Published Oct 15, 2022
Illinois drops Minnesota on Saturday, 26-14
Sean Williams  •  Gophers Nation
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Illinois dominated on both sides of the ball against Minnesota in Saturday's 26-14 win.

The Fighting Illini defense forced three turnovers and held the Gophers to just 180 yards of total offense, only 36 of those were through the air.

Illinois also possessed the ball twice as long as Minnesota (40:04 to 19:56) and their way to piling up 472 yards of total offense, averaging 5.5 yard per play.

After suffering an injury in last week's win against Iowa, Tommy DeVito returned to the starting lineup for Illinois and had a stellar day, going 25-32 for 252 yards and one touchdown. He also had a five-yard rush as well.

Illinois running back Chase Brown rushed for 180 yards and scored on a 40-yard reception from DeVito to put the Illini up 7-0 with 10:56 remaining in the first quarter.

Despite an anemic passing game on Saturday, Minnesota did take a 14-13 with 14:34 remaining in the third quarter on a four-yard touchdown run by Mohamed Ibrahim that was aided by a 92-yard kickoff return by Quentin Redding.

Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan was just 4-of-12 for 21 yards and one interception when he was knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter after getting hit in the helmet.

Athan Kaliakmanis came in in relief, but wasn't much better, going 2-for-6 for 17 yards while throwing two interceptions.

Mohamed Ibrahim was the lone bright spot for the Gophers' offense on Saturday, rushing for 127 yards and one score.

Gabe Jacas, Jer'Zhan Newton, and Jartavius Martin all recorded interceptions for Illinois' defense on Saturday.

With the win, Illinois improves to 6-1 on the season, 3-1 in the Big Ten. Minnesota drops their second-consecutive game and is now 4-2 on the season, 1-2 in the conference.

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