Chambana Sun

Illinois secured a 45-19 victory over Duke on Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. The win improved the Fighting Illini's record to 2-0 for the season. Illinois dominated the second half, outscoring Duke 31-6.

The Illini defense was effective, forcing five turnovers—four fumbles and one interception—while not committing any turnovers themselves. Matthew Bailey, Tanner Heckel, and Gabe Jacas were credited with forced fumbles. Heckel also added an interception in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Luke Altmyer completed 22 of 31 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns. Hank Beatty led Illinois receivers with eight catches for a career-high 128 yards and added a 25-yard rushing touchdown. Justin Bowick caught four passes for 50 yards and a touchdown, while Collin Dixon had three receptions for 36 yards and a score. Kaden Feagin led the team in rushing with 48 yards on 17 carries and one touchdown.

After leading by just one point at halftime (14-13), Illinois capitalized early in the third quarter following a Duke penalty during an Illinois punt. Altmyer connected with Bowick on a four-yard touchdown pass to increase their lead to 21-13. On Duke’s next possession, Bailey forced another fumble that set up Beatty’s rushing touchdown from the wildcat formation.

Duke responded with a touchdown but failed on its two-point conversion attempt, narrowing the gap to 28-19 late in the third quarter. Early in the fourth quarter, David Olano kicked a field goal to make it 31-19 before Heckel intercepted a pass to end another Duke drive.

Altmyer then led Illinois on a nearly seven-minute scoring drive that ended with his two-yard touchdown pass to Dixon. Following another forced fumble by Heckel, Ca'Lil Valentine ran for a 23-yard touchdown that finalized the score at 45-19.

Head coach Bret Bielema earned his 30th win at Illinois, surpassing Bob Blackman and tying John Mackovic for seventh-most wins among Illini head coaches in program history: “Head coach Bret Bielema won his 30th game at Illinois, passing Bob Blackman (29-36-1, 1971-76) and moving into a tie with John Mackovic (30-16-1, 1988-91) for the seventh-most wins in history by an Illinois head coach.”

Among those who have coached Illinois to at least thirty wins, Bielema has posted the third-best winning percentage (.577), behind Robert C. Zuppke (.618) and John Mackovic (.663). He is also now the fourth-fastest coach to reach thirty victories at Illinois: “Head coach Bret Bielema is now the fourth-fastest to 30 wins in Illinois history.”

This win marked Bielema’s twelfth road or neutral-site victory as head coach of Illinois.

The Illini defense has recorded at least one takeaway in each of its last five games dating back to November of last year; their five takeaways against Duke were their most since forcing six against Northwestern in November of 2022.

Illinois’ offense scored its highest number of points in an away game since posting forty-eight points against Purdue in November of 2015; it was also tied for their third-highest total under Bielema’s tenure as head coach.

Saturday’s margin of victory was also notable—the largest road win margin since defeating Northwestern by thirty-eight points (41–3) in November of 2022.

For individual players:

Luke Altmyer recorded his sixth game with three or more passing touchdowns.

Cole Rusk made his first catch as an Illini—a second-quarter eight-yard touchdown.

Kaden Feagin logged his second rushing score this season.

Hank Beatty posted back-to-back games exceeding one hundred receiving yards this season.

Justin Bowick registered his third receiving touchdown this year.

Collin Dixon scored his first career receiving touchdown.

Ca'Lil Valentine achieved his first rushing TD this season.

Gabe Jacas moved into fifth place all-time on Illinois’ career sacks list after recording another sack.

Tyler Strain recovered his first collegiate fumble.

Matthew Bailey contributed both a fumble recovery and forced fumble.

Tanner Heckel collected both his first interception and first sack/forced fumble as an Illini player.

Illinois will play its next game against Western Michigan at Memorial Stadium on September 13.