PISCATAWAY – If the Rutgers football program ever gets to where head coach Greg Schiano has long insisted it’s going, the 2024 campaign will ultimately not be a signature season. An opportunity for a signature win on Senior Day turned into an unthinkable loss. Seconds short of stringing together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in over a decade, the Scarlet Knights instead blew two fourth quarter leads and turned it into an unfathomable, 38-31, defeat to No. 24 Illinois at a chilly, gusty SHI Stadium, falling to 6-5 on the year with only the regular-season finale against Michigan State left to play before they depart for a second consecutive bowl bid. It was to be their first win over a ranked opponent since 2009 — a victory over South Florida that came three years before Schiano and then Kyle Flood would put the finishing touches on two straight 9-4 seasons — but is instead now their 41st straight loss to an AP Top 25 team. This one will be more memorable than many of the others. A good portion of the announced crowd of 47,524 opted to watch from home, not daring to brave gusts of wind of 30 miles per hour that made a 49 degree game-time temperature feel as though it was significantly lower. Unsurprisingly, the game got off to a slow start — those winds wreaked havoc on the passing game and special times early — and both teams swapped early field goals in the first 16 minutes. Eventually, things opened up for both offenses. Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, who rushed for a career-high 84 yards, capped off a 10-play, 75-yard drive with a 12-yard run into the end zone with 9:20 remaining in the first half to give the Scarlet Knights a 10-3 lead. The Fighting Illini answered shortly thereafter on a 16-yard scoring strike from Luke Altmyer to Hank Beatty after a scramble, but the extra point was missed, keeping it a 10-9 game with 5:32 left in the second quarter. Kaliakmanis got it done with his arm just prior to halftime; he finished up a 16-play, 75-yard drive and found Ian Strong open in the back right corner of the end zone with just six seconds left in the half to send Rutgers into the locker room up 17-10. A brief scuffle between both teams ensued once they emerged to start the second half, but it was quickly broken up without incident. Once play resumed, Josh McCray got Illinois back to within two on a short touchdown run with 6:36 remaining in the third, but the two-point conversion attempt failed, keeping Rutgers ahead. The Scarlet Knights appeared to start to pull away after that — Kaliakmanis finished his third ten-plus-play drive of the day with a short rushing touchdown from just behind the goal line — but Illinois wouldn’t go down quietly; running back Aidan Laughery just managed to find paydirt on an eight-yard scoring run that again cut Rutgers lead to just two points, 24-22, with 13:48 left in regulation. The wheels had seemingly completely fallen off shortly thereafter, however, albeit only briefly. Altmyer went completely untouched on a 30-yard touchdown run to the right with 3:07 left in regulation, followed by a successful two-point conversion to give Illinois its first lead of the game, 30-24.  The ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, but it seemed Rutgers could not capitalize and its hopes were dashed; Kaliakmanis was nearly picked off on third down, but the call was ultimately overturned, giving it new life. Instead, after two more scrambles for a first down, he found Kyle Monangai — who had previously become the third player in program history to gain 3,000 rushing yards — for his first-ever receiving touchdown from 12 yards out, and Jai Patel’s successful extra point gave the Scarlet Knights a 31-30 lead with 1:08 left on the clock. And then it unraveled for good. Rutgers had the game won, forcing a fourth-down, 58-yard field goal attempt from Ethan Moczulski that was well short and to the left. However, Schiano had called a timeout, negating the play. Instead, Altmyer found Pat Bryant somehow wide open on the right side of the field, and he marched down the sideline untouched for the go-ahead score with just four seconds left. Illinois added a safety on the final play of the game to make up the final margin.