November 4, 2006 Week 10 · Regular Season Belt defended

Ohio State defends the belt, 17–10, on the road at Illinois.

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Illinois 10

Away · Defending Holder

Ohio StateAP No. 1 17

AP poll, week 10: Ohio State No. 1 at Illinois unranked · No. 1 that week: Wisconsin. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Ohio State came in 56 days into reign #260, which began with a win over Texas, with 7 defenses already behind it; this was its 8th defense. Ohio State went on to defend it 2 more times before Florida took it on January 9, 2007, 122 days after the reign began.

For Illinois this was its 13th shot at the belt; it had held the belt twice before.

It was the 5th of 5 belt games between the two; going in, Ohio State led the belt series 3–1; all-time Ohio State leads 4–1. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Ohio State controlled this defensive battle from start to finish, building a 17-3 lead by halftime behind a ground game featuring touchdown runs from Chris Wells and Antonio Pittman. Illinois struggled to generate offense for most of the game, managing only 233 total yards, but made a late push in the fourth quarter when Rashard Mendenhall scored on a 3-yard rush with 1:40 remaining to cut the deficit to 17-10. The Illini's comeback attempt fell just short as Ohio State's defense, anchored by James Laurinaitis's interception return late in the game, held firm to preserve the belt. Despite being outgained in total yards slightly and seeing Troy Smith throw an interception in the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes' superior time of possession and early scoring proved decisive.

Chris Wells 2-yard TD rush in Q1 gave Ohio State early momentum and helped them jump to 7-0
Antonio Pittman 1-yard TD in Q2 extended Ohio State's lead to 14-0 and effectively decided the game
James Laurinaitis interception return in Q4 stopped Illinois' final scoring drive and sealed the win
Rashard Mendenhall's late 3-yard TD made it 17-10 but came too late to threaten Ohio State's belt defense

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

IllinoisOhio State

Total yards233224

Rushing yards99116

Passing yards134131

First downs1317

3rd down conv.5/157/17

Turnovers22

Penalties–yards1–155–39

Time of possession14:2322:17

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 8:16	Ohio State	+0 yd	Aaron Pettrey extra point GOOD.
Q1 8:16	Ohio State	+2 yd	Chris Wells rush for 2 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 6:55	Illinois	+43 yd	Pierre Thomas rush for 43 yards to the Illin 48 for a 1ST down.
Q2 12:39	Ohio State	+1 yd	Antonio Pittman rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 12:39	Ohio State	+0 yd	Aaron Pettrey extra point GOOD.
Q2 0:56	Ohio State	+50 yd	Aaron Pettrey 50 yard field goal GOOD.
Q4 8:54	Illinois	+27 yd	Jason Reda 27 yard field goal GOOD.
Q4 5:13	Ohio State	+0 yd	Troy Smith pass intercepted by Justin Ijei at the Illin 35, returned for no gain to the Illin 35.
Q4 4:43	Illinois	+5 yd	Tim Brasic pass intercepted by James Laurinaitis at the Illin 45, returned for 5 yards to the Illin 40.
Q4 3:00	Illinois	+24 yd	Isiah Williams pass complete to Jeff Cumberland for 24 yards to the Illin 44 for a 1ST down.
Q4 1:40	Illinois	+3 yd	Rashard Mendenhall rush for 3 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 1:40	Illinois	+0 yd	Jason Reda extra point GOOD.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Illinois

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Tim Brasic	6/15	57	3.8	0	1	17.9

Ohio State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Troy Smith	13/23	108	4.7	0	1	61.5

Rushing

Illinois

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Pierre Thomas	8	58	7.3	0	43
Rashard Mendenhall	7	18	2.6	1	13
Tim Brasic	1	6	6.0	0	6
Derrick McPhearson	1	3	3.0	0	3

Ohio State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Antonio Pittman	32	58	1.8	1	13
Troy Smith	11	37	3.4	0	16
Chris Wells	4	21	5.3	1	13

Receiving

Illinois

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Jeff Cumberland	4	62	15.5	24
Derrick McPhearson	4	22	5.5	11
Kyle Hudson	4	19	4.8	11
Rashard Mendenhall	0	15	0.0	15
Chris James	1	10	10.0	10
Pierre Thomas	1	6	6.0	6

Ohio State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Brian Robiskie	2	33	16.5	17
Ted Ginn Jr.	5	26	5.2	15
Antonio Pittman	3	21	7.0	17
Anthony Gonzalez	2	18	9.0	10
Brian Hartline	1	10	10.0	10

Show more stats (4 more categories)

Interceptions

Illinois

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Kevin Mitchell	1	0	0

Ohio State

Player	INT	YDS	TD
James Laurinaitis	1	5	0

Kicking

Illinois

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Jason Reda	1/1	100.0	27	1/1	4

Ohio State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Aaron Pettrey	1/1	100.0	50	2/2	5

Punt Returns

Illinois

No recorded stats in this category.

Ohio State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Ted Ginn Jr.	3	28	9.3	17	0

Punting

Illinois

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Jared Bosch	4	152	38.0	0	0	42
Kyle Yelton	3	120	40.0	0	0	43

Ohio State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
AJ Trapasso	7	285	40.7	0	0	60

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 263080356) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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