Controversial fumble ruling results in Illinois fumble recovery for USC
Near the end of the first half Saturday, Illinois was preparing to take a two-score lead on USC before a costly fumble. Or, was it a fumble?
That was the controversy as officials initially called a fumble for RB Kaden Feagin, recovered by Jahkeem Stewart of USC. Feagin appeared to have the ball ripped out at the two-yard line with the Illini leading 14-7 with 49 seconds left in the second quarter.
But, Feagin appeared to be down by contact and had both hands on the football. However, even after review, officials on-scene upheld the call. You can see for yourself below.
As soon as USC began the ensuing drive, they marched 29 yards in two plays. Getting to midfield, Illini fans were certainly weary. Then, Illinois challenged a 24-yard completion for Jayden Maiava to Lake McRee. They lost the challenge at USC had a first down at the Illinois 21-yard line with 26 seconds left.
USC ended the drive with a 21-yard field goal from Ryon Sayeri to cut the lead 14-10. The controversial call wasn’t too costly, but it certainly swung the game. A 10-point swing to be exact!
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Coming into this one, Illinois was pegged a favorite. Heck, Lincoln Riley and USC had to prepare for quite the time change. It was 9 a.m. local kick if you go by Pacific Time.
“I think it’s just handling the entire week well,” Riley said. “Because if you don’t really recover, and give the guys a chance to recover, and if you’re not smart with your schedule, you arrive home late from Purdue. You have the late kickoff here. Then it kind of flips and goes the other way.
“So, it’ll put a lot of responsibility on us and our team to really do a good job with recovery here this week. Making sure that, A, obviously, we have a great week of practice. Then, B, we can transition to get ready to play the game. So, listen, everybody’s got to deal with it in some way, whether it’s East Coast teams going West or vice versa.”