Illinois manhandles Michigan’s offense in 21-7 win

CHAMPAIGN — The “Galloping Ghost” couldn’t have done it any better.

Well, maybe a little better.

One hundred years and a day after Illinois icon Red Grange scored five touchdowns, threw for another and picked off two passes in a win against Michigan that marked the formal dedication of Memorial Stadium, the No. 22 Illini took down the Maize and Blue again, stifling the No. 24 Wolverines 21-7.

It was the first game here in which both teams were ranked since Illinois lost to Michigan all the way back in 2000 and the Illini’s first home win in such a game since 1991 against Ohio State. The day was a centennial celebration, with the Illini wearing 1920s-style uniforms and hand-painted helmets made to appear of leather, but in the end it was just a 2024 football game in which the home team — higher in the polls, yet the underdog — stamped itself as legit as it improved to 6-1.

Michigan, the defending national champion, dropped to 4-3, its chances of making the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff field utterly shot. Michigan’s six-game winning streak against Illinois also was snapped.

There was one big play after another by an Illini defense that got torched a week earlier in a 50-49 overtime win against lowly Purdue.

This time, outside linebacker Gabe Jacas, who was electric, lit up quarterback Jack Tuttle on a second-quarter scramble, causing a fumble that led to an Illini field goal for a 6-0 lead. Later in the quarter, a Miles Scott interception was reversed because of defensive holding call, but Scott recovered a fumble caused by Matthew Bailey two plays after that, leading to the game’s first touchdown.

Ezekiel Holmes blocked a field goal try late in the third quarter, and Bailey’s interception in the fourth all but sealed it. The Illini won the turnover battle 3-0 and had five sacks.

And the best call of the game: the third-quarter fake punt dialed up by Illinois on fourth down at their own 48-yard line. Upback Tanner Arkin, who earlier caught a touchdown pass from his tight end position, took the snap and rumbled 36 yards, most of it untouched. Rarely has coach Bret Bielema looked better.

The Illini will be at Oregon next Saturday.