John Paddock threw a 21-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Williams in overtime to give Illinois a 48-45 win over Indiana in a Big Ten crossover on Saturday.
With Illinois facing third-and-6, Paddock scrambled from pressure to his right and hit a wide-open Williams for the game-winning score.
Paddock finished 24-of-36 passing for 507 yards and four touchdowns for Illinois (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten).
Brendan Sorsby went 22 of 33 for three touchdowns in defeat for Indiana (3-7, 1-6).
Indiana got the ball first in overtime and took a 45-42 lead on Chris Freeman’s 41-yard field goal.
Indiana had trailed 42-34 in regulation but tied the game at 42 with 28 seconds left on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Sorsby to DeQuece Carter and a subsequent two-point pass from Sorsby to E.J. Williams.
Trailing 27-26, Illinois took a 33-27 lead with 5:18 left in the third quarter on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Paddock to Isaiah Williams.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Reggie Love scored on a 37-yard touchdown run to give the Fighting Illini a 39-27 lead as the conversion attempt failed.
Indiana responded, cutting the Illinois lead to 39-34 with 12:25 left on Sorsby’s 5-yard touchdown run.
Illinois then took a 42-34 lead with 5:04 remaining on Caleb Griffin’s 21-yard field goal.
The first half was full of offense, with the teams combining for 53 points.
Indiana scored two straight touchdowns to take a 27-12 lead.
Donaven McCulley caught his second 6-yard touchdown pass of the game from Sorsby with 8:22 left in the second quarter, and then Sorsby scored on an 18-yard touchdown run with 5:44 to go until halftime.
Illinois answered with back-to-back touchdowns, first cutting Indiana’s lead to 27-19 on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Paddock to Casey Washington with 3:05 remaining in the second quarter.
Paddock hit Pat Bryant on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 18 seconds remaining in the second.
–Field Level Media
