Considering that Northwestern beat Iowa last week while Illinois lost to Minnesota, one would think the Wildcats would have been the favorites,but with QB Dan Persa done for the season with a torn Achilles,this was not the same Wildcat team,and the Illini ran all over the NU defense that came out flat. Mikel Leshoure ran for a School marki 330 yards and Illinois never trailed in winning the first and likely last Wrigleyville Classic 48-27.
Illinois won the coin toss and elected to receive,but of course Northwestern did not get to pick which goal to defend. Darius Mikkines returned the kickoff to his 34. Leshoure proceed to run through the Northwestern defense like it was tissue paper. First he got a quick 32 yards around left end to the NU 34. Then he got 28 to the 4,and he scored on the next play to give the Illini a quick 7-0 lead 1:17 into the game.The Wildcats started at their own 30,and Evan Watkins fumbled the ball away when sacked by Martez Wilson on third down, Clay Nurse recovered,giving the Illini the ball at the NU 30.Two big runs by QB Nathan Scheelhaase got the ball,to the 13,and Leshoure ran to the 4 for a first and goal.He followed that up with a three yard pick up to the one and then powered over to make it a rather easy 14-0 lead just 9:54 into the game.A shot kickoff was returned to the Cats 39. The Cats got their initial first down when backup QB Cain Colter ran for it.Watkins returned and hit Sidney Stewart for 13 and a first down to the Illini37,but Adonis Smith then fumbled the ball away on the next play,and Michael Buchanan recovered for the Illini who took over at their own 29.Jason Ford had a wide hole for 16 yards to his 44.Scheelhaase then ran around left end to the 35. The Illini tried some razzle-dazzle but back up QB/WR Eddie McGee’s pass was picked off by Brian Peters who ran it 55 yards into the “Forbidden” East end zone and the Illinois lead was suddenly cut to 14-7.Illinois started their next drive on their 27.NU, still unable to stop Leshoure saw him run for 70 yards to the 3.After a two yard loss, the Illini went Ford for a five yard run and it was 21-1 with 4:52 left in the first quarter.Northwestern got their next possession started at their 28.To make things worse for NU, Watkins threw a third down pass right to Ian Thomas of Illinois who ran it back to the NU 30.A 15 yard personal foul on the Cats allowed the Illini to start at the 15. Scheelhaase got 8 yards to the 7, but then a holding call pushed the ball back to the 17.On third down, Scheelhaase threw a pass to Spencer Wilson who fell down out of bounds,then came back in and caught the ball but there was also a holding on NU,so the play went over and a pass to A.J.Jenkins was stopped at the 11. Derek Dimke was wide right from 28 yards and the score remained 21-7 Illinois. The Wildcats took over at their 20 and Mike Trumpy broke free around the left side and won a foot race with the Illinois secondary,scoring to trim the lead to 21-14 with 1:00 remaining in the lengthy first quarter.Troy Pollard returned the kickoff 28 yards to the Illinois 46. The Cats defense stiffened a bit but Dimke was still able to connect on a 45 yard field goal to make it 24-14 with 11:55 left in the half.The NU offense was ineffective and Brandon Williams became the first in this game to punt, kicking it to the Illini 20,but for the first time,they also had to punt after three downs.Venric Mark,after dropping the kick,picked it up and broke three tackles,ran to the left side and got 48 yards to the Illinois 14.A two yard loss by Trumpy was followed by Colter’s keeper for two, and after a pass out of bounds by Watkins, Stefan Demos kicked a 31 yard field goal,leaving it to 24-17 Illini.Troy Pollard returned the kickoff 18 yards to the Illinois 35.On a third down,Scheelhaase had his long pass picked off by Peters, his second of the game and NU took over at it’s 25.Watkins hit Stewart for 19 to the NU 46.Tony Jones then grabbed a Watkins pass for 32 yards to the Illinois 9.Adonis Smith got seven, to the 2,and Trumpy scored untouched his second TD of the game and after early problems,the Wildcats came all the way back to tie the game 24-24 with 2:53 left in the first half. After an illegal block in the back penalty on the kickoff,the Illini started at their 9.A 39 run by Leshoure got the ball on the NU 40.Scheelhaase was able to move his team to the NU 22 with :05 left and Dimke,after the Wildcats called two timeouts in an effort to ice the kicker, still kicked a 39 yard field goal as time elapsed and the Illini regain the lead at halftime,albeit by just 27-24.Leshoure rushed for 218 yards on 18 carries in the first half for Illinois.
The Wildcats received the second half kickoff and after a touch back,started at their 20 and went nowhere.Williams punted and the Illini started at their 39 and kept it on the ground with Lashoure and Ford to get to the NU 25.On a fourth and one, Leshoure picked up a first down at the 15.Scheelhaase would eventually hit A.J.Jenkins with a ten yard TD pass and the Illini regained a two possession lead 34-24 with 6:50 left in the third quarter.After an exchange of punts, NU got the ball at their 20 with :37 left in the third quarter.A nice scramble by Watkins got the ball to the Illini 29 as the third quarter ended,but he was later sacked and Williams punted into the end zone.LeShoure broke another long one, 62 yards to the NU 8.Scheelhaase then ran to the 2,and Ford put this game on ice with a TD run to make it 41-24. Watkins worked a mostly no huddle drive to the Illini 11 after a nice pass to Tony Jones. But they had to settle for a Demos 25 yard field goal to get to within 41-27 with 7:43 left. They still could not figure out Leshoure who broke the Illinois record with his first carry on the next drive.Robert Holcombe held to old mark of 315 against Minnesota in 1996.Ford added another one yard TD with :36 left.
NOTES—The sold out crowd was 41,058….Illinois is now 2-0 at Wrigley Field as they also beat NU here(29-0)in 1923…..This was Illinois’s first game in Chicago since losing to Washington State at Soldier Field in 1988…..NU’s last game in Chicago was the Pigskin Classic at Soldier Field to open the 1997 season and the Wildcats shutout Oklahoma 23-0……NU closes it’s regular season at Wisconsin next Saturday while Illinois plays at Fresno State…..With both teams Bowl eligible,it would be the first time ever that the Illini and Wildcats BOTH go to a Bowl the same season.
LES