PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Trailing by one at the 40-yard line with 14 seconds to play and no timeouts, Illinois coach Bret Bielema sent in a play known as “church” to Luke Altmyer.
The quarterback was to hit a receiver who was to go to the ground immediately. The offense would rush to the line of scrimmage and Altmyer would spike the ball to set up a potential winning field goal.
Pat Bryant caught the pass at the 22 and then called his own split-second audible. Seeing a path to the end zone, the star receiver ran across the field on the way to the winning touchdown with 4 seconds left, sending the Illini to a wild 38-31 victory over Rutgers on Saturday.
“Coach called a perfect play," Bryant said. "A play we run all the time in our two-minute drill. I caught the ball and saw the sideline and saw nobody was over there. I had one guy to beat. I gave him a little move. I heard everybody jump and say ’Get out, get out,' but I put trust in myself and scored a touchdown.”
Bryant's ninth TD reception of the season capped a roller-coaster finish to a Big Ten game that featured three lead changes in the final 3:07.
Illinois (8-3, 5-3) was down 31-30 when it sent long kicker Ethan Moczulski out for a desperation 58-yard field goal. Rutgers coach Greg Schiano called for a timeout right before Moczulski’s attempt was wide left and about 15 yards short.
After the missed field goal was waved off by the timeout, Bielema sent his offense back on the field.
“Pat is so aware of his surroundings," Bielema said after Bryant finished with seven catches for a career-high 197 yards. “He saw that corner and took off.”
Schiano didn't second-guess his timeout but said he should have called it well before Moczulski kicked.
“They made one more play than we did,” Schiano said.
Rutgers (6-5, 3-5) gave up a safety on the final kickoff return, throwing a ball out of bounds in the end zone as players passed it around hoping for a miracle touchdown.
Altmyer was 12-of-26 passing for 249 yards and two touchdowns. He put Illinois in front with a 30-yard TD run with 3:07 to go. He passed to Josh McCray on the 2-point conversion, making it 30-24.
Rutgers responded with a 10-play, 65-yard drive. Athan Kaliakmanis had a 15-yard run on fourth down. He passed to running back Kyle Monangai for a 13-yard TD with 1:08 remaining.
Illinois then drove 75 yards in eight plays for the win.
“That's big-time football,” Monangai said. "They made a great play at the end of the game. I think we we played our hearts out to the end, to the very end, even that last play. Illinois did the same. They’re a great team. The chips fell their way today.”
Kaliakmanis was 18 for 36 for 174 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 13 carries for 84 yards and two TDs. Monangai had a career-high 28 carries for 122 yards.
Kaliakmanis found Ian Strong for a 2-yard touchdown in the final seconds of the first half, and he scored on a 1-yard run to lift Rutgers to a 24-15 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Illinois responded with Aidan Laughery’s 8-yard TD run, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
The start of the second half was delayed because of a scrum between the teams. There were no punches thrown and the officials called penalties on both schools.
Monangai become the third player in Rutgers history to rush for 3,000 yards when he picked up 4 on a third-and-1 carry early in the second quarter. The defending conference rushing champion joins Ray Rice and Terrell Willis in hitting the mark.
Illinois: The great finish keeps the Illini in line for its first nine-win season since 2007 and a prestigious bowl game this season.
Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights were seconds away from their first in-conference three-game win streak since joining the Big Ten in 2014.
Illinois: At Northwestern next Saturday.
Rutgers: At Michigan State next Saturday.
