Illinois' upset of Wisconsin one for the ages
Illinois didn't just stun the nation by edging No. 6 Wisconsin on Saturday, it pulled off one of the largest upsets in recent college football history.
The Fighting Illini entered the game as 30.5-point underdogs, making their 24-23 victory the biggest betting upset of the 2019 season, according to ESPN Stats. The only greater upset in a Big Ten game over the last 40 seasons came in 1982 when a 1-4 Northwestern team upended a 4-1 Minnesota program as a 32-point underdog.
Illinois clinched the victory on a 39-yard field goal from James McCourt as time expired. The winning drive came after Wisconsin turned the ball over on a Jack Coan interception.
Illinois, which came into Week 8 with a 2-4 record, last defeated a top-10 team in 2007 when Isiah "Juice" Williams engineered a road win over No. 1 Ohio State.
"Our program, we needed to get a signature win," head coach Lovie Smith said on the field after the game-winning field goal in Champaign, Ill. "I was just hoping today was the day, and the day came."
The Illini celebrated with their fans on the field while "Jump Around," a song synonymous with the Badgers, echoed across the stadium.
Illini rubbing it in with Jump Around, but not very many people here to jump around pic.twitter.com/IomngHNici
— John Boel (@JohnBoelWAVE3) October 19, 2019
Equally stunning was that Illinois never held a lead in the game until winning it at the end.