Illinois jokes that it'll be better prepared this time to defend Fresno State's impromptu trick play.
The one that ended with the Bulldogs' secret weapon -- 6-foot-6, 350-pound offensive lineman Devan Cunningham -- somehow catching a batted ball and plopping across the goal line for the winning points in Fresno State's 53-52 victory against Illinois a year ago.
"He's back. He's a giant," Illinois coach Ron Zook said. "But I don't think he's scored since our game, so he's probably looking forward to it as well."
Fresno State players and coaches joke, too, about the play and say Cunningham has been catching passes in the practices leading up to Friday's rematch.
"We've designed a couple of plays for him this year," Bulldogs coach Pat Hill said. "Last year, that wasn't really a designed play. He made it happen."
But as much fun as Fresno State has reminiscing and kidding about one of the oddest and most memorable plays in school history, Cunningham's rumble hardly is something Illinois likes to revisit.
The play, which put an exclamation point to Illinois' 3-9 season, prompted major changes during the Fighting Illini's offseason.
And it's partly a reason why Fresno State won't be facing an Illinois team that simply wants to end a lousy season on a winning note, but instead a bowl-bound Illini squad trying to position itself to play in the best postseason game possible.
"We've really been trying to put the past behind us," Illinois linebacker Nate Bussey said. "We haven't talked about the final play from last year when the lineman caught it. We haven't watched film of last year's game.
"We don't want any of that even in the back of our minds."
Buildup to the play
Cunningham might be the best-known player with two career points in Fresno State history.
That's all it took for the Bulldogs' biggest player to become the lead highlight on many sports highlight shows around the country.
"It was crazy," Cunningham said. "It was a fun experience."
The events leading up to Cunningham's play were almost as exciting.
Fresno State and Illinois were involved in a shootout, combining to score at least two touchdowns in each quarter and five in the final quarter.
Illinois finished with 548 total yards. Fresno State generated 416.
Both teams scored every chance they had in the red zone, combining to go 9 for 9.
But the drama didn't really start to build until the final 10 seconds.
On fourth-and-10 from Illinois 19 and the seconds ticking away, Ryan Colburn hooked up with Jamel Hamler on a post route about 2 yards from the end zone.
Just before Hamler was about to get tackled, he held himself up with his right hand before falling to the ground and stretching with his left to score a touchdown with 2 seconds remaining.
That reduced Fresno State's deficit to 52-51, with a chance to send the game into overtime with an extra point.
Hill wasn't having any of that.
"We hadn't been able to really slow them down," Hill revealed during a postgame interview. "Offensively, we were hot. We were playing at Illinois. I said, 'Let's get it over with.' "
Reliving the rumble
First, his eyes got big.
Then, Cunningham closed them.
And when he opened them back up, Cunningham found himself on the ground in the end zone and saw a game official signal a score.
Of course, making the play happen wasn't that easy.
And Hill later admitted that, "Everything had to go just wrong for that play to go right" in Fresno State's favor.
On the 2-point conversion, Colburn took the snap under center in an offset I-formation to make Illinois think Fresno State might try to run the ball.
Instead, Colburn dropped back and began rolling to his left while looking for Hamler.
Illinois linebacker Russell Ellington, however, sniffed out the rollout, dodged an attempted block by Bulldogs H-back Tapa Taumoepeau, and got his hands on Colburn.
But the left-handed-throwing Colburn stuck out his right hand to fend off Ellington and refused to go down easily as the defender pulled on his legs.
"I thought we had them stopped," Bussey said. "We were right there."
Colburn then flung a pass in the direction of Hamler, who was being covered by Tavon Wilson.
The two jumped for the ball in the end zone and batted it toward the field of play.
"I saw Tavon hit the guy's hand and the ball bounce up," Zook said. "And I saw the big guy. ..."
Cunningham, standing around the 3-yard line, had the ball go right into his arms.
He took three hard-charging steps into the end zone and lowered his shoulder to prepare for contact against Illinois' Doug Pilcher.
Cunningham owned an 85-pound advantage on the defensive lineman.
Four other Illinois defenders converged to help, but Cunningham lunged forward just as he was hit in the back by a Bulldogs offensive lineman.
"I couldn't believe it," said Bussey, who was about 4 feet from the play. "Did that really happen, this big lineman score on us?"
Zook said: "That play probably put an exclamation point on [the season]. There were some things that happened last year that no one was happy about, and we didn't play the way we were capable of playing."
The aftermath
After the season, Zook changed offensive and defensive coordinators and overhauled the schemes. Most notably, Illinois no longer runs a spread option, instead using multiple formations that include downhill running and option elements.
Illinois also replaced quarterback Juice Williams, who finished as the sixth player in Big Ten history to top 10,000 career combined yards, with a two-quarterback rotation.
The Fighting Illini have doubled their win total, and registered signature wins against Penn State and Northwestern. They also were within 11 points of four losses, including a 67-65 triple-overtime defeat at Michigan last month.
Thus, Illinois is bowl eligible again for the first time since 2007, when it played in the Rose Bowl.
"It shows progress in your program," Zook said of becoming bowl eligible again.
Cunningham, meanwhile, has made his most significant contribution this year by being the Bulldogs' most durable offensive lineman.
Of course, he has one more game at Bulldog Stadium to provide a more memorable encore.
