{"id":24019,"date":"2025-12-01T06:29:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T12:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=24019"},"modified":"2025-12-01T06:29:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T12:29:33","slug":"illinois-captures-land-of-lincoln-trophy-over-northwestern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/football\/24019-illinois-captures-land-of-lincoln-trophy-over-northwestern\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois Captures Land of Lincoln Trophy Over Northwestern"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p><strong>BY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CHAMPAIGN, Ill. \u2014 Illinois defeated Northwestern, 20-13, on Saturday evening, capturing the Land of Lincoln trophy in its final game of the regular season. Nearly half a foot of snow fell at Gies Memorial Stadium, the most for any home game in Illinois history.<\/p>\n<p>The Illini defense came up with four takeaways on the night, highlighted by a pair of second half interceptions from Miles Scott, the first game of his career with two or more, and the first interception of the season for Torrie Cox Jr.<\/p>\n<p>Gabe Jacas also added a pair of sacks in the second half, the 26th and 27th of his career, finishing the regular season as the Big Ten sacks leader with 11.0.<\/p>\n<p>Rushing touchdowns from Ca&#8217;Lil Valentine and Kaden Feagin earned the Illini a 14-10 advantage into the half. Valentine paced the ground attack with 74 total yards, while Luke Altmyer contributed 136 passing yards.<\/p>\n<p>In the second half, David Olano drilled a pair of field goals to maintain Illinois&#8217; lead, including a 47-yarder, his longest this year.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois now turns its focus to the postseason after qualifying for a bowl game in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010-11. Illinois&#8217; bowl destination will be announced on Sunday, Dec. 7.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Player Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Luke Altmyer threw for 136 yards on 10-for-16 passing in his final appearance at Gies Memorial Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Altmyer has led Illinois to a 22-12 record as the team&#8217;s starting quarterback, the third-most wins in Illinois history, behind only Kurt Kittner (24) and Jack Trudeau (23).<\/p>\n<p>Ca&#8217;Lil Valentine rushed 14 times for 74 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>Recorded his fourth rushing touchdown of the season \u2013 the fifth of his career \u2013 and his first since Oct. 4 at Purdue.<br \/>\nKaden Feagin finished with five carries and a rushing touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>Posted his seventh rushing score of the season and the 12th of his career with 30 seconds remaining in the first half.<\/p>\n<p>Tanner Arkin tallied two catches for 33 yards.<\/p>\n<p>Hauled in the longest reception of his collegiate career, on a double pass from WR Hank Beatty, to set up the Illini&#8217;s first touchdown of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Hank Beatty made three catches for 21 yards while completing one pass on a trick play in the first half.<\/p>\n<p>Completed a career-long 28-yard pass in the second quarter.<br \/>\nTorrie Cox Jr. corralled an interception while making six total tackles.<\/p>\n<p>Recorded his first interception of the season, his fourth as an Illini, and the eighth of his collegiate career late in the second quarter, to set up the Illini&#8217;s second touchdown of the game just before halftime.<\/p>\n<p>Gabe Jacas logged four total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks.<\/p>\n<p>Registered his fourth game this season with multiple sacks.<\/p>\n<p>Jacas is now this season&#8217;s Big Ten&#8217;s sacks leader.<\/p>\n<p>David Olano all four of his kicks, including two field goals and two PATs.<\/p>\n<p>Drilled a season-long 47-yard field goal to give the Illini a 17-10 lead midway through the third quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Miles Scott totaled four tackles while making two interceptions.<\/p>\n<p>First game of his career with multiple interceptions.<\/p>\n<p>Made the sixth and seventh picks of his career and his second and third interceptions of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Is the first Illini with multiple interceptions in a game since Xavier Scott had two against #19 Kansas on Sept. 7, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Is the first Illini with multiple interceptions in a Big Ten game since Sydney Brown and Devon Witherspoon both had two at Northwestern on Nov. 26, 2022.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Team Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Saturday night&#8217;s contest marked the most snow at a home game in Gies Memorial Stadium history.<\/p>\n<p>The Illini defense forced multiple turnovers for the fourth time this season.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois tied the program record for wins during a two-year period with its 18th victory between the 2024 and 2025 seasons. It is the fourth time Illinois has won 18 games over a two-year period, joining 1989-90, 1902-03, and 1901-02.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois has 8+ wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1989-90. The Illini have never won 9+ games in back-to-back seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois has 8+ wins three times in a four-year span for the first time since winning 8+ games four straight years from 1901-04.<\/p>\n<p>Bret Bielema is the first head coach in Illinois history to win 8+ games three times in a four-year span. The last time Illinois achieved the feat from 1901-04, the program&#8217;s 1904 season was coached by a group of four alumni.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois won 23 Big Ten games in Bret Bielema&#8217;s first five seasons at Illinois. It is Illinois&#8217; most Big Ten wins in a five-year period since also winning 23 Big Ten games from 1990-94.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois has 31 wins over the last four seasons, tied for its most wins over a four-year period since winning 32 games from 1902-05.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois has 36 wins over the last five seasons, tied for its most wins over a five-year period since winning 37 games from 1981-85.<\/p>\n<p>The Illini made three interceptions against the Wildcats, their most since making three interceptions against Northwestern at Wrigley Field on Nov. 30, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS CHAMPAIGN, Ill. \u2014 Illinois defeated Northwestern, 20-13, on Saturday evening, capturing the Land of Lincoln trophy in its final game of the regular season. Nearly half [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-24019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","tag-sports-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Illinois Captures Land of Lincoln Trophy Over Northwestern - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/football\/24019-illinois-captures-land-of-lincoln-trophy-over-northwestern\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illinois Captures Land of Lincoln Trophy Over Northwestern - 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