Illinois Stun No. 6 Wisconsin on Walk-Off FG; Biggest Upset of 2019 CFB Season

The Wisconsin Badgers' hopes of winning the Big Ten and making the College Football Playoff took a major hit Saturday when they were stunned by Illinois. 

James McCourt's 39-yard field goal as time expired gave the Fighting Illini a 24-23 win over the nation's sixth-ranked team:

Per ESPN Stats & Info, the Badgers' loss was the biggest upset of the 2019 season based on the 30.5 points they were getting from Caesars Sportsbook:

Through its first six games of the season, Wisconsin looked like an unstoppable force by outscoring its opponents 255-29 with four shutouts. The defense entered Saturday leading the nation in points allowed per game (4.8) and yards allowed per game (173.7). 

The Badgers went nine straight quarters without allowing an opponent to score dating back to their Oct. 5 win over Kent State. 

Illinois' 141 rushing yards Saturday were 51 more than Michigan State and Kent State had in the past two weeks combined. 

Another problem for Wisconsin was lack of execution in late-game situations. Jack Coan throwing an interception on 3rd-and-5 to give Illinois possession at its own 47-yard line with 2:32 left to play. 

Brandon Peters, who only completed nine of his 21 attempts, kept Illinois' game-winning drive going with a nine-yard pass to Daniel Barker on 3rd-and-6 for a first down at the Badgers' 40-yard line. 

Wisconsin did its best leading up to the Illinois game to downplay any notion it could be looking ahead to next week's showdown with Ohio State.

The Badgers may not have been peaking at that Oct. 26 matchup, but whatever went wrong Saturday leaves head coach Paul Chryst and his team in a situation where they are now looking up at Minnesota in the Big Ten West. 

On the winning side, Illinois hadn't beaten a ranked conference opponent since 2007 when the program took down Penn State, Wisconsin and Ohio State.

Head coach Lovie Smith hasn't had a lot of success since taking over the Illini in 2016 with an 11-31 record entering this week, but he earned a hallmark win for the ages and upended the playoff outlook for the Big Ten.