It turned out to be the perfect encapsulation of Illinois football in 2018. Promise shown and promise taken away in a split second.
In a season marred by inconsistent wide receiver play, it would have been interesting to see how much of a difference Edwin Carter could have made.
Western Illinois is a good FCS program, but Illinois should never struggle against any directional school in the state. Yet, here we were, freshman quarterback struggling to move the ball on a defense that had stifled the Illini for a half.
Both touchdowns came on similar routes, with Carter running an inside seam angle route, MJ Rivers waiting for the route to develop and hitting Carter in the numbers.