College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Illinois 20, UCLA 14
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, December 31, 2011
Where: AT&T Park, San Francisco, California
Temperature: 63°
Head Official: Jeff Hilyer
Attendance: 29878

Cornerback Terry Hawthorne returned an interception for a touchdown, and Illinois turned in a strong defensive performance in a 20-14 win over UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

Hawthorne jumped an out route late in the third quarter, picking off Kevin Prince and returned it 39 yards for a 10-7 Fighting Illini lead.

Illinois (7-6) extended the lead to 20-7 when A.J. Jenkins took a slant 60 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth. The Bruins (6-8) scored with 29 seconds left but Jenkins recovered their onside kick attempt.

UCLA amassed just 66 yards in the first half but led 7-3 on Prince’s 16-yard scoring pass to Taylor Embree.

Illinois, the first FBS team to end a season 0-6 after starting 6-0, got going after halftime behind the scrambling of quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase. He finished with 110 yards rushing and 130 passing.

Both teams were led by interim coaches on Saturday after both programs fired their head coaches after disappointing seasons.

Illinois won a bowl game in consecutive years for the first time in school history.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
UCLA   Illinois
Derrick Coleman Player Nathan Scheelhaase
9 Attempts 22
39 Yards 110
4.3 Avg Yards 5.0
0 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Receiving
UCLA   Illinois
Josh Smith Player A.J. Jenkins
3 Receptions 6
60 Yards 80
20.0 Avg Yards 13.3
0 Touchdowns 1
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
UCLA 219 18 201 2 0 1 1.0 1
Illinois 326 178 148 1 2 1 5.0 1