The 2021 season's largest margin: Illinois 47, Northwestern 14. A 33-point win — the year's high-water mark.
2021 — The Correction
2021 is a losing-side chapter for Illinois. The program metabolises it; the voice does not apologize.
The Shape — week-by-week · cumulative W–L below
Who carried it
- Brandon PetersQB1,170 passing yards
- Artur SitkowskiQB704 passing yards
- Chase BrownRB1,005 rushing yards
- Joshua McCrayRB549 rushing yards
- Isaiah WilliamsWR525 receiving yards
- Casey WashingtonWR294 receiving yards
- Daniel BarkerTE202 receiving yards
- Tarique BarnesLB80 tackles
- Sydney BrownDB69 tackles
- Tony AdamsDB63 tackles
- Owen Carney Jr.LB6 sacks
- Keith Randolph Jr.DL4 sacks
- Jer'Zhan NewtonDL3.5 sacks
Season leaders, 2021.
The season's deepest loss: Illinois 14, Virginia 42. A 28-point margin the season is remembered by.
"I-L-L"
2021 sits in Illinois's crisis ledger. The program does not moralise it. The next season begins the day this one ended and the crisis chapter closes when the ledger does.