By DAVID MERCER
Associated Press Writer

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.(AP) -- In the middle of the excitement of a rare
postgame press conference appearance, Fresno State offensive
lineman Devan Cunningham made sure to put in a couple of phone
calls back home.

The junior guard made one heck of a highlight he wanted to get
on tape.

"I called my roommate back in Fresno to record it, to tell my
family to record it," he said. "I've gotten a lot of texts
saying good job, we saw you."

After pulling down a deflected pass, Cunningham used every one
of his 350 pounds to lean into the Illinois end zone for a
two-point conversion that gave the Bulldogs a 53-52 win.

"That's not exactly how the play was drawn up," Fresno State
coach Pat Hill said, "but it counts."

The big man's big play was the catalyst for bag full of
milestones.

It helped atone for a double overtime loss at Wisconsin in the
season's second week, and it gave Hill his 100th win at Fresno
State. But perhaps most important, Cunningham's two points - his
first since a short dive for a touchdown in high school -
improved Fresno State to 9-3.

They wait now to find out where they're headed for bowl season.

Cunningham's two-point lean marked a few milestones for the
Illini, too, though they didn't leave many smiles in the home
locker room. The college career of quarterback Juice Williams,
the face of Ron Zook's team since coming to Champaign, came to a
wrenching close after three losing seasons in four years as
starter.

"It was tough, not even so much that we lost," Williams said,
"but that it was the last time that I will walk off the field as
an Illini football player.

And the loss closed up the second-straight losing campaign for
the Illinois, which looked like a team on the rise when it went
to Pasadena.

"I feel awful for them," Zook said of his seniors. "I really
do."

The two teams' 105 points set a record for 86-year-old Memorial
Stadium, and they combined for 964 yards of total offense - 564
of it on the ground.

But this wasn't 3 yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust Midwestern football.
This was big-play running, with backs bursting through big holes
and the two defenses all but absent.

Fresno State had 233 yards rushing, including 173 on 32 carries
by Ryan Mathews. With just a bowl game left to play, he is the
nation's leading rusher with 151.3 yards a game.

Illinois (3-9) had 331 rushing yards and was led by sophomore
Mikel LeShoure, who carried 11 times for 184 yards and two
touchdowns. He also caught a touchdown pass from Williams.

Illinois led 28-21 at halftime, and after Fresno opened the
second half with 10 straight points, traded touchdowns through
the third and fourth quarters.

Trailing 52-45, Colburn drove the Bulldogs 67 yards and pulled
the Bulldogs within a point on a touchdown pass to Jamel Hamler
with 2 seconds left. Hill called a timeout and huddled with his
offense, opting to go for the win rather than kicking the extra
point and forcing overtime.

"An overtime game was not in our bets interest at the time,"
Hill said. "There have been games, like at Wisconsin, I felt
that it was for us. But that's a whole different conversation."

Colburn rolled right and, under heavy pressure, flung a prayer
toward Hamler just inside the goal line that was batted away and
brought down by Cunningham. The lineman leaned through a crowd
of players at the 2-yard line and landed on the orange end zone
turf, helped by a shove from 280-pound center Joe Bernardi.

"After I caught the ball I thought to myself, 'Oh man, the end
zone is right there,"' Cunningham said. "The guy hit me and then
Joe hit me from behind, which made me go forward and I was able
to get into the end zone."

Officials reviewed the play and ruled that an Illinois defensive
back had tipped the ball, not a Fresno State player, allowing
anybody to catch it.

Illini athletic director Ron Guenther has said Zook's job is
safe, but also said other coaching staff changes may be needed.
Zook complained after the game about Illinois' inability to stop
Fresno State, and said the problem wasn't unique to Saturday.

"You have got to have the belief that when they are driving the
football they are not going to get in, that you are going to
keep them out of there," he said. "Big plays are something that
has plagued us a lot these past couple of years, and we have got
to get it fixed."