CHAMPAIGN – He politely passed when asked if he was ready to go yard-for-yard with Sedrick Irvin in two weeks.

"I don't want to get into that," Steve Havard said with a laugh.

After one 100-yard Big Ten rushing effort, he's not going to start issuing challenges to the league's elite.

But Saturday's 146-yard, three-touchdown, big-play day showed why Illinois' all-time leading rusher, Robert Holcombe, was so high on the guy from Red Grange's high school.

"I felt tremendous today," Havard said after Illinois' 31-16 upset of Indiana. "I can't tell you what the future holds but this could be the start of something good."

The junior tailback stole the show on Senior Day, his two long touchdown runs giving Illinois its first Big Ten home win since Oct. 5, 1996, the last time the Hoosiers were in town.

On the first play of the second quarter, Havard took a Kirk Johnson handoff and took off, his 45-yard run up the middle putting Illinois ahead for good.

It was the longest touchdown play of his career.

Until about an hour later.

On the first play of the third quarter, he topped that, taking the opening kickoff 94 yards to pay dirt without a Hoosier laying a hand on him.

"That's something we haven't had: that big-play capability," Illinois coach Ron Turner said. "That's good to see."

Illinois fans haven't seen work like Havard's since the Gary Moeller days. The last Illini to take back a kickoff: James Coleman against Michigan State on Oct. 29, 1977.

"I was asking Steve on the sidelines where he got that speed from," guard Ray Redziniak said.

Havard's teammates hadn't seen him motor like that since the last time Illinois won a home game, in Week 2 against Middle Tennessee State. He had a career-high 175 yards that night but hurt a hamstring, which had been bugging him until just recently.

"That hamstring bothered him worse than he'll ever admit, but you could see it in his performance," Turner said.

He managed just 24 yards against Louisville, 11 against Iowa, 3 against Northwestern, 5 against Ohio State, 11 against Wisconsin and minus-2 against Purdue. Havard said the hamstring felt fine for the first time last weekend against Penn State, when he replaced freshman Rocky Harvey in the starting lineup and ran 15 times for 56 yards.

Last time he had a game like Saturday?

"Probably in high school," Havard said. "I had a lot of games like this in high school."

Havard didn't have a flaw-free day. Indiana's Michael McGrath scooped up his second-quarter fumble and ran it back 35 yards for a touchdown which brought Indiana within 14-13 early.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about it after it happened," Havard said. "But I went to the sideline and Coach Turner and my backfield coach (Jim Helms) said, 'Keep you head up and make up for it the next play.'

"Once I knew I had their confidence, I was OK."