The Comeback Against Rutgers

September 6, 2005 8:26 PM

Those of the 50,000 in attendance Saturday for the Illinois season opener against Rutgers—those who stuck it out to the end—were treated to the greatest Illini comeback in Memorial Stadium history.

The Scarlet Knights dominated for nearly three quarters and should have locked up the W when fullback Brian Leonard dusted off the "Play of the Week" and hurdled a would-be tackler and sped 83 yards for a TD to make it 27-7. Fortunately, there was still 25 minutes of football to go, and, as we learned on March 26, a team that has lost the initiative has a hard time regaining momentum.

Illinois' offense started to make play after play, Rutgers' defense became more and more ~~exhausted~~ injury prone, the UI D finally made some key stops (although, ahem, they did give up 500 yards), Tim Brasic connected with Jody Ellis on 4th down, and E.B. Halsey flew into the end zone like Superman for the tie. Down by 3 in the overtime session, E.B. performed a beautiful cross-field 20-yard cutback to essentially assure the victory, and Pierre Thomas finished it off with a 2-yard plunge into the end zone.

This victory was reminiscent of other famous Memorial Stadium comeback scenes: 1993 in the slippery snow against Minnesota, capped off when Ty Douthard collected a screen pass from Johnny Johnson; 1988 when Jeff George orchestrated a 4th quarter miracle against Indiana. Lest we forget, the Fighting Illini were faced with the same 27-7 deficit at Michigan in 1999 before storming back behind Kurt Kittner for the 35-29 win. In other news, Ron Zook was the first head coach since Mike White to win his inaugural game as Illini head coach.

Illinois - Rutgers

The Chief at halftime.

Illinois - Rutgers

The post-game celebration.

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Filed under: Illini Football, Illinois Loyalty Photos, Rutgers Scarlet Knights