Thread by @ALionEye

Christmas is 10 days away, so I'm gonna do my own little advent calendar where you open up a window each day to find an Illini football gif. Call 'em the 10 biggest plays of the season. #10: Dre Brown's run to open up the Purdue game. This was my "we might actually bowl" moment.

A game that shouldn't be close is close, UConn is driving down 8 with 2:15 left, and Dele Harding ends the game. #9 on this list of the biggest plays of the season is Harding's Hartford Hijack. Yes, I named an interception from a game where we were favored by 20 yet won by 8.

The game is tied at halftime but then a Dre Brown touchdown puts Illinois up 17-10. Not long after that, a defensive TD makes a shaky game suddenly comfortable. #8 on our list of biggest plays from 2019: Nate Hobbs' fumble return against Rutgers.

There's 40 seconds left but we're still not quite in field goal range. Need one more big play. So we turn to Dre Brown...

(I have a bunch of Wisconsin plays on this countdown and I'm trying to spread them out. Seems crazy for this to be #7 but here we are.)

The EMU game? Yes, the EMU game. One play on this countdown had to come from a loss, so I asked myself which play would have been *the play* had we won the game. It was an easy choice: #6 on this countdown, 4th & Bhebhe I, a prelude to something later in the season...

Play #5 on the countdown, which should have been posted yesterday but I was drowning in Mizzou sorrow, is the Witherspoon tackle which led to the goal line stand which turned 7 into 3 for Wisconsin which allowed McCourt to win it at the gun.

#4 on the countdown is from the same game. It's 23-21 and the crowd is buzzing after the Imatorbhebhe touchdown but Wisconsin has the ball and is driving with less than 3:00 to go. Are we really going to get within two of #6 Wisconsin just to watch them kneel out the clock? Nope.

#3 is a play I'll never forget because I had no idea what happened. The play happened in the west end of the south endzone and our seats were in the east end of the north endzone. So it was basically a throw, the MSU crowd goes silent, the Illinois sideline erupts, we erupt.

So many emotions during that 4th quarter. Held Wisconsin to a field goal so their lead was only 9. But then we're stuffed on 4th & 1 and they're driving to put the game away. Fumble! Touchdown drive! Interception! Peters to Barker! Dre Brown run! All setting up our #2 play...

Look at the clock. Less than two minutes remaining. Look at the Illini timeouts. There are none. Meaning, if we don't convert 4th & 17 (it was 17), MSU kneels it out and none of this is happening. Merry Christmas, Illini fans. The #1 play, 4th & Bhebhe, brought us a bowl game.