This wasn’t an easy win for the Illini. In fact, they found themselves down 17-3 at halftime. Many people thought things were looking bleak heading into the third quarter, but Lovie Smith and the Illinois football team gelled in the second half and pushed their way to a 31-24 victory.
Honestly, as cliché as it sounds, this was a tale of two halves. Illinois didn’t look good in the first half. Their offense wasn’t clicking. They didn’t seem like they had much chemistry. Quarterback AJ Bush had moments where he was a talented quarterback, but things just seemed to go wrong.