Nov. 30--Running off Ryan Field after beating Northwestern, Illinois players were greeted by a small but exuberant bunch of fans chanting their names and yelling their call-and-repeat I-L-L, I-N-I cheer.
But what Illinois savored most was the silence.
"I love to shut people up," running back Donovonn Young said, "and I know we shut a lot of people up today with this win."
A 47-33 victory on Saturday not only ensured bowl eligibility for a team written off just three weeks ago, but it may have saved coach Tim Beckman his job.
"I'm blessed to be the head football coach here and I definitely want to continue doing it," he said.
The Illini (6-6, 3-5 Big Ten) have one more game to play this season, that is certain.
They faced elimination from bowl contention in the last two games after falling to 4-6 after losing to Iowa on Nov. 15. As unlikely as it seemed, they knocked off Penn State at home last weekend and then toppled the Wildcats in the do-or-die games.
"A couple weeks there, who would have thought we would have been in position to go to a bowl?" quarterback Reilly O'Toole said. "We rose to the occasion."
Perhaps nobody did so as much as O'Toole. A career backup at Illinois, the senior has flourished when the Illini needed him most.
He's responsible for Illinois' three Big Ten wins this season, beating Minnesota on Oct. 25, coming off the bench to defeat Penn State and leading Illinois on Saturday to its first road victory of the season.
Starting against Northwestern in place of Wes Lunt, who struggled in his return from a leg injury, O'Toole completed 17 of 28 passes for 147 yards and three touchdowns while running for a career-high 147 yards on 21 carries.
Entering the final regular-season game, O'Toole said there was no panic in the Illini.
"There was no doubt in our mind we were going to win this game," he said. "We worked so hard in the offseason. To give up, that would be disgraceful."
The Illini did not look like the same team that lost to Purdue in October or the team that was blown out by Ohio State at the start of November or the team that faltered against Iowa a few weeks ago.
The struggling Illini running game, which ranked last in the Big Ten with barely more than 100 yards per game entering Saturday's contest, picked up a season-best 291 yards. They averaged 6.2 yards per carry.
Before playing Northwestern, the Illini had only 13 turnovers created by the defense all season. They picked off Wildcats quarterback Zack Oliver three times, including one linebacker Mason Monheim returned 49 yards for a touchdown. Monheim also recovered one of two fumbles for the Illini.
"We've turned it up a notch," he said.
The Illini quieted critics and earned some validation.
But Beckman said he cares most about one thing.
"Best of all," he said, "we get to practice next week."
sryan@tribpub.com
Twitter @sryantribune
