On Saturday, Illinois beat Charlotte 24-14 at Memorial Stadium to end a four-game losing streak. Running back Chase Brown and defensive lineman Keith Randolph each had big plays in the second half, which helped the Illini get some breathing room.

Brown, who made his first start since the Illini’s blow loss to Virginia in their third game of the season, ran for 257-yards on 26 carries. The 257 yards are the fourth-most yards in a single game in school history behind Mikel Leshoure (330 yards in 2010 at Northwestern), Robert Holcombe (315 yards in 1996 at Minnesota), Howard Griffith (263 yards in 1990 vs. Northwestern).

“I didn’t even know until after the game,” Brown said of his record-setting performance.

The highlight of the day for Brown – and Illinois – was an 80-yard run down the east sideline of Memorial Stadium. After Charlotte missed a field goal that would have tied the game at 17. Instead, Charlotte’s kicker Jonathon Cruz missed his 39-yard attempt wide right.

Next thing Charlotte knows, they are chasing Brown down the sideline on the first play from scrimmage after the special team’s miscues. According to head coach Bret Bielema, it was a play designed by offensive coordinator Tony Petersen with input from tight ends coach Ben Miller and offensive line coach Bart Miller.

“That touchdown run was an adjustment to a formation by the coaches that they identified in the course of the game,” Bielema said. “They went through it in the sideline preparation. I heard Tony guiding the preparation with Ben and Bart. We thought it would be a big hit. I don’t know if we thought it would for that distance, but I think you really saw the skillset of what Chase Brown has.”

This was the first week this season that Illinois had the luxury of Brown practicing all week along with other top back Josh McCray due to Brown’s shoulder injury that he suffered in the first week of training camp. On Saturday, Brown and McCray combined for over 300 yards rushing on 42 attempts.

“I was excited because this week, I knew he got cleared early in the week,” Bielema said. “We went full game plan on him and to have Josh, Jakari [Norwood] and even Reggie [Love] in that mix to have a full week of preparation.”

Brown’s impressive performance puts him among the greatest Illini running backs in school history, like Red Grange, Mikel LeShoure, Rashard Mendenhall and Jim Grabowski. It hasn’t come easy.

“I’m blessed to be in the position that I am,” Brown said. “I work my ass off. I work really hard. Coach has been pushing us really hard. (Running backs coach) Cory Paterson, those late-night meetings with him and just going through pass protection and all of that. I feel like it’s all paying off.”

Defensively, Keith Randolph was back at 100 percent after making his return against Purdue last week from a leg injury. Randolph got the start at defensive tackle on Saturday against Charlotte and he didn’t disappoint.

The Belleville, Ill., native had three tackles, but more impressive was his interception in the third quarter. It was the first interception of Randolph’s career at Illinois, but it was also the first interception in his entire football career.

“It’s the first one I’ve ever had in my life,” Randolph, a former high school football and basketball star said. “The thing is, it looked like a basketball. It was flipping, it looked like a circle. I’m going to have to tell my kids about this.”

Randolph continued to joke that he would tell his kids that he caught it with one hand and that he returned it to the endzone for a touchdown, both of which are untrue. But that the joking tone that Randolph took after the game about his big-play really summarizes the personality that Randolph plays with.

“Freshman year and my second year here, I was so focused on the football part of doing my job, and I realized that at the end of the day you are playing football,” Randolph said. “You’re supposed to have fun. A lot of people will be dialed in, but you have to have fun sometimes. I’ve tried to bring that to the team.”

During the week, Randolph’s playful manner also got a smile out of his head coach.

“I remember, I was kind of pissy the other day in practice,” Bielema said. “He came up by and slapped me on the backside and looked at me. He knew I needed it. That’s the fun part of my job, I’m just getting to know these guys.”

Randolph didn’t have an impressive return against Purdue, but he made his presence known against Charlotte and he felt like he was close to 100 percent health again, and he’ll look to build on his performance against Wisconsin next week.

“Getting a win is hard, you want to enjoy it,” Randolph said. “But the 24-hour rule. Tomorrow, I might think about it a little bit, but our focus is on Wisconsin, of course. The win is great, but we have to get more Big Ten wins.”