Iowa had every opportunity to turn it into an ugly win. Instead, Illinois snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Hawkeyes and won with backup quarterback Artur Sitkowski taking the majority of the night’s snaps for the Fighting Illini, 9-6.
Afterwards, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz was singing Illinois’ praises.
“I’ll just say like every season’s a new season. Every team’s a new team and these guys have a good football team. So, and we knew that coming in. We knew that. Got a lot of respect for them and so it’s a loss. It’s a tough loss,” Ferentz said.
There’s plenty of questions for the Hawkeyes to sort out during their bye week as they gear up for a road trip on Oct. 22 to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes.
In the meantime, here’s a look back at the frustrating night that was against the Illinois Fighting Illini.