COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Chase Brown helps Illini secure a bowl berth | Sports

CHAMPAIGN — No Illinois player has ever won the Heisman Trophy as Illini legends Dick Butkus and Jim Grabowski each finished third in the voting in 1964 and 1965 respectively.

And the last Illinois player to even receive a vote was quarterback Kurt Kittner in 2001.

But that could change this season.

Junior running back Chase Brown became the first player this season to rush for more than 1,000 yards with his 180-yard game on Saturday on a career-high 41 carries as the 24th-rated Fighting Illini defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers 26-14 before 45,683 at Memorial Stadium.

“I feel good,’’ said Brown, who has rushed for more than 100 yards in all seven games this season for the Illini. “I know 41 carries is a lot, but like I said to you guys all of the time, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win games. If that’s carrying the ball 41 times a few times, I’ll do that.’’

Brown, who now has 1,059 rushing yards this season and was named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday, also caught three passes for 53 yards including a 40-yard scoring strike on his team’s first possession.

His performance helped the Fighting Illini improve to 6-1 on the season and 3-1 in the Big Ten West Division. The six wins qualifies Illinois for its first postseason bowl game since 2019.

“If there is a better player in college football that has an effect on his program. I would like to know who he is,’’ said Illinois coach Bret Bielema, who believes his running back deserves Heisman consideration. “I get it there are a lot of preseason rankings that players and teams that had a lot of hype before the season.’’

And the praise for Brown isn’t just limited to his head coach.

“I mean look at him. He can catch the ball, take it out of the backfield. He can do it all,’’ said quarterback Tommy Devito, who recovered from last week’s ankle injury to make the start for Illinois. “He makes the game so much easier. Me and him have such a good communication in the backfield. It’s really something special, something that I really haven’t been a part of.’’

Devito was also a big part of Saturday’s victory for Illinois, completing 25-of-32 passes for 252 yards. He also scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 5-yard run with 11 minutes, 45 seconds left in the third quarter.

“It felt awesome,’’ said Devito. “It made my job easier not having to run as much or really at all when you have a guy like Chase Brown back there. The O-line did an awesome job today. No sacks, just a couple of hits here and there, but it’s part of the game. The way that they played was awesome.’’

That combination of running by Brown and passing by Devito was just too much for the Gophers, who were held to just 180 yards of total offense with running back Mohamed Ibrahim gaining 127 of them on 15 carries.

Minnesota did…