Luke Altmyer stirring up Heisman buzz after stellar outing in Lincoln

LINCOLN, Neb. — The Illinois quarterback is coming off a magnificent performance on the road, and making a name for himself along the way.

There’s no denying that Luke Altmyer is proving that he’s one of the Big Ten’s best quarterbacks entering week five. After all, the Fighting Illini are 4-0 for the first time since 2011, plus Altmyer has 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions during that span.

All of his numbers through the air are among the nation’s best, including passing efficiency and completion percentage. The Fighting Illini have also defeated two ranked teams along the way, and they’re currently 19th in the AP Poll. Altmyer is a major contributor to Illinois’ success, and Coach Bret Bielema feels he’s just cracking the surface.

“Probably the best is yet to come, I mean it,” Bielema said. “Luke has done a tremendous job, he’s so aware, and he’s so intelligent.”

The gunslinger completed 21 of his 27 passes for 215 yards and four touchdowns against Nebraska. Nearly 90,000 fans were screaming at the top of their lungs the entire night, but that didn’t faze Altmyer. He led the Fighting Illini on a scoring drive on their first possession, which ended in 27-yard touchdown strike. Altmyer wanted to make a statement, and he accomplished that in the Sea of Red.

“It’s definitely good to be able to go on the road in front of a sold out crowd, and score on your first possession, not in such an easy way, but we had to handle our business out of the gate,” Altmyer said. “Just to be able to silence the noise of the crowd, and put everybody on notice that we came to play and compete.”

Altmyer was fearless, and had full command of Illinois’ offense. He spread the wealth around too, with three Fighting Illini players catching five or more passes. The Mississippi native threw a touchdown in every quarter, including two to wideout Pat Bryant. Not to mention Altmyer rallied his team back from a seven-point deficit at halftime.

At times it appeared that he made other around him better, and the rest of the offense responded to his energy. Everyone tuned in to see Altmyer slug it out with Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola, and he delivered. The Blackshirts didn’t make it a cakewalk for him though.

“They came to play, they come to compete every single snap, and did some great things with pressure and mixing up the looks,” he said. “So it’s really good for our team to go up against a defense like that on the road, and to succeed in a lot of ways, and to run the ball there at the end was really, really awesome.”

It was a hot night in Lincoln, and by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, both teams weren’t operating at the level they were in the first half. In return, that opened up the Fighting Illini’s rushing attack. Altmyer is proud that Illinois turned it up a notch in overtime, despite having to overcome several obstacles.

“I think fatigue was a factor out there for everybody, especially in overtime, but we were so excited to got out there and compete, which was the emphasis all week,” the 21-year old said. “Those guys were heavy and big up front, so we wanted to use our tempo to our advantage to wear them down a little bit.”

Illinois scored 14 unanswered points to end the game, and Altmyer felt that put an exclamation point on the evening. The Fighting Illini dealt with adversity and persevered, which Altmyer feels is going to help the team down the road. The junior was also named the Big Ten’s co-Offensive Player of the Week for his heroics. Altmyer’s national recognition is bringing eyes to the program.

Now Illinois has a tougher test looming, with a trip to Happy Valley to take on an undefeated Penn State team in week five. Regardless, the Fighting Illini are riding high, and have momentum. Altmyer feels his team showed grit, toughness, and they aren’t scared of the spotlight, regardless of the opponent.

“We didn’t run the ball great in the first half, but one thing about this team, we’re going to lean on our offensive line and our backs, and we just stuck with it.”