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CHAMPAIGN, Illinois (Ticker) -- Minnesota left little doubt about its first win in Champaign in nearly 20 years. Thomas Hamner ran for 184 yards and quarterback Billy Cockerham added 100 as the Golden Gophers built an early lead and cruised to a 37-7 pasting of Illinois in a Big Ten Conference game. Minnesota (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and never let the Illini (3-3, 0-3), who were playing in front of a homecoming crowd, get within 10 points thereafter. The Golden Gophers rebounded from their only loss of the season, a 20-17 overtime heartbreaker last weekend against Wisconsin. Minnesota has a chance to stay near the top of the Big Ten race in the coming weeks with games against ranked conference foes Ohio State, Purdue and Penn State. Luke Leverson gave Minnesota the lead with 4:30 left in the first quarter when he returned a punt 74 yards for a touchdown. On the Golden Gophers' next possession, Cockerham drove them 44 yards in five plays, finishing the march with a six-yard scoring pass to Jermaine Mays that made it 14-0 with 1:25 left in the first. Dan Nystrom capped a nine-play, 50-yard drive with a 26-yard field goal to make it 17-0 with just under 12 minutes left in the first half. Hamner carried 32 times and Cockerham kept it 23. Cockerham completed 9-of-15 passes for 95 yards and was not intercepted. Byron Evans added 72 yards on nine carries as the Gophers picked up 367 yards on the ground, to 145 for Illinois. With 54 seconds remaining before the half, Illinois got its only points, a 32-yard scoring pass from Kurt Kittner to Aaron Moorehead, cutting it to 17-7. Nystrom booted a 24-yarder with 8:53 left in the third quarter and Hamner scored on a 19-yard run 4:50 later for a 27-7 lead. Nystrom hit from 20 yards with 10:23 left in the game and Evans made the final margin with a three-yard TD run with 2:12 left. Steve Havard ran for 60 yards on 10 carries and Kittner 57 on nine. Kittner was 19-of-45 for 180 yards and was intercepted once as Illinois lost its third straight game after opening the season with three wins.
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