BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Saturday night at Memorial Stadium was supposed to be a rare treat for Indiana and Illinois fans. Two previously downtrodden football programs coming off attention-grabbing seasons met with both teams ranked for the first time since 1950.
No. 19 Indiana, a surprise College Football Playoff qualifier a year ago, lived up to the hype, coming up with exhilarating plays in all phases as it looked very much like a repeat CFP contender.
No. 9 Illinois simply looked outclassed.
Indiana’s D’Angelo Ponds blocked a punt and scooped it up for a touchdown, much to the delight of the red-clad, towel-waving fans packing the stadium.
Wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. unbelievably stayed on his feet to gain extra yards on a 39-yard catch, then scored a play later on one of Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s five touchdown passes.
The Indiana defense flattened Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer again and again and again.
As rain poured down on the blowout in the second half, it was a down-to-earth night for Illinois, which fell behind by 25 points at halftime and lost its first major test of the season 63-10.
The Illini, who returned 16 starters from last year’s 10-3 team, were ranked in the top 10 for the first time since 2001 but had beaten unranked Western Illinois, Duke and Western Michigan in the first three weeks.
“The way it unfolded, it looked like we just didn’t belong in that moment, and that was the concerning part to me,” Illinois coach Bret Bielema said. “If we have good players, which I think we do, we have to be able to let them play fast. If we give them too much and they aren’t able to perform because we’re clouding them with anything that’s in their head before the ball is snapped, that’s something we have to really look at closely.
“I would rather do very few things and do them very, very well and be efficient with what we’re doing than try to do too much.”
Indiana came in ranked seventh in the FBS in scoring, averaging 52 points, but that was after matchups with Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State. The Hoosiers beat the latter 73-0.
It turned out they could do it to a more highly regarded opponent too.
The Hoosiers outgained the Illini 579-161 in the Big Ten opener for both teams. Indiana had four pass plays of more than 15 yards and nine runs of 10 or more yards.
Mendoza, a junior transfer from California, completed 21 of 23 passes for 267 yards with five touchdowns, no interceptions and two sacks. The Hoosiers (4-0) rushed for 312 yards.
Illinois linebacker Dylan Rosiek said the Illini have to “eat the s−−− sandwich and keep moving.”
“I’m at a loss for words. I’ve never been a part of anything like that,” Bielema said. “The thing that jumped out to me as we began to unfold in the second half was we just didn’t have answers for what they were doing. And they kept pouring it on, which is exactly what they should do.”
It didn’t help that the Illini secondary was depleted, playing by the end of the game without six of their top seven defensive backs.
Illinois (3-1) entered without one of its best players after cornerback Xavier Scott went down with a foot/ankle injury late in the Week 3 game against Western Michigan. Bielema said earlier in the week that Scott, an All-Big Ten player in 2024, was seeking a second opinion on the injury, and Bielema added after the game that the Illini likely would have an update Monday.
In the first half, safety Miles Scott was called for targeting on a big hit on Cooper during a 9-yard catch. The call was upheld upon review, and Scott was disqualified from the game. Then cornerback Kaleb Patterson exited with a lower-body injury.
In the second half, after the game was out of reach, Matthew Bailey (concussion), Torrie Cox Jr. (stomach) and Mac Resetich also left.
Bielema said he didn’t think Scott’s targeting hit was intentional.
“I get why they had to call it,” Bielema said. “I thought it was his shoulder, but he got his head involved there. The only thing that is left to do is to go low, which I don’t think that’s healthy for our game either. That’s a part of the game that we have to live with.”
Meanwhile, Altmyer, the third-year Illinois starter, could get little going while dealing with frequent Indiana pressure. He completed 14 of 22 passes for 146 yards and one touchdown and was sacked seven times.
Illinois, which returned five starters on the offensive line this season, netted just 2 yards on the ground.
“It’s sickening, it really is, to go in with full confidence expecting to win,” Altmyer said. “I apologize to our fans, our team in general. I didn’t play well tonight at all. I just didn’t.
“And overall our whole team, it’s hard to face right now, but we have two options. To either sit around and mope and point the finger and feel bad for yourself. Or get up and take advantage of the next opportunity the next day.”
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said he thought his team “really kind of broke their will.” He was confident about the game based on what he saw on film from the Illini, including the opportunity to get to Altmyer.
“I thought our defensive line could whip their offensive line, and we did,” Cignetti said. “He’s a good quarterback, but he took a lot of sacks last year too.”
Illinois entered with concerns about its first-half play after slow starts the last two weeks, and sure enough, the game was basically out of hand by halftime.
Indiana got on the scoreboard first when Ponds went unblocked to block an Illini punt and returned it 11 yards for a touchdown. Punter Keelan Crimmins tried to pull him down a few yards in front of the end zone, but Ponds spun in for a 7-0 lead. Bielema said Illinois had only 10 players on the field on the play.
Illinois responded quickly with Altmyer’s lone touchdown pass — a 59-yarder to Collin Dixon, who was all alone after streaking by the Indiana defense, which appeared to get crossed up.
But Cooper scored on an 11-yard touchdown catch later in the first quarter to put Indiana back on top 14-7. The touchdown came one play after Cooper scrapped his way to a 39-yard gain following a short catch. He evaded three Illini tacklers and somehow managed to stay on his feet for 15 yards while stumbling to the 11.
Mendoza added three more touchdown passes in the second quarter — including a 43-yarder on a screen pass to Riley Nowakowski with pressure in his face — to help the Hoosiers build a 35-10 halftime lead.
No matter how ugly the loss was, the Illini don’t have time to hang their heads. They play host to No. 25 USC on Saturday and No. 1 Ohio State on Oct. 11.
“We have to own this moment,” Bielema said. “The response is going to define us. Today happened. … It’s something we have to live through.
“I’m very disappointed for our football team, our coaches, our fans, anybody that supported us to get to this point. We took a long time to get to this point, and we’ve got to have the right response.”
