Illinois Breaks Conference Losing Streak Against Purdue

Steve Hull caught a career-high 10 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns to help Illinois defeat Purdue 20-16 on Saturday afternoon.

Nathan Scheelhaase completed 24 of 30 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns and Josh Ferguson ran for a career-high 115 yards for the Fighting Illini (4-7, 1-6 Big Ten), who snapped a six-game losing streak this season and a 20-game skid in conference play.

Early in the first quarter, Scheelhaase became the second Illini and 10th player in Big Ten history to amass more than 10,000 career total yards. Juice Williams was the first to do it for Illinois.

Hull recorded his third-straight 100-plus yard receiving game and has five touchdowns in that stretch.

Ferguson also had 4 catches for 11 yards in the game, making him the Illinois single-season record holder for receiving yards by a running back.

Tayler Zalewski added two field goals for Illinois of 32 and 23 yards respectively.

Akeem Hunt ran for a career-high 102 yards and a touchdown and Danny Etling completed 20 of 29 passes for 163 yards for Purdue, (1-10, 0-7), which has lost nine in a row.

Purdue had a chance to win late. The Boilermakers reached the Illinois 30-yard line, but Etling was pressured and threw an interception to V'Angelo Bentley to end the threat with just under a minute to play.

The Illini finish the season at home against Northwestern next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT.