Illinois tight end Tanner Arkin sidesteps a tackle by Michigan’s Semaj Morgan on a fake punt that sparked the Illini to a win over Michigan in a top-25 Big Ten matchup.
Charles Rex Arbogast | AP photo
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Luke Altmyer threw for a touchdown and ran for another, leading No. 22 Illinois to a 21-7 victory over No. 24 Michigan on Saturday.
The Illini wore 1924 throwback uniforms to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Red Grange’s six-touchdown performance against Michigan on the day Memorial Stadium was dedicated.
Tanner Arkin caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Altmyer in the second quarter and raced 36 yards on a fake punt in the third to set up Altmyer’s 1-yard TD run.
Illinois (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten) beat Michigan for the first time since 2009. The Illini had lost six straight to the Wolverines (4-3, 2-2).
Defending national champion Michigan scored its fewest points since 2014 and has lost back-to-back games for the first time since 2020.
Jabe Jacas had 13 tackles, including six solo and 2.5 of the Illini’s five sacks of Jack Tuttle, and forced a fumble.
Altmyer was just 9-of-18 passing for 80 yards. He also ran for 48 yards on 10 carries.
“This is what I came here for,” said fourth-year Illinois coach Bret Bielema. “I’ve heard so many times about things we haven’t done here. Leave the past in the past. Let’s move forward.
“For this first time, I felt like we had a home-field advantage today. I want today to be the standard. We had a crowd that affected the game.”
A sellout crowd of 60,670 turned out for the stadium rededication and celebration of Grange and the Illini’s 39-14 win over the previously unbeaten Wolverines in 1924. Grange, the greatest player of his time and known as the “Galloping Ghost,” scored four touchdowns in the first 12 minutes of that game. In a nod to him and his teammates, the Illini of 2024 wore uniforms reflecting the style of that era complete with helmets that had the appearance of leather helmets.
Tuttle, Michigan’s third starting quarterback this season, was 20 of 32 for 208 yards. Kalel Mullings rushed for 87 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown and Colston Loveland had seven catches for 83 yards.
Not including the pandemic season, Michigan is out to its worst start since 2014 after having made the College Football Playoff three straight years.
“Playoffs? That’s out of the picture for us,” Loveland said. “Now we just have to start wrecking people’s seasons. But this is unacceptable. We’re letting a lot of people down.”
The Illini opened the second half with Arkins’ long run on the fake punt. He grabbed the snap headed to punter Hugh Robertson and ran to the Michigan 16.
Altmyer’s touchdown four plays later, and Donovan Leary’s two-point pass to Zakhari Franklin made it 21-7. Leary, the Illini backup quarterback, was in for conversion play because Altmyer’s helmet fell off during his TD run.
“We were waiting for the right opportunity and the right moment,” Bielema said about the fake punt. “We repped it for two weeks. Henry Boyer and T.J. McMullen had big blocks to spring Tanner.”
The Illini led 13-7 at half and could have been further ahead. They drove deep into Michigan territory five times but scored just one touchdown on the pass from Altmyer to Arkin and David Alano’s two field goals.
Michigan crossed into Illinois territory for the first time late in the first half and scored on Mullings’ 1-yard dive on fourth down with 1:40 left in the second quarter.
No. 16 INDIANA 56, NEBRASKA 7
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Justice Ellison ran for 105 yards and two first-half touchdowns and Indiana continued its best start in 57 years with arout of Nebraska, matching the Hoosiers’ most lopsided Big Ten win in program history.
Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke injured his right (throwing) hand and was on the sideline in street clothes in the second half. Tayven Jackson replaced him for the rest of the game.
“A little thumb thing, I feel good about it, I really do,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said of Rourke. “It was precautionary (to take him out).”
The Hoosiers (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) have yet to trail this season and each victory has been by double digits. The 49-point margin of victory was the biggest in conference play since a 49-0 win at Minnesota in 1945. The last time Indiana started with seven consecutive wins was 1967, when it opened 8-0.
