Illinois Wins 20-17 Defensive Duel Over Maryland - University of Maryland Athletics

Saturday, October 31

SECU Stadium

12:00 PM

Maryland

2-6 , 0-5

Illinois

5-3 , 3-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Illinois	0	7	3	10	20
Maryland	7	0	7	3	17

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10/31/2026 12:00:00 PM | Football

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The Fighting Illini rallied late to defeat the Terps on Halloween.

COLLEGE PARK, MD — Illinois rallied with a 10-point fourth quarter to defeat Maryland 20-17 on Saturday afternoon at SECU Stadium. The Terps fell to 2-6 (0-5 Big Ten) despite a valiant effort from their defense.

Each team only scored once in the defensive first half. Messiah Delhomme secured his fourth career interception on Illinois' opening drive before Malik Washington opened the scoring with his sixth rushing touchdown of his collegiate career. The Fighting Illini scored late in the second quarter, sending the fifth all-time meeting between the two schools to the locker room tied at 7-7.

MESSIAH DELHOMME WITH AN OPENING DRIVE PICK 💥 📺 @FS1 https://t.co/KjGOAKwLtr
— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) October 31, 2026

Maryland opened the second half with a seven-play touchdown drive, capped by a 17-yard rushing touchdown from DeJuan Williams. Washington went 5/5 for 44 yards on the drive as he totaled 190 yards through the air against the Fighting Illini. Sean O'Haire hit a season-long 46-yard field goal before Illinois sealed its win with a field goal on the final play.

DeJuan begins the second half with a score 👏 📺 @FS1 https://t.co/25mIznjJNM
— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) October 31, 2026

Lavain Scruggs led the defense with 10 tackles. Chris Durr Jr. hauled in six receptions for 58 yards in the loss. His 58 receptions this season are the 11th-most by a Terp (tied with Frank Wycheck from 1990) in a single season in Maryland history. The Terps are back in action next Saturday on the road against Purdue.

How it Happened:
1st Quarter:

Maryland won the toss and deferred, sending Illinois on offense first.
Delhomme's fourth career interception, and third of the season, gave Maryland the ball at the Illinois' 12-yard line.
The Fighting Illini forced a fumble on the goal line to regain possession.
Washington rushed for a 21-yard gain to put Maryland back in the red zone.
Washington's sixth rushing touchdown of the season opened the scoring midway through the quarter.
Illinois secured an interception in the final minute of the quarter.
Maryland led 7-0 after 15 minutes of action.

2nd Quarter:

Illinois missed a 52-yard field goal, giving Maryland the ball back early in the quarter.
The Fighting Illini tied the game with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Brayden Trimble in the final minute.
The game was tied 7-7 at the half.

3rd Quarter:

Williams ran for a 17-yard touchdown to cap a seven-play, 65-yard scoring drive as the Terps reclaimed the lead.
Illinois responded with a 45-yard field goal from Ethan Moczulski midway through the quarter.
Washington and Durr Jr. connected for an 18-yard gain.
The Terps took their 14-10 lead into the final 15 minutes of action.

4th Quarter:

Illinois' Javari Barnett broke off a 64-yard rushing touchdown on the first play of the quarter to give the Fighting Illini a 17-14 lead.
O'Haire tied the game with a season-long 46-yard field goal with 10 minutes to play.
The Fighting Illini hit a 26-yard walkoff field goal to seal the 20-17 win.

Malik on the Charts:

Washington threw for 190 yards and rushed for a touchdown against Illinois on Saturday.
He added 19 completions to his career total, bringing it to 447, which are the fifth most in program history. He passed C.J. Brown (437 from 2011-14). Next on the list is Boomer Esiason (461 from 1981-83).
With 190 yards on Saturday, Washington brought his career total to 4,768, which are the ninth-most in program history. Next on the list is Neil O'Donnell with 4,989 from 1987-89.
Washington's 26 career passing touchdowns are tied for the 10th-most in program history with Neil O'Donnell (26 from 1987-89). Next on the list is Sam Hollenbach (28 from 2003-06).
Earlier this season, he became the fifth Maryland quarterback since 1996 to record at least 20 career passing touchdowns and at least five career rushing touchdowns.

Malik takes it in for 6️⃣ 📺 @FS1 https://t.co/EK23eZ1Opt
— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) October 31, 2026

First Time In A Long Time:

The Terps played a home game on Halloween for the first time since Oct. 31, 1992, when Maryland battled North Carolina.
The Terps wore a uniform combination on Saturday — red helmet, black jersey, black pants — that had not been worn since Nov. 9, 1991, when Maryland played Penn State in the final college football game at Baltimore Memorial Stadium.

Back in black 🔥 https://t.co/Eh3xUbV1np
— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) October 31, 2026

Celebrating Students:

Maryland gave a way a free semester of tuition to a lucky student in attendance on Saturday.
Bryce Hartle, a senior mechanical engineering student from Keedysville, MD, won the raffle.
The tuition was announced on the field at SECU Stadium during the 4th quarter.

A gameday Bryce won't forget 🎉🐢 Congratulations to Bryce Hartle, a senior mechanical engineering major, on winning our spring semester tuition giveaway! https://t.co/gJmm8b5oDY
— Maryland Terrapins (@umterps) October 31, 2026

Aazaar Abdul-Rahim's Remarks:

"I want to thank them for the buy-in. They could have quit in a lot of ways after the craziness of the last two weeks and the uncertainty they've had to deal with. I wanted to let them know how appreciative I am to be their head coach."
"We've been preaching to those guys about their process the entire week. The process doesn't have anything to do with the outcome. Unfortunately, it's not the outcome that we wanted, but it has validated that the process that we have put into place is the right process."
"I heard 10 to 12 teammates tell another teammate that they love them, and that's the goal at the end of the day: for these guys to love each other and love football."
"You want young men who play fast and care-free. You have to condense what they have to think about prior to the snap. We condensed practice. We wanted to build an identity. I think building identity will, from an offensive perspective, shrink what we want to focus on in the run game and passing game."
"Malik is a unique quarterback. He does a good job of using his legs, so he's more of a run-pass option. We want to continue to give him as many looks as possible."
"We stressed energy. I felt like the energy was really good, and. I thought it was sustained energy."

Numbers to Know:

1: Maryland only had one penalty for five yards, marking its fewest penalty total since 2022.
5: Saturday marked the fifth all-time meeting between Maryland and Illinois.
10: By holding Illinois scoreless in the first quarter, the Maryland defense marked its 10th blank frame of the season.
17: Dorian Fleming recorded a reception in his 17th straight game.
19: 19 different Terps recorded tackles in the loss.
21: Daniel Wingate made his 21st straight start, which is the longest streak on the Maryland defense.
30: Maryland has scored on 30-35 red zone drives this season.
30: O'Haire hit his 30th field goal as a Terp, putting him in a tie for 11th in program history. O'Haire is now 42-47 on FGs in his career (89.3%). He's perfect on PATs in his career 61-61. He's one of three kickers in D-I football to be better than 89% FG and perfect in career PATs.
33: Rahtrel Perry made his 33rd straight start, which is the longest streak on the Maryland offense.
56: DeJuan Williams' 56 receptions as a Terp are the second-most by a Maryland running back since 2000. Only Roman Hemby (112) has more. He's also one of only nine FBS running backs to have at least 50 receptions since the start of last season.
58: Durr Jr.'s 58 receptions this season are tied for the 11th most in program history.