Illini hammered by Minnesota, 41-14
By Jeff Mayfield

[November 08, 2020]   The Illinois Fighting Illini were physically over-run and over-matched in their 41-14 loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. The LDN staff was on hand, but like most other onlookers, were underwhelmed by Illinois’ performance.

Mohamad Ibrahim ran over, around and through the Illini’s porous defense on his way to 224 rushing yards and four touchdowns and was clearly the player of the game. Minnesota’s QB Tanner Morgan went 17-for-27 for 216 yards through the air and only one touchdown. But when the Gophers were gaining 556 total yards it really didn’t matter that they didn’t score via the pass.

The leader for the Illini was Mike Epstein who finished the day collecting 108 rushing yards and averaged nearly 10 yards a carry! And yes, it would be great to find more ways to get him the ball in open space. Chase Brown also had a few nice runs and averaged 7.8 yards a carry. Josh Imatorbhebhe did haul in a 52-yard strike from Coran Taylor, but it was too little, too late by that time in the proceedings.

With the loss, the Illini now stand at 0-3 as the season passes the one third point of the campaign. Next up for Illinois is a road trip to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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