Cignetti is the first coach in program history to win his first seven games. He’s never had a losing season in 14 years as a head coach.
“I’m not going to let ‘em get complacent, and not the coaches, either,” Cignetti said. “I was a maniac in the fourth quarter.”
The Cornhuskers (5-2, 3-2) were supposed to be the stiffest opposition to date for Indiana. But the only defense in the country to not allow a rushing touchdown surrendered five, including Ellison’s 5-yard TD on the opening possession.
MARYLAND 29, USC 28
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Miller Moss threw an interception in the third quarter, the defense allowed two touchdown drives in the fourth — including one after a blocked field goal — and USC blew another late lead to extend its season-sinking skid to three.
The Trojans (3-4, 1-4 Big Ten) have lost their four games by a combined 14 points — all after being ahead in the fourth. This time, they were up 28-14 before collapsing in excruciating fashion.
Michael Lantz’s field goal attempt with two minutes left that would have sealed the game was blocked by Maryland’s Donnell Brown, and a costly pass interference penalty on John Humphrey on the ensuing drive paved the way for Billy Edwards Jr.’s go-ahead 3-yard touchdown run with 53 seconds left. Moss’ incomplete pass on fourth down with 11 seconds remaining ended it, and fans stormed the field to celebrate after the first meeting between the schools.
The Terrapins (4-3, 1-3) overcame some miscues that could have added up to another deflating defeat. Instead, Roman Hemby’s TD run and the ensuing 2-point conversion set the stage for a double-digit comeback.
Edwards was 39 of 50 for a career-high 373 yards and TD passes to Octavian Smith Jr. and Tai Felton. Kaden Prather had a career-best nine catches and 111 yards receiving, and Lavain Scruggs made the momentum-shifting play of the game by picking off Moss and returning it 51 yards to set up a score late in the third quarter.
USC kept making self-inflicted errors, capped off by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Mason Cobb on the extra point that put Maryland ahead.
Moss finished 34 of 50 for 336 yards with TD passes to Ja’Kobi Lane, Kyron Hudson and Duce Robinson. The Trojans allowed the Terrapins to rack up 429 yards of offense.
UCLA 35, RUTGERS 32
PISCATAWAY, N.J.— Ethan Garbers set carreer highs with four touchdowns passes, 383 yards throwing and a 49-yard TD run on Saturday, leading UCLA to its first Big Ten Conference victory with a 35-32 decision over slumping Rutgers that ended a five-game losing streak.
Garbers completed 32 of 38 passes and connected on scoring passes of 5-yards to Logan Loya, 22 to T.J. Harden, 67 to Keegan Jones and 9 to New Jersey product Jalen Berger as UCLA (2-5, 1-4) handed the Scarlet Knights (4-3, 1-3) its third straight loss.
UCLA can into the game as the only team in FBS to not have scored 20 points in a game this season. That streak was over by halftime as UCLA took a 21-10 lead. Garbers threw two TDs and had his long scramble as Eric Bieniemy’s offense finally figured things out for coach DeShaun Foster.
The Bruins, who gained a season-high 478 yards, had not had a six-game losing streak since the end of the 2017 season and the start of 2018.
Defending conference rushing champion Kyle Monangai’s third touchdown got Rutgers within 35-32, but Grant Gray recovered the onside kick and UCLA ran out the clock.
WISCONSIN 23, NORTHWESTERN 3
EVANSTON, Ill. — Tawee Walker ran for 126 yards in another big performance, Braedyn Locke threw for a touchdown and ran for a score, and Wisconsin beat Northwestern 23-3 on Saturday.
The Badgers (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) came away with another easy win, locking down the Wildcats (3-4, 1-3) after pummeling Purdue and Rutgers by a combined 94-13.
Walker, coming off a career-best 198-yard outburst against Rutgers, delivered again. He carried 23 times, including a 24-yarder that helped set up Wisconsin’s first TD, facing a defense that was ninth in the nation against the run.