner Arkin I wanted to keep our defense on the sideline and go through some calls. I told the defense ‘our offense is going to score and go for one, but when Purdue gets it if they score they’re going to go for two.’ We called their two-point play before our offense even stepped on the field. There was a calmness in our defensive staff with shooting Rosiek up the middle and if there’s one guy who I know who’s going to make that tackle it’s him and he has plenty of them.”

 

“I’m super excited, obviously this game this week means a lot for people. It honors a stadium being rededicated 100 years later than one day and a great player not just in Illinois history but college football history. To have the Big Ten working with us to give Michigan the opportunity to come here in this region. I think it’s going to be special. Josh Whitman and I literally talked about this game within the first two days of meeting each other and talked about what was coming up.”

 

“I’m just super excited for our guys, we’ll take this one and recover with a lot of good preparation on Sunday putting this game to bed. We did enough bad things today to give them a game. Most games are lost before they’re won, at halftime I told them the only way they get back in it is if we turn the ball over and give up big plays. Both of those things happened way too fast in the middle of the third quarter, so a lot to learn from but super excited to be where we are. I say 1-0 all the time, but to be 5-1 heading into this Michigan week with two ranked teams in Memorial Stadium is what it’s all about.”

 

On Luke Altmyer:

“Luke is so confident even during the coin toss in overtime he’s looking at me calling it to go down by the student section because he wanted to be in that end zone. He’s thinking a lot more than what’s in front of him and that’s the impressive part. He makes great plays with his head, his hands, his feet, and his touch on the ball. He does a really good job of coordinating out there on the field getting guys lined up. He’s super impressive.”

 

On David Olano:

“David is an extremely confident young man. I remember watching him kick in high school when he came here for camp. I was asking him where to spot the ball and he kept giving me the answer before I even asked him. That’s what his mom and dad raised, he’s a guy that’s very confident and performs at a high level. When I come over and ask him before the game what’s the number he can hit from, and he nails it right out the gate. I think the competition between him and Ethan Moczulski is good. There’s a lot of college teams that would love to have one of our two guys. The good news is we got them both for now and it’s a lot of fun to have them.” 

 

On Josh McCray:

“Josh was literally my first offer; I called him and offered him a scholarship, so he always means a lot to me. He’s gone through so much that people don’t have any idea about and he continues to persevere. Here’s a guy his freshman year who ran for 700 yards and has a knee bruise that keeps him out of eight games his second year. He has a neck issue that takes him out for the season. He sees all these other running backs come in Kaden Feagin, Aidan Laughrey, and Ca’Lil Valentine; everyone’s writing about all those other guys and not him and he continues to persevere. It’s a one-handed catch against Nebraska, a flat route today in the first half, a tough one-yard run near the end zone to score. He continues to battle through as a young man who lost his mom early in life and was raised by his grandma. Unfortunately, he lost her before I ever met him. He gets beat down but keeps getting back up so I couldn’t be prouder of him today.”

On how he remains calm:

“I have trust in the preparation and understanding what we’re going to see from the defense and the red zone offense for these overtime situations. Whether it’s running down field or putting the ball up in these situations, we practice it all the time. At the end of the day, it’s about every guy doing their job.”

 

On his thoughts when Purdue went for two in overtime:

“I have trust in my defense and we constantly practice these situations. It was so cool to see them do it in that fashion. I knew we had to create pressure and Dylan made an incredible sack.”

On changes in the second half:

“The first half they ran a lot of what we expected. In the second half they went into plays that challenged our eyes. They’re good scheme plays. We have to have our eyes in better places, we have to be able to adjust and be ready.”

On the team’s feelings going into the game:

“I think it was personal for a lot of guys on this team. Last year’s game left a sour taste in our mouth, and obviously, the Cannon hasn’t been to Champaign in a while. A lot of guys took it personally.”

On how the offense responded on the final drive of regulation:

“It’s a Big Ten game, no matter where you are playing or who you are playing, you must go out there and fight. Coach B told us to start fast and finish even stronger. That’s what we went out there and did. I did not want anybody to have a sad face, and our emotions were up and down, but we did a great job keeping our composure.”

 

 On the offenses composure with Luke at QB:

“Luke does a great job, and his character has built so much being a starting quarterback in the Big Ten. Throughout the whole game, I never saw his facial expression change. I had a sad face because I felt like we were not playing good football, but he kept coming in and telling us to keep our composure. That’s a huge goal for him, coming through the whole offensive sideline keeping our spirits high and him just having faith in us.”

On his relationship with Coach Bielema:

“He’s the one that recruited me. Knowing that he’s got my back, and I’ve got his means a lot to me.”

On what changed in the second half:

“I just relied on my rules and principles. I went back to doing what we do at practice each and every day.”