"Just when you think you've seen everything in football," Zook said, "you see something like that."
The one that ended with the Bulldogs' secret weapon -- 6-foot-6, 350-pound offensive lineman Devan Cunningham -- somehow catching a batted ball and plopping across the goal line for the winning points in Fresno State's 53-52 victory against Illinois a year ago.
"He's back. He's a giant," Illinois coach Ron Zook said. "But I don't think he's scored since our game, so he's probably looking forward to it as well."
Fresno State players and coaches joke, too, about the play and say Cunningham has been catching passes in the practices leading up to Friday's rematch.
"We've designed a couple of plays for him this year," Bulldogs coach Pat Hill said. "Last year, that wasn't really a designed play. He made it happen."
But as much fun as Fresno State has reminiscing and kidding about one of the oddest and most memorable plays in school history, Cunningham's rumble hardly is something Illinois likes to revisit.
The play, which put an exclamation point to Illinois' 3-9 season, prompted major changes during the Fighting Illini's offseason.
And it's partly a reason why Fresno State won't be facing an Illinois team that simply wants to end a lousy season on a winning note, but instead a bowl-bound Illini squad trying to position itself to play in the best postseason game possible.
"We've really been trying to put the past behind us," Illinois linebacker Nate Bussey said. "We haven't talked about the final play from last year when the lineman caught it. We haven't watched film of last year's game.
"We don't want any of that even in the back of our minds."
Buildup to the play
Cunningham might be the best-known player with two career points in Fresno State history.
That's all it took for the Bulldogs' biggest player to become the lead highlight on many sports highlight shows around the country.
"It was crazy," Cunningham said. "It was a fun experience."
The events leading up to Cunningham's play were almost as exciting.
Fresno State and Illinois were involved in a shootout, combining to score at least two touchdowns in each quarter and five in the final quarter.
Illinois finished with 548 total yards. Fresno State generated 416.
Both teams scored every chance they had in the red zone, combining to go 9 for 9.
But the drama didn't really start to build until the final 10 seconds.
On fourth-and-10 from Illinois 19 and the seconds ticking away, Ryan Colburn hooked up with Jamel Hamler on a post route about 2 yards from the end zone.
Just before Hamler was about to get tackled, he held himself up with his right hand before falling to the ground and stretching with his left to score a touchdown with 2 seconds remaining.
That reduced Fresno State's deficit to 52-51, with a chance to send the game into overtime with an extra point.
Hill wasn't having any of that.
"We hadn't been able to really slow them down," Hill revealed during a postgame interview. "Offensively, we were hot. We were playing at Illinois. I said, 'Let's get it over with.' "
Reliving the rumble
First, his eyes got big.
Then, Cunningham closed them.
And when he opened them back up, Cunningham found himself on the ground in the end zone and saw a game official signal a score.
Of course, making the play happen wasn't that easy.
And Hill later admitted that, "Everything had to go just wrong for that play to go right" in Fresno State's favor.
On the 2-point conversion, Colburn took the snap under center in an offset I-formation to make Illinois think Fresno State might try to run the ball.
Instead, Colburn dropped back and began rolling to his left while looking for Hamler.
Illinois linebacker Russell Ellington, however, sniffed out the rollout, dodged an attempted block by Bulldogs H-back Tapa Taumoepeau, and got his hands on Colburn.
But the left-handed-throwing Colburn stuck out his right hand to fend off Ellington and refused to go down easily as the defender pulled on his legs.
"I thought we had them stopped," Bussey said. "We were right there."
Colburn then flung a pass in the direction of Hamler, who was being covered by Tavon Wilson.
The two jumped for the ball in the end zone and batted it toward the field of play.
"I saw Tavon hit the guy's hand and the ball bounce up," Zook said. "And I saw the big guy. ..."
Cunningham, standing around the 3-yard line, had the ball go right into his arms.
He took three hard-charging steps into the end zone and lowered his shoulder to prepare for contact against Illinois' Doug Pilcher.
Cunningham owned an 85-pound advantage on the defensive lineman.
Four other Illinois defenders converged to help, but Cunningham lunged forward just as he was hit in the back by a Bulldogs offensive lineman.
"I couldn't believe it," said Bussey, who was about 4 feet from the play. "Did that really happen, this big lineman score on us?"
Zook said: "That play probably put an exclamation point on [the season]. There were some things that happened last year that no one was happy about, and we didn't play the way we were capable of playing."
The aftermath
After the season, Zook changed offensive and defensive coordinators and overhauled the schemes. Most notably, Illinois no longer runs a spread option, instead using multiple formations that include downhill running and option elements.
Illinois also replaced quarterback Juice Williams, who finished as the sixth player in Big Ten history to top 10,000 career combined yards, with a two-quarterback rotation.
The Fighting Illini have doubled their win total, and registered signature wins against Penn State and Northwestern. They also were within 11 points of four losses, including a 67-65 triple-overtime defeat at Michigan last month.
Thus, Illinois is bowl eligible again for the first time since 2007, when it played in the Rose Bowl.
"It shows progress in your program," Zook said of becoming bowl eligible again.
Cunningham, meanwhile, has made his most significant contribution this year by being the Bulldogs' most durable offensive lineman.
Of course, he has one more game at Bulldog Stadium to provide a more memorable encore.
"Just when you think you've seen everything in football," Zook said, "you see something like that."
