Illinois Somehow Made it Through An Entire Game Without Kicking Off

Illinois football is very bad. Against Iowa, the Illini showed up, did pretty much nothing, then walked home after losing 28-0.

This was the drive chart:

• Punt
• Punt
• Punt
• Punt
• Punt
• Punt (returned for TD)
• Punt
• Punt
• Punt
• Punt
• Interception
• Turnover on Downs
• Fumble
• Turnover on Downs

I can confirm that is bad.

But what made this game even more special for the Illini is that they didn’t ever kick off! Not once! Usually, even if you get shut out, you’ll kick off once to your opponent, either to start the game or at halftime.

Due to 25 mile-per-hour sustained winds and 40 mph gusts, Iowa won the coin toss in the first half and chose to take the wind at the beginning of the game. That meant the Hawkeyes would not get the ball either to start the game or after halftime. This is a very dumb idea, but Illinois is bad, so it worked, and it gave us this situation, in which the Illini never kicked off once.

I’m not sure that has ever happened before, but I’m very glad it did in this very dumb game.