With 21 seconds to play and Illinois holding a 12-point lead over Minnesota, safety Sydney Brown came down with his first interception of the season. It was a sunny but chilly fall Saturday, and the 45,683 fans who bundled up to celebrate homecoming let out a roar loud enough to shake the college town.
Brown’s heroics in the 26-14 victory weren’t the only ones from his family on a day that he and his twin brother, Illini running back Chase Brown, were homecoming kings. Chase rushed for 180 yards on a career-high 41 carries — his school-record eighth consecutive 100-yard game — caught a 40-yard touchdown pass and tied J.C. Caroline (1953) for the Illinois record for fewest games to reach 1,000 rushing yards in a season.
The leaves aren’t the only things changing in central Illinois this season. So is the energy around the Illini program after years of languishing at the bottom of the Big Ten and four coaching changes in a 10-year span.
