COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Illinois jinx bit John Cooper and his Ohio State Buckeyes again Saturday.
The Illini, with senior Jeff Kinney making his first career start at quarterback, beat the Buckeyes for the fifth straight year, 18-16. Ohio State lost two touchdown chances when freshman tailback Eddie George twice fumbled at the Illinois goal line.
The first George fumble, coming less than four minutes into the game after Ohio State had driven the opening kickoff to the Illinois 1, was returned 96 yards for a touchdown by free safety Jeff Arneson.
The other came early in the fourth quarter with the Buckeyes already leading 16-15 and threatening command of the game. Derrick Rucker recovered the ball at the Illinois 9. Kinney then drove his team to the Ohio State 4 where, with 4:56 left in the game, Chris Richardson kicked a 21-yard, game-winning field goal.
Ohio State had a final chance at victory, driving to the Illinois 26. But, with 53 seconds remaining in the game, Tim Williams missed a 44- yard field goal attempt.
'You can't fumble twice on the goal line and expect to beat a pretty good football team like Illinois,' said Cooper, who was booed as he walked off the field following his second consecutive Big Ten defeat.
'A lot of people are on my back right now. We have to circle the wagons, become a close-knit football team, win next week (Northwestern) and go on from there. There's nothing easy for me these days. It's almost like it isn't meant to be.'
George scored Ohio State's only touchdown on a four-yard run in the second quarter.
The other Ohio State points came on three Williams field goals of 50, 29 and 25 yards, the latter coming on the final play of the first half, cutting the Illini lead to 15-13. But Williams also missed a 31-yarder earlier in the second quarter.
Kinney, who went all the way at quarterback for Illinois in place of veteran Jason Verduzco, scored Illinois' other touchdown on a 3-yard keeper in the second quarter. The Illini also got two points when Ohio State's Robert Smith was tackled in the end zone for a safety by Ken Blackman.
'I thought Jeff Kinney played a very good football game,' Cooper said of the Illini quarterback, who completed 12 of 25 passes for 139 yards, with one interception.
'Our players played their hearts out,' said Illinois coach Lou Tepper. 'Our execution was not always perfect, but we didn't dig ourselves into a deep hole. We stuck together through the ups and down on both offense and defense.'
The loss drops Ohio State to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten after last week's loss at Wisconsin. It also put a major roadblock in any Rose Bowl plans for the Buckeyes, who were considered possibly the only challenger to Michigan's fourth trip to Pasadena in the last five years.
'Realistically, this has not put us in good position for the Rose Bowl,' understated Cooper. 'Wisconsin has to lose three now, and the other good teams have to lose two.'
The victory improved Illinois to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
