Illinois football came into the season with one goal in mind: getting to its first bowl game in the Lovie Smith era. By the end of last season, Illinois finished 4-8, with its two Big Ten wins coming against sub-.500 teams in Rutgers and Minnesota.

The Illini looked doomed to continue their struggles of the previous season. Despite coming in with a revamped roster fresh out of the transfer portal, they suffered two back-to-back losses after holding significant leads against Eastern Michigan and Nebraska and two more against No. 15-ranked Minnesota and No. 16-ranked Michigan.

It took a homecoming comeback win against the then-No. 6-ranked Wisconsin Badgers to swing their season a full 180 degrees. Capped off by a James McCourt field goal, it set off a hot streak that proved to the rest of the Big Ten that this isn’t the same football team it’s been in years prior.

Illinois had a statement defensive win against Purdue, avenging its 46-7 loss to the Boilermakers in 2018. Following a blowout win against Rutgers, Illinois went up to Michigan State and claimed its season-defining, bowl-clinching win in another comeback game that ended at the buzzer with transfer quarterback Brandon Peters finding Daniel Barker wide open in the endzone.

The Illini may not have finished the season the way they would’ve liked. Their win streak snapped out on the road against the Iowa Hawkeyes, and they closed out Senior Night dropping their final home game to a struggling Northwestern Wildcats team.

Regardless, their mission is accomplished. Head coach Smith and company played meaningful games in November and now wait to see where their bowl game invitation takes them. It took every man standing to turn the fate of this program around and these players’ standout performances not only secured victories but defined the season.

Josh Imatorbhebhe: A

In the midst of Illinois’ 2-4 start, Josh Imatorbhebhe stressed the importance of having a sense of urgency.

“We’ve been close and had an opportunity to close out these games that we’ve lost,” Imatorbhebhe said. “We need to be able to overcome that inertia. I’m not sure how, but once we do, we’ll have this season figured out.”

The 6-foot-2 junior wide receiver saw only seven games of action in his first two seasons as a wide receiver at the University of Southern California but became one of Illinois’ most valuable offensive threats out on the field. He had two receptions for 42 yards and a touchdown in the win against Wisconsin that kicked off Illinois’ streak and later had a then-career-long 52-yard touchdown against Rutgers.

He followed up the Rutgers match with his best game of the season at Michigan State. He had just four receptions, but a career-high 178 yards, with every catch signaling a huge swing of momentum in Illinois’ favor. He closed out the half catching a long bomb from Peters en route to a touchdown closing out the first half of that game.

His biggest play came from a career-long 83-yard touchdown sequence that put the Illini in a position to secure their comeback against the Spartans, and when the situation looked like it was at its direst, a fourth-and-17 that would’ve ended the game, it was Imatorbhebhe who caught Peters’ pass from over 20 yards to complete the first down.

This season, Imatorbhebhe finished with nine touchdowns and 634 yards off of 33 catches.

Dele Harding: A

Injuries plagued the Illini all season on both sides of the field, but the defense took the brunt of the injury bug. Starting off losing freshman defensive back Marquez Beason for the season, the Illini saw Oluwole Betiku, Jake Hansen, Jamal Woods and Tony Adams, among others, missing significant playing time due to injury.

One of the players to remain healthy for most of the fall was senior linebacker Dele Harding, who had one of the best defensive seasons, not only in the Big Ten but in all of college football. Harding finished the year with 13.0 tackles for losses, four forced fumbles and finished with a combined 147 tackles on the season.

He had a career-best 17 tackles against Eastern Michigan. His 14 tackles and 2.0 TFLs at Michigan State helped secure the final steps needed to position themselves for a comeback. Against Rutgers, he became just the second player in the last 20 seasons to have 12+ tackles, 2.0 TFLs, a forced fumble, interception and touchdown since Kentucky’s Mike Edwards did it last year against Middle Tennessee. Going into the game against Northwestern, Harding was ranked the 27th best linebacker in the nation by the Pro Football Focus.V

James McCourt: A

The starting kicker for Illinois has been more than just the hero of Homecoming. He’s been one of the best kickers Illinois has ever seen, becoming notorious for his field-goal conversions from extended range.

James McCourt started off the season with a 53-yard field goal against Connecticut, the first of his career and the longest road-field goal in program history. A week later against Eastern Michigan, he’d topped his previous record after drilling another field goal from 57-yards.

He got his third and final 50-yard field goal of the season against Michigan, which was good for the fourth-most in school history, but his biggest field goal came from 39-yards, capping off Illinois’ upset against No. 6 Wisconsin on Homecoming.

@jaredfarmer

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