Illini coach Ron Zook changed his mind, decided to go for it on fourth down and that was the beginning of the end for the Buckeyes’ hopes of redeeming themselves in this season’s national title game.
Juice Williams provided big plays on the ground and through the air, spurring the Illini to a stunning 28-21 victory on Saturday and throwing open the national title race for teams that needed the Buckeyes to lose.
“I know ‘shock the world’ is overused,” Illini linebacker J Leman said. “It is pretty shocking to most people, but not to the guys in the locker room.”
Marcus Thomas’ interception gave Illinois the ball with 8:09 left at own 24-yard line, and Ohio State (10-1 overall, 6-1 Big Ten) never got it back.
The Illini (8-3, 5-2) lined up to punt on a fourth-and-inches play at their 34 with 6:53 left while grasping a 28-21 lead, but Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel called timeout and Zook reconsidered after being prodded by his quarterback.
“I said, ‘Coach, you don’t think we can get a half an inch?’” Williams said amid the uproar of the postgame celebration. “He looked at me and got on the headset to (offensive coordinator Mike) Locksley. He (Zook) said, ‘If you don’t get it, I’ll hurt you.’”
Zook remembered it differently.
“Juice said, ‘I’ll get you an inch,’” Zook said. “I said, ‘You’d better.’”
Williams sneaked for the first down and twice more he converted third-and-long on quarterback draws to burn the clock.
Tressel said of the timeout: “I’d like to have that one back.”
It was the first time Illinois had beaten a No. 1 team since 1956 and the first time it had done it away from home. The defeat also ended a conference- and school-record streak of 20 Big Ten wins in a row by Ohio State.
“It’s (my) last time in the Horseshoe and it’s the last game I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Ohio State tackle Kirk Barton said.
Williams, criticized at times because of errant passing, tossed four touchdown passes. He finished 12-of-22 passing for 140 yards and carried 16 times for 70 yards.
The Buckeyes, who were in first place in the BCS standings and two victories away from a second straight trip to the national title game, became the second No. 1 to lose this season.
Who will be No. 1 now? Maybe Louisiana State - again. The Tigers lost as the top-ranked team at Kentucky in October. Count Oregon, Oklahoma, Missouri and even West Virginia among the others happy to see the Buckeyes get beat. All now have a better chance at reaching the national title game, thanks to the Illini.
The Illini rushed for 260 yards against an Ohio State defense that came in allowing just 65 yards on the ground per game. Rashard Mendenhall set an Illinois season record (1,402 yards) while rushing for 88 yards.
The defeat not only crippled Ohio State’s dreams of a national championship, but it also knocked the Buckeyes into a tie for the top spot in the Big Ten because of Michigan’s loss to Wisconsin.
Not since Nov. 14, 1959, had Michigan and Ohio State both lost the week before their annual year-end grudge match, which once again will decide the Big Ten.
