Illinois Falls to Iowa
By Jeff Mayfield

[December 07, 2020]  The University of Illinois Fighting Illini started fast, but couldn’t keep it up, eventually falling to Iowa 35-21 on Homecoming Saturday at Memorial Stadium.

Illinois led 14-0 early but by halftime Iowa had cut the lead to 14-13. Sadly, it looked like things were not heading in a positive direction.

The Illini scored twice in the early going with Daniel Barker hauling in a 24-yard strike from Brandon Peters and Josh Imatorbhebhe snagging a nifty grab in the corner of the end zone that was initially ruled a non-catch. However, had they bothered to glance in our direction, both of the LDN reporters had already over-ruled the decision claiming it was a touchdown-and for once, those guys were right. That made the score 14-0 at that point.

It didn’t take long for the momentum to slip away as Iowa countered with three scoring drives and before you knew it the score was 14-13 at halftime. But with Illinois getting the ball first after the intermission the hope was that the momentum would turn in favor of the good guys. It didn’t. And instead, the momentum continued in the hands of the opponents and Iowa scored three touchdowns-two via the air and one on the ground-and the Illini were sunk.

Illinois did score a late touchdown on a 29-yard pass from Isaiah Williams to Carlos Sandy, but it was too little-too late.

The Illini travel to Evanston, next Saturday to take on the Wildcats of Northwestern.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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