Illinois 20, UCLA 14
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, December 31, 2011
Where: AT&T Park, San Francisco, California
Temperature:
63°
Head Official:
Jeff Hilyer
Attendance:
29878
By SportsDirect Inc.
Cornerback Terry Hawthorne returned an interception for a touchdown, and Illinois turned in a strong defensive performance in a 20-14 win over UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
Hawthorne jumped an out route late in the third quarter, picking off Kevin Prince and returned it 39 yards for a 10-7 Fighting Illini lead.
Illinois (7-6) extended the lead to 20-7 when A.J. Jenkins took a slant 60 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth. The Bruins (6-8) scored with 29 seconds left but Jenkins recovered their onside kick attempt.
UCLA amassed just 66 yards in the first half but led 7-3 on Prince’s 16-yard scoring pass to Taylor Embree.
Illinois, the first FBS team to end a season 0-6 after starting 6-0, got going after halftime behind the scrambling of quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase. He finished with 110 yards rushing and 130 passing.
Both teams were led by interim coaches on Saturday after both programs fired their head coaches after disappointing seasons.
Illinois won a bowl game in consecutive years for the first time in school history.
Top Game Performances
Receiving
| UCLA |
|
Illinois |
|
Josh Smith
| Player |
A.J. Jenkins
|
|
3 |
Receptions |
6 |
|
60 |
Yards |
80 |
|
20.0 |
Avg Yards |
13.3 |
|
0 |
Touchdowns |
1 |
|
0 |
Long |
0 |
Team Stats Summary
| |
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
| Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
| UCLA
|
219 |
18 |
201 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1.0 |
1 |
| Illinois
|
326 |
178 |
148 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
5.0 |
1 |