Everything had to come together in order for Illinois to beat Michigan State. And everything did.

Michigan State’s quarterback Drew Stanton could possibly be the best pure passer in the conference, and up until his injury in the fourth quarter, the Illini kept him quiet.

Time and time again this season, the defense has played well enough to win, but the offense remained relatively ineffective.

This was not the case in Illinois’ first road win since 2002, first Big Ten win since 2004 and first Big Ten road win since Nov. 23, 2002 at Northwestern.

The Illini offense finally backed up the defense’s solid performance. Juice Williams, like the rest of the team, made huge strides and engineered a fourth quarter drive that would make John Elway jealous.

After missing two field goals against Iowa in the Big Ten opener last weekend, Jason Reda completely redeemed himself, kicking a 39-yard field goal into the wind with just six seconds left in the game.

Illinois was a four-touchdown underdog going into this game. Some have said Michigan State ran up the score last season, going to the air late in a blowout win. It was sweet revenge for Zook and Co. in this surprising win. How did they pull off arguably one of the biggest upsets on Michigan State’s homecoming? This was all about the numbers.

n In last season’s game, Stanton threw for 259 yards in a 61-14 rout by the Spartans. Illinois’ revamped defense held Stanton ineffective all game on Saturday and collected just 259 total yards. Quite an improvement for Illinois from last season’s game.

n Stanton had thrown a touchdown in a school record 16 straight games up until Saturday.

In those 16 games, Michigan State was 9-7. Illinois obviously figured out the Spartan offense, one that ranks among the best in the nation.

n In its first four games, Michigan State was a perfect 14-14 in red zone attempts.

The Spartans were 3-4 on Saturday – still a pretty successful rate – while Illinois was a perfect 3-3 in red zone chances.

But the difference in the game was Stanton’s fumble forced by Justin Harrison on the Illinois 2 yard line.

n The key to Illinois’ success lies in its running game. In both of Illinois’ wins, the Illini had at least one player who broke the century mark on the ground.

Against Eastern Illinois, Pierre Thomas rushed for 126 yards and the running attack racked up 356 yards total.

Against Michigan State, Illinois had two 100-yard rushers – Thomas and Williams. The Illini ran for a combined total of 608 yards in its two wins and just 401 combined rushing yards in its three losses.

n Williams collected 103 yards on the ground. For the game, Illinois held the potent Michigan State running attack, which averaged 255.5 yards on the season, to just 82 yards rushing.

n Williams already broke the school record for career touchdown throws of 65 yards or longer with his third of the season.

That’s a pretty impressive record considering he’s a freshman and Saturday was just his second start of his short career.

n The last time Illinois won at Spartan Stadium was in 1989 when Juice was just one year old.

You have to start to feel for Michigan State. Last weekend against No. 12 Notre Dame, the Spartans blew a 17 point first-quarter lead in a heartbreaking loss.

After Saturday’s upset loss to Illinois, Michigan State is forced to go on the road against in-state rival No. 6 Michigan. Ohio State, the top ranked team in the nation, comes to East Lansing, Mich., for what could possibly be the Spartans’ fourth straight loss after such a promising start.

All it takes to rid myself of the sympathy, though, is a quick reminder of last season’s 61-14 loss to Michigan State. Ah, sweet revenge.

Troy Murray is a junior in Communications. He can be reached at [email protected].