Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Fall to Illini (10-26-02)
10/26/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
October 26, 2002
The Indiana Hoosiers dropped a 45-14 decision at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill.
Illinois senior tailback Antonio Harris provided all the offense the Illini would need. Harris finished the game with 28 carries for 176 yards and four touchdowns, three of which came in the first half of play.
Trailing at the half, head coach Gerry DiNardo made a switch at the quarterback position going to senior Tommy Jones to try to spark the offense. Senior QB Gibran Hamdan was 14-of-26 for 148 yards in the first half.
Redshirt freshman Yamar Washington finally got the Hoosiers on the board trailing 45-0 in the fourth quarter. Indiana wideout Courtney Roby set up the touchdown play with a 31-yard reverse down inside the Illini 10. Washington punched it in from three yards out for the Hoosiers first score.
Indiana tacked on another score with less than 10 seconds remaining. Jones hit freshman wideout Tyke Spencer for a 44-yard touchdown pass. The catch marked Spencer's second touchdown reception of the season. Jones finished the game for Indiana 12-of-24 for 172 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception.
Roby had his second straight 100-yard receiving day, making eight catches for 123 yards. With the 123 yards, the Indianapolis, Ind., native moves into fourth place on the Hoosiers' single season receiving yards list with 851 yards this season.
Freshman linebacker John Kerr and sophomore linebacker Herana-Daze Jones were the Hoosiers leading tacklers with 12 and 9 tackles, respectively.
Indiana suffered another setback in the game when redshirt freshman cornerback Damien Jones went down with an injury five minutes into the game. Jones was carted off the field and did not return.
The Hoosiers will look to rebound next Saturday when they travel to Evanston, Ill. to battle the Northwestern Wildcats at 12:10 p.m. on ESPN-Regional. Indiana beat the Wildcats last season, 56-21, in Bloomington. Northwestern will also come into the game off as loss, as the Wildcats fell to the Boilermakers of Purdue 42-13 on Saturday.
