The Illini started the half off moving the ball on the ground, and continuing their luck for this game they then put the ball on the ground after a hit by Sidney Jones and Kevin King. Hau'oli Kikaha recovered the fumble.
Shaq Thompson got the series at running back. He took a carry off of right tackle, and get taken down by a shoestring tackle that would have gone to the house. The drive ended after a Cyler Miles sack and a couple of Dwayne Washington carries forced a 4th down, an Korey Durkee punted.
Illinois on their next drive threw three incompletions and punted the ball back to Washington. Dante Pettis returned the punt to inside of Illinois territory.
The Huskies took over and fed the ball to Lavon Coleman four straight times, until a holding call on Micah Hatchie backed the Huskies up and a Miles fumble on a scramble where he was carrying the ball like a loaf of bread was recovered by Illinois.
Wes Lunt took over the next drive, throwing down the field completing passes of 11, 36, and 27 yards and a touchdown. The Illini pulled to 38-19, as the UW secondary began to show the weakness that EWU exploited a week ago.
A 15 yard rush from Jesse Callier was followed by three more from him that were unable to get a first down, and the Dawgs were punting back to the Illini, but the Huskies forced a three and out thanks in part to a nice tackle by Jones. Dante Pettis had another nice return which ended with a fumble that he recovered.
Penalties continued to be a big part of this game, and on a terrible call that the ref was in no position to make Darrell Daniels was called for an illegal block below the waist which put the Dawgs way behind the sticks. On 3rd and 17 however, Miles eluded some defenders on a scramble and picked up 19 to move the Huskies into the red zone. A trick play to John Ross moved the Huskies back out of the red zone with a 6 yard loss. Miles again scrambled for a nice gain to end the quarter.