Lovie Smith’s Illini did more than the necessary “just win” at Rutgers on Saturday.
In leaving a 13-game Big Ten losing streak in the rear view mirror, they trampled on a Rutgers “Blackout,” with a 38-17 win, with the help of 330 yards in explosive overland bursts.
What we witnessed in Piscataway was no fluke. Just two weeks after gashing Penn State’s ground protectors for 245 yards — in an otherwise demoralizing loss — Illinois added QB-darter AJ Bush Jr. to Saturday’s assembly line.
Bush unfurled a 41-yard TD scramble as his rushing efforts topped his passing, 116 to 89.