Luke Altmyer trucks official during first-down run vs. Tennessee

In a relatively ho-hum Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl on Tuesday night, one referee was an unfortunate victim of a strong run by Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer. He was completely run over.

Midway through the third quarter Altmyer took off from the pocket up the middle of the field, finding a lane to run. As he did, he cut slightly to his right, toward the unlucky official.

The official attempted to get out of the way as best he could, but Altmyer was not slowing down. He bowled over the official, sending him tumbling unceremoniously to the turf. You can view the hit below.

Illinois QB Luke Altmyer just did to a ref what Derrick Henry does to NFL defenders every Sunday.

Fitting the Music City Bowl is in Henry’s old stomping grounds pic.twitter.com/yPE2L3kEsE

— Bobby Football (@Rob__Paul) December 31, 2025

For Luke Altmyer, the contact with the official seemed to spark him. He quickly led the team down the field for a scoring drive that he capped with a 2-yard quarterback keeper up the middle for a touchdown. That extended the lead to 24-14 as time ticked down in the third quarter.

At the time of this writing, Luke Altmyer was 15-of-25 passing for 158 yards and a touchdown. He had also run six times for 34 yards and a score.

Illinois controlling tempo vs. Tennessee

Tennessee came out and struck quickly in the Music City Bowl, posting the opening score of the game on a 7-yard touchdown run by quarterback Joey Aguilar. But Illinois and Luke Altmyer bounced back quickly.

Altmyer would answer late in the first quarter with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by a beauty. The quarterback found Justin Bowick in the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown hookup. That evened the score at 7-7.

The Fighting Illini would score 17 unanswered after trailing early, opening up a 17-7 lead. The second touchdown came by virtue of a strip-sack on Aguilar, with the ball recovered in the end zone.

Tennessee posted a nine-play, 75-yard drive of its own to cut things back to a one-score game midway through the third quarter. That made it 17-14 in favor of Illinois and Luke Altmyer.

Illinois would extend the lead to 24-14 on the aforementioned drive that Altmyer trucked the referee on. That’s where the score remained entering the fourth quarter.