Maclin scores on two returns before leaving with injury for Missouri

 

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• Missouri Stands Tall Over Illinois In Shootout, 52-42

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Top 25 Overview

It was over when... Missouri LB Sean Weatherspoon picked off Juice Williams and returned the INT 35 yards for a touchdown with 3:18 left in the game, pushing the score to 52-35 and ending Illinois' comeback attempt. Gameball goes to... Chase Daniel, who saw a second quarter INT brought back for a touchdown, but settled down and finished the game with three TDs, 323 yards passing and 47 yards rushing. Stat of the game... 1,081: The Tigers and Fighting Illini combined for over 1,000 yards of total offense in their second straight thriller in St. Louis. Complete Top 25 Overview

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	24	28
Total Yards	532	549
Passing	451	323
Rushing	81	226
Penalties	8-80	3-20
3rd Down Conversions	7-17	9-17
4th Down Conversions	2-2	0-2
Turnovers	2	2
Possession	36:32	23:28

Air/Ground Leaders
Illinois Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Williams 26/42 451 5 2	Missouri Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Daniel 26/45 323 3 1
Illinois Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Dufrene 13 75 0 41 Williams 19 10 0 14	Missouri Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Washington 19 130 2 40 Daniel 9 46 0 18
Illinois Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Judson 4 124 2 65 Duvalt 4 104 2 53	Missouri Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Coffman 9 120 1 23 Perry 5 92 0 38

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				ILL	MIZZ
	TD	10:18	Derrick Washington 7 Yd Run (Jeff Wolfert Kick) Drive: 10 plays, 67 yds, 4:41	0	7
	TD	01:28	Will Judson 30 Yd Pass From Juice Williams (Pat Blocked) Drive: 4 plays, 64 yds, 1:46	6	7
SECOND QUARTER				ILL	MIZZ
	FG	14:16	Jeff Wolfert 51 Yd Drive: 7 plays, 47 yds, 2:13	6	10
	TD	09:25	Derek Walker 34 Yd Interception Return (Matt Eller Kick)	13	10
	TD	09:25	Jeremy Maclin 99 Yd Kickoff Return (Jeff Wolfert Kick)	13	17
	TD	05:52	Derrick Washington 40 Yd Run (Jeff Wolfert Kick) Drive: 3 plays, 80 yds, 1:06	13	24
	TD	00:20	Chase Coffman 17 Yd Pass From Chase Daniel (Jeff Wolfert Kick) Drive: 10 plays, 87 yds, 2:25	13	31
THIRD QUARTER				ILL	MIZZ
	TD	09:41	Chris Duvalt 20 Yd Pass From Juice Williams (Matt Eller Kick) Drive: 6 plays, 79 yds, 1:59	20	31
	TD	09:41	Tommy Saunders 4 Yd Pass From Chase Daniel (Jeff Wolfert Kick) Drive: 12 plays, 67 yds, 4:50	20	38
	TD	02:50	Tommy Saunders 21 Yd Pass From Chase Daniel (Jeff Wolfert Kick) Drive: 1 plays, 21 yds, :06	20	45
	TD	01:17	Chris Duvalt 26 Yd Pass From Juice Williams (Juice Williams Pass To Daniel Dufrene For Two-Point Conversion) Drive: 4 plays, 82 yds, 1:33	28	45
FOURTH QUARTER				ILL	MIZZ
	TD	13:23	Will Judson 65 Yd Pass From Juice Williams (Matt Eller Kick) Drive: 3 plays, 82 yds, :43	35	45
	TD	03:18	Sean Weatherspoon 35 Yd Interception Return (Jeff Wolfert Kick)	35	52
	TD	00:00	Michael Hoomanawanui 5 Yd Pass From Juice Williams (Matt Eller Kick) Drive: 14 plays, 70 yds, 3:18	42	52

ST. LOUIS -- Missouri and Illinois played another wild one, combining for 92 points and 1,081 yards while leaving fans of both schools totally wrung out by the finish. Again, the sixth-ranked Tigers held on for the win.

Sean Weatherspoon bailed out a leaky defense with two late takeaways and Jeremy Maclin had a 99-yard kickoff return and 45-yard punt return before leaving in the fourth quarter with a sprained left ankle in No. 6 Missouri's 52-42 victory over No. 20 Illinois on Saturday night.

Fast Facts

•  Jeremy Maclin had 206 all-purpose yds, including a 45-yd punt return and a 99-yd kickoff return for touchdowns for Missouri.

•  Illinois quarterback Juice Williams was 27-for-41 for 452 yards and five TD passes (both career highs).

•  It was the first time Missouri and Illinois have met as ranked teams.

-- ESPN Research

"I'll tell you one thing: you enjoy winning. You kidding me?" Pinkel said. "I'll kick their butt tomorrow. We'll get up tomorrow and learn those lessons."

Illinois coach Ron Zook was saying the same things.

"It reminds me a lot of last year," Zook said. "We're better than that and we can't make the mistakes we made and get behind a team of that caliber and expect to be able to come back."

Missouri held off an Illini rally and won 40-34 last season, a great game by two teams on their way to big seasons. Missouri ended the year ranked fourth in the nation and Illinois played in the Rose Bowl.

Both are expecting more of the same this season, and both looked capable of big things on Saturday night.

Juice Williams was 26-for-42 for 451 yards for the Illini, nearly doubling his previous career best of 227 yards, and threw for a career-best fifth touchdown on the final play. Chris Duvalt and Will Judson each caught two touchdown passes. Judson was wide open on a 65-yarder that cut the deficit to 45-35 with early in the fourth quarter.

"We took what the defense gave us," Williams said. "We've got fast receivers on the outside and we took advantage of it."

Maclin, who finished with 234 all-purpose yards, lost his balance while running a pattern away from the play. He covered his face with a towel while being carted off the field from the Missouri sideline. He returned to the sidelines on crutches and still in uniform, his foot wrapped in ice, but the team said X-rays showed no damage.

"It's a scary moment when an impact player like that goes down," said quarterback Chase Daniel, 26-for-45 for 323 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. "He'll be out practicing Tuesday. He's fine."

Weatherspoon stopped one fourth-quarter drive with an interception at the Missouri 26, then he ripped the ball out of Daniel Dufrene's hands after a reception and returned it 35 yards for touchdown and a 52-35 lead.

Illinois added one more meaningless score and the teams easily surpassed the total of last year's track meet in the St. Louis.

Weatherspoon's big plays were among the handful from a defense that has 10 starters back and was expected to be much improved.

Derrick Washington added 130 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns in his first career start for Missouri.

Justifying its highest preseason ranking in school history on one side of the ball, Heisman Trophy finalist Daniel and Missouri ran off 21 straight points to go ahead 31-10 at the half and then answered an Illinois touchdown to open the second half with two quick scores that seemingly put the game out of range at 45-20.

Derek Walker's 34-yard interception return of Daniel's pass gave the Fighting Illini their only lead at 13-10. It was quickly erased on Maclin's kickoff return. Maclin ran into the end zone with fingers to his lips, an attempt to silence the Illinois fans.

The game sold out for the first time since the schools went to a neutral site this decade. The Edward Jones Dome was pretty much equally divided between orange-clad Illinois backers and yellow-clad Missouri partisans.

Missouri's Jeff Wolfert hit a 51-yard field goal in the first half, 3 yards off his own school record and his 17th straight successful attempt.