After two comprehensive losses to North Carolina and Butler, the Illini looked to get back to the winning ways they had during the first weekend of the season. However, with Xavier coming to Urbana with a perfect record of 4-0, this looked to be a tough task for this Illini squad.
It looked to be extremely tough out of the gates. The Musketeers were on the front foot from kickoff, keeping the Illini penned in on their side of the field. This led to some bad giveaways from the Illini in dangerous positions for Xavier, and eventually the Musketeers cashed in.