ORLANDO, Fla. (WCIA) — For the first time since 2001, Illinois football is ending the year with ten wins.

The Illini defeated South Carolina 21-17 in a hard-fought Cheez-It Citrus Bowl to end the year with a 21-17 record. The win marks Illinois’s first bowl win since the 2011 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl against UCLA.

The Gamecocks were first to score after Illinois forced a field goal. As time expired in the first quarter, Luke Altmyer found Zakhari Franklin, who heaved in a touchdown for a 7-3 lead.

South Carolina threatened to score in the second half, but a big stop by Illini senior Ryan Mead kept the Gamecocks out of the endzone. A missed field goal would keep the score 7-3 at the half.

The first touchdown of the second half went to South Carolina, but Illinois answered on a Josh McCray touchdown run. The third quarter got chippy between the two head coaches as substitutions came under question, but South Carolina had the last word with a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Josh McCray scored again midway through the fourth quarter on a nine-yard rush for the 21-17 lead. His 60-yard run helped solidify the win and earn him the title of MVP.