{"id":26411,"date":"2025-12-31T06:14:26","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T12:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=26411"},"modified":"2025-12-31T06:14:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T12:14:58","slug":"illinois-claimed-liberty-mutual-music-city-bowl-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/sports\/football\/26411-illinois-claimed-liberty-mutual-music-city-bowl-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois Claims Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl Football Championship"},"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>NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014 Illinois is the champions of the 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl. The Illini defeated #23 Tennessee, 30-28, with a field goal from David Olano as time expired to earn their second straight bowl victory.<\/p>\n<p>With the victory, the Illini have captured nine wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history and head coach Bret Bielema becomes the first coach in program history to win a bowl game in consecutive seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois (9-4) finished the winningest two-year run in program history with a 19-7 record, including 15 Power-4 wins, 11 Big Ten wins, and wins over teams from every other Power-4 conference. The Illini have beaten two straight SEC opponents in bowl games after previously never have won over a team from the SEC.<\/p>\n<p>Quarterback Luke Altmyer led his seventh game-winning drive in the final minute\/OT of his Illinois career with a 13-play, 64-yard drive over the last 4:58 of the fourth quarter. He was named the Music City Bowl MVP after leading the Illini with 196 passing yards, a passing touchdown, 54 rushing yards, and a rushing score. With his touchdown pass of the evening to Justin Bowick in the first quarter, Altmyer matched his total from last season (22), which is tied for third in a single season in Illinois history.<\/p>\n<p>Altmyer concludes one of the greatest careers in Illinois history ranking in the program&#8217;s top five in passer rating (144.31, 1st), completion percentage (64.36, 1st), quarterback wins (23, 2nd), touchdown passes (57, 2nd), and passing yards (7,607, 5th).<\/p>\n<p>Defensively, the Illini recorded four sacks, their second-most as a team in any bowl since tallying five during the 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. In the third quarter, Joe Barna forced a pivotal sack-fumble, which was recovered by Leon Lowery Jr. in the end zone for the first touchdown of Lowery&#8217;s collegiate career.<\/p>\n<p>Olano made three or more field goals for the second time this season, including the game-winner in the final seconds of play.<\/p>\n<p>Bielema is the only head coach in Illinois history to coach two 9+-win Illini teams. He did it in back-to-back seasons.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Player Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Luke Altmyer earned MVP honors with 196 yards and a touchdown through the air, and 54 yards and another score on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>Altmyer led the Illini on a game-winning drive that covered 64 yards in 13 plays and ate up the final 4 minutes, 58 seconds before David Olano&#8217;s game-winning 29-yard field goal.<\/p>\n<p>The second Illini quarterback in program history to lead the team to two bowl wins, joining Nathan Scheelhaase.<\/p>\n<p>Led the Illini to the 23rd win of his career as a starter, tied with Jack Trudeau (1981-85) for second-most in program history, one behind the record held by Kurt Kittner (1998-2001)<\/p>\n<p>Threw his 22nd TD pass of the year in the first quarter, connecting with Justin Bowick to tie the game at 7-7.<\/p>\n<p>Matched his total from last season, which is tied for third-most in a single season in<br \/>\nIllinois program history.<\/p>\n<p>Scored his fifth rushing TD of the season to give the Illini a 24-14 lead with 2:41 left in the third quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Finished the season with 3,007 yards passing, the ninth 3,000+-yard season in program history.<\/p>\n<p>Recorded 246 completions, the ninth-most in a single season in program history.<\/p>\n<p>Finished his career with a 64.36 completion percentage, the best mark in program history (min. 500 attempts).<\/p>\n<p>Finished his career with 57 passing touchdowns, alone in second on the Illini&#8217;s all-time list.<\/p>\n<p>Moved into fifth on the Illinois career passing yardage list, moving past Jason<br \/>\nVerduzco (1989-92). Closes career with 7,607 yards as an Illini.<\/p>\n<p>David Olano went 3-for-3 with field goals of 30, 28 and 29 yards, including the game-winner as time expired.<\/p>\n<p>First field goal gave the Illini a 10-7 halftime lead.<\/p>\n<p>Final field goal earned the Illini the 30-28 victory and was his 37th career make, moving him into a tie for ninth in program history with James McCourt (2018-21).<\/p>\n<p>Became the eighth player in program to score more than 100 points in a single season.<\/p>\n<p>Finished 44-for-44 on extra-points on the year, matching the program record set by Neil Rackers in 1999.<\/p>\n<p>Closed the year with 20 field goals made, tied for the fourth-most in program history.<br \/>\nJustin Bowick caught five passes for 31 yards and the Illini&#8217;s first score of the game.<\/p>\n<p>Hauled in his fifth TD reception of the season and his first since scoring in Illinois&#8217; win vs. #21 USC on Sept. 27.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Barna&#8217;s sack-fumble was recovered by Leon Lowery Jr. in the end zone to give the Illini a 17-7 lead at the 11:48 mark in the third quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Barna&#8217;s second sack of the season tied his career high, while the forced fumble was the first of his career.<\/p>\n<p>Lowery Jr.&#8217;s TD marked the first of his collegiate career, coming in his 53rd game.<\/p>\n<p>Ca&#8217;Lil Valentine posted a game-high 114 all-purpose yards with 8 carries for 65 yards, 3 receptions for 28 yards, and a kickoff return for 21 yards.<\/p>\n<p>Set career highs for receptions (3), receiving yards (28), and longest reception (18).<\/p>\n<p>James Thompson Jr. tied his career high with a team-leading 7 tackles (2 solo) to go with a half sack.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Brown recorded a career-high 5 total tackles (2 solo).<\/p>\n<p>Saboor Karriem notched the first tackle for loss of his career.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Team Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Illinois set the program record for the most wins over a two-year period with their 19th victory since 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois secured back-to-back 9+-win seasons for the first time in program history.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois went 19-7 over the last two seasons, including 15 Power-4 wins, 11 Big Ten wins, and wins over teams from every other Power-4 conference: the SEC (vs. Tennessee, 2025; vs. South Carolina, 2024), the ACC (at Duke, 2025), and the Big XII (Kansas, 2024).<\/p>\n<p>Illinois had 32 wins over the last four seasons (2022-25), tied for its most wins over a four-year period since 1900-03.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois had 37 wins over the last five seasons (2021-25), tied for its most wins over a five-year period since 1901-05.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois went 8-0 against nonconference opponents over the last two seasons (2024-25). The Illini have won nine straight nonconference games dating back to 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois is now 13-4 in one-score games over the last three seasons, with 9 of the 13 wins coming in the final minute of regulation or overtime.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois now has 7 fourth quarter comeback wins over the last two seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois is a perfect 18-0 when leading at half the last two seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS NASHVILLE, Tenn. \u2014 Illinois is the champions of the 2025 Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl. The Illini defeated #23 Tennessee, 30-28, with a field goal from [&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":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Illinois Claims Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl Football Championship - 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\/26411-illinois-claimed-liberty-mutual-music-city-bowl-championship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illinois Claims Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl Football Championship - 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