The Illini got off to an extremely ugly start in this game. They were down 31-0 at the end of the first half with quarterback Jeff George completing zero of his seven passes.
Illinois lost that first half, but what really impressed me is how they came out in the second half.
In the second half, Illinois only lost 10-8. If they would have played like this in the first half then I think this game would have been much closer.
The reason it was a better game in the second half was because of how the team played overall.