Illinois Blows 14-Point Lead In Loss To Wisconsin On Homecoming
For three quarters, Illinois looked like they were headed toward a second straight victory against Wisconsin.
And then the fourth quarter happened.
The Fighting Illini were outscored by 18 points in the final 12 minutes in a 25-21 loss Saturday on Homecoming. The Badgers scored the winning points on a three-yard touchdown pass from Braedyn Locke to lineman Nolan Rucci with 27 seconds remaining.
"Obviously, this is a very tough one to swallow," Illinois coach Bret Bielema said. "I give a lot of credit to the fans. The Homecoming crowd out there today was absolutely awesome. I really thought we did enough to win this game with our preparation; the guys were into it and locked in. I really thought offense, defense, and special teams, I felt good about the plan coming in. We had a lot of guys stepping into new roles, new opportunities."
The Illini could do no wrong while building a 21-7 lead through three quarters. Quarterback Luke Altmyer threw a pair of touchdowns passes while also running for 103 yards. Running back Kaden Feagin, who rushed for 97 yards, scored on a 12-yard run to give the Illini a 21-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
It was the final highlight for Illinois.
The Badgers dominated the fourth quarter behind Locke, who completed 21 of 41 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns. The Illini now have a bye week to search for answers for the struggles.
"The flow of the game was very frustrating," Bielema said. "One thing we have now is a bye week to gather our thoughts. We have a four-game schedule. We have all Big Ten teams in front of us. We obviously have to take it one game at a time."
Shandel Richardson is the publisher for Illini Now. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com.