CHICAGO — Illinois bent and bent and bent defensively through three-plus quarters Saturday against South Florida. The Illini gave up yardage — particularly in the passing game — but made enough key stops and let the Bulls hurt themselves with penalties to keep points off the board.
The Illini bent until they broke.
Two touchdown passes from Blake Barnett to Darnell Salomon and a field goal by Coby Weiss in the fourth quarter saw South Florida turn a 12-point deficit into a 25-19 win in front of a Soldier Field crowd of 21,725.
"We just broke," Illinois senior linebacker Del'Shawn Phillips said.