The Illini took advantage of the school's first bowl appearance in five years with an impressive 63-21 victory over highly touted running back Thomas Jones and the Virginia Cavaliers. In a game which pitted two evenly matched, 7-4 squads, the Illini dominated with 611 yards total offense and nine touchdowns. On the first drive of the game, Kurt Kittner led the Illini down field 71 yards and scored on a one-yard run. The Illini then rattled off 35 unanswered points, including a flea-flicker pass from wide receiver Brandon Lloyd to Kittner for 30 yards and a halftime score of 42-7. Kittner threw a school record 24th touchdown pass on a one-yard reception to Jameel Cook. The Illini broke 22 Illinois and Micronpc.com Bowl records that night and scored the second-most points in collegiate bowl history.
Scoring summary[]
Quarter
Team
Scoring summary
Score
Illinois
Virginia
1
Illinois
1-yard touchdown run by Kurt Kittner, kick by Neil Rackers good
7
0
Virginia
7-yard touchdown run by Thomas Jones, kick by Todd Braverman good
7
7
Illinois
47-yard touchdown run by Rocky Harvey, kick by Neil Rackers good
14
7
2
Illinois
30-yard touchdown reception by Kurt Kittner from Brandon Lloyd, kick by Neil Rackers good
21
7
Illinois
61-yard touchdown reception by Jameel Cook from Kurt Kittner, kick by Neil Rackers good
28
7
Illinois
2-yard touchdown run by Steve Havard, kick by Neil Rackers good
35
7
Illinois
1-yard touchdown reception by Jameel Cook from Kurt Kittner, kick by Neil Rackers good
42
7
3
Virginia
5-yard touchdown reception by Kevin Coffey from Dan Ellis"", kick by Todd Braverman good
42
14
Illinois
2-yard touchdown run by Steve Havard, kick by Neil Rackers good
49
14
4
Illinois
9-yard touchdown run by Rocky Harvey, kick by Neil Rackers good
56
14
Illinois
1-yard touchdown run by Kirk Johnson, kick by Neil Rackers good
63
14
Virginia
55-yard touchdown reception by Will Thompson from David Rivers, kick by Todd Braverman good