No. 23 Illinois survived a near-disastrous second half collapse on Saturday to get a 50-49 win in overtime over visiting Purdue. Quarterback Luke Altmyer registered one of the best games of his career to lead Illinois to the win.
Altmyer connected with Pat Bryant for a 25-yard touchdown touchdown in overtime. Purdue answered on its OT possession, but Dylan Rosiek sacked Purdue’s Ryan Browne on a 2-point conversion attempt to seal the win for Illinois.
Illinois improves and is now one game away from bowl eligibility. Illinois is 5-1 for the second time in four years under Bret Bielema. The Illini snapped a four-game losing skid against the Boilermakers while also defeating Purdue at Memorial Stadium for the first time since 2010.
"I'm super excited for our guys" Illini coach Bret Bielema said. "Going into this game, I knew it was going to be a fight. If you let a team stay around like that, you get exactly what happened. To be that fortunate to have that bad of football played and to come out and still win it, that's something that good teams do and I think we are a good team."
It wasn't easy. Trailing 24-3 at halftime, the Boilermakers mounted a furious rally, scoring on all six of its possessions in the second half and in overtime and besting Illinois 40-19 in the second half.
The final score in regulation came after Purdue recovered an onside kick. Running back Devin Mockobee caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Browne and a successful two-point conversion gave Purdue a 43-40 lead with :46 seconds on the clock.
Browne, a redshirt freshman making his first career start in place of the injured Hudson Card rushed for 118 yards on 17 carries and completed 18 of 26 passes for 297 yards and three TDs after throwing for just 9 yards in the first half.
David Olano tied the game at 43 on a 38-yard field goal to culminate a 43-yard desperation drive. Altmyer completed passes of 38 and 28 yards to move Illinois within range for Olano.
Altmyer made plays with his arm and his feet. The junior quarterback went 20-for-34 for a career high 379 yards and three touchdowns, and also tallied 60 yards on the ground, including a 37-yard gain in the fourth quarter.
"We put our team in good position to keep on scoring, keep chipping away, to keep on finding ways to put points on the board," Altmyer said. "It wasn't always pretty but what's special about this team is we find a way. We don't ever shy away from adversity."
The Boilermakers scored two TDs in eight seconds in the third quarter on a 53-yard pass from Browne to Jahmal Edrine and a sack of Altmyer by Nyland Green that caused a fumble that Will Heldt returned 16 yards for TD.
After Browne threw a 62-yard strike to Klare on a double-reverse flea flicker, a 24-yard field goal by Spencer Porath made it 27-20. Altmyer ended Purdue’s surge with a 13-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter.
The Boilermakers responded with an 8-yard TD pass from Browne to Jaron Tibbs and a 2-point conversion pass from Browne to Klare, but McCray scored on a 3-yard run to make it 40-28 with 5:26 to go in regulation.
Purdue cut the lead to 40-35 with 1:35 left on a 2-yard TD run by Mockobee. The Purdue running back topped the century mark with 102 rushing yards.
The Illini appeared to have the game well in hand after two quick scores to end the first half. Zakhari Franklin caught an 8-yard touchdown pass from Atmyer on the first play after the 2-minute timeout.
Illinois then took advantage of a miscue by Purdue on special teams. The subsequent kickoff landed short and was recovered by Illinois backup linebacker Luke Zardzin at the Purdue 25-yard line.
Josh McCray, who collected 124 total yards of offense, plunged in for one of his three touchdowns to give Illinois a commanding halftime advantage.
The victory sets up Illinois for a ranked matchup against No. 24 Michigan (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) next week at Memorial Stadium.
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