Throwback Thursday: Geronimo Allison scores game winning TD vs. Nebraska

Nebraska joined the Big Ten Conference before the 2011 football season. It wasn’t until division realignment in 2013 that the Illini began playing the Cornhuskers annually. Including that 2013 season, the Illini have played Nebraska four times in Big Ten Conference play, the Illini winning once. However, that was a win that will live on in Illini memory for a long, long time.

September 3, 2015

Nebraska is 2-2 heading into the game, Illinois is 3-1. New Cornhuskers head coach Mike Riley is already off to a rocky start and his first Big Ten game in Champaign is only going to add to his misery.

Nebraska is up 13-0 heading into the fourth quarter. Early on in the fourth, at the 13:21 mark, Illini wide receiver Marchie Murdock reels in a 22-yard pass from Wes Lunt to put Illinois on the scoreboard.

Murdock was wide open on the play:

The rest of the quarter went like this, in typical Big Ten fashion: Nebraska punt, Illinois punt, Nebraska punt, Illinois punt, Nebraska punt, Illinois punt. On the ensuing Nebraska drive, the Cornhuskers took the ball all of the way down to the Illinois 27-yardline, and they turned the ball over on downs.

Nebraska quarterback Tommy Armstrong had a game he would probably like to forget. He completed less than a third of his passes, threw one interception and no touchdown passes.

Illinois would get the ball back on their own 28-yardline and march down the field for a game winning touchdown. Malik Turner caught a 50-yard pass from Wes Lunt that took the ball seven yards away from the end zone with 51 seconds left in the game.

With 10 seconds left in the game and the Illini on the Nebraska 1 following a Cornhusker penalty, Wes Lunt found Geronimo Allison for the game winner. The rest is history.