No. 23 Iowa Defeats Illinois 23-13

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Posted 4:17PM on Saturday, October 30, 2004

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- Drew Tate threw a pair of 19-yard touchdown passes to Ed Hinkel and added a 5-yard run for a score to lead No. 23 Iowa past Illinois 23-13 Saturday, the Illini's 14th straight Big Ten loss. Tate's run capped a 16-point third quarter that helped break open a 7-7 game for the Hawkeyes (6-2, 4-1). He finished 24-of-34 for 243 yards and had one pass intercepted. Hinkel caught five passes for 108 yards and Sam Brownlee carried 19 times for 50 yards as Iowa gained 319 total yards against a defense ranked 107th nationally coming into the game. The Iowa defense held Illinois' running attack to just 58 yards. Illinois (2-7, 0-6) was held to a mere 58 yards rushing in dropping its sixth consecutive game. Tate's first touchdown pass to Hinkel came with 6:28 to go in the first half and tied the game at 7-all. Faced with third-and-8, he dropped back and found Hinkel open on a slant route. The third quarter belonged to Iowa, which took advantage of a recovered fumble and a blocked punt. The fumble recovery by Jonathan Babineaux led to Hinkel's second TD catch and the blocked punt bounced over the end line for a safety. Tate's touchdown run with 3:38 remaining sealed the win. The Illini scored on their first drive of the game when Brad Bower threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Kendrick Jones. But they wouldn't get close to the end zone again until late in the game. Jon Beutjer, who transferred to Illinois from Iowa, replaced Bower to start the fourth quarter and led the Illini on their only other scoring drive, which finished with a 3-yard TD pass to Jones with just 49 seconds left. An earlier drive ended at the Iowa 9 when Beutjer's pass bounced off receiver E.B. Halsey and into the waiting arms of Iowa's Antwan Allen. Iowa's injury-depleted backfield was dealt another blow in the first quarter when fullback Aaron Mickens was taken from the stadium by ambulance after he was tackled along the Illinois sidelines in the first quarter. Mickens was experiencing back pain and sustained a mild concussion, an Iowa spokesman said. Mickens is the fifth Iowa running back to be hurt in a game this season.