CHAMPAIGN—Wes Lunt hit Geronimo Allison with a 1-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds left in the game to lead Illinois past Nebraska on Saturday, 14-13.Illinois (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) trailed by 10 at the half and never led until placekicker Taylor Zalewski, who missed two first-half field goals, converted the extra point.Lunt finished the day 23-45 for 251 yards and two touchdowns, the first a 22-yarder to Marchie Murdock early in the final quarter.Allison caught eight passes for 91 yards and the winning touchdown.Nebraska (2-3, 0-1 Big Ten) led 10-0 at the half.Backup Nebraska running back Devine Ozigbo led the Cornhuskers with 70 yards on seven carries and a touchdown.The win was Illinois’ first against Nebraska since 1924.Illinois’ defense kept the Illini the game.Nebraska managed just 292 total yards. Quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. finished the day 10-31 for 105 yards and an interception.And the Illinois defense stopped the Cornhuskers on a fourth-and-7 at the Illini 27 yard-line with 51 seconds to play, giving Lunt one last shot.The junior led Illinois up the field and to the Nebraska 7. On three straight plays, Lunt went to Allison on the right side of the Nebraska end zone. Twice Allison caught the ball out of bounds.But twice Nebraska defensive backs also interfered with Allison, moving the ball to the 1.Then Lunt finally found his target, hitting the senior receiver low and just inside the end zone.Allison, on his knees, raised his arms and looked to the sky. On the sideline, Lunt ran straight into a hug from interim coach Bill Cubit.The celebration appeared to be as much relief as anything.For much of the first half, the upper hand was there for Illinois to take.The Cornhuskers stumbled to three three-and-outs to and a fumbled punt on their first four possessions.The Illini could move the ball, but only until they neared the end zone.Three trips into the Nebraska red zone produced the two missed field goals, from 51 and 41 yards, and a failed fourth-down attempt at the Cornhusker 13. And the half’s final play ended with Ke’Shawn Vaughn’s 48-yard run to the Nebraska 12, putting a fourth empty trip inside the Husker 20 yard-line on the stat sheet.In the meantime, Nebraska found a way to scratch out 10 first-half points.Ozigbo rumbled 19 yards around the right side of Illinois’ defense with 12:35 left in the second quarter for a 7-0 lead.Then, late in the quarter, Armstrong hit Cethan Carter for a 55-yard pass down the right sideline that set up a 39-yard Drew Brown field goal. With 11 seconds to play, Nebraska was up 10-0.

MOUNT PLEASANT—Cooper Rush threw two touchdown passes and Brian Eavey kicked three field goals Saturday to help Central Michigan overtake Northern Illinois for a 29-19 win in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams.Trailing 10-3 at the half, Central Michigan (2-3) tied it up early in the third quarter with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Rush to Jesse Kroll, who later hauled in a 23-yard TD strike as well. Jahray Hayes punched in a touchdown from the 4 to extend the lead and Eavey padded it in the fourth quarter with his third field goal of the game, a 41-yarder.Rush, who had been averaging 317 yards per game, completed 16 of 31 passes for 182 yards and an interception.Northern Illinois (2-3), the defending league champion, got two touchdowns from Joel Bouagnon, who finished with 104 yards on 26 carries.

The Blackhawks made two surprising roster moves on Friday morning when they placed veteran forward Bryan Bickell on waivers and sent Marko Dano to Rockford of the American Hockey League.Let’s start with Bickell, because his contract has been a thorn in the Blackhawks’ side pretty much since the moment it was signed. Following an incredible postseason performance during their 2013 Stanley Cup run where Bickell scored nine goals and eight assists in 23 playoff games, the Blackhawks signed him to a four-year, $16 million contract extension, presumably with the hope that he would continue to score goals and serve as a power forward.The problem: Other than that brief surge in the postseason he had never really been a scoring threat and the cap-strapped Blackhawks were basically paying $4 million per year for a banger and grinder. Given all of the moves the Blackhawks have had to make this offseason to get under the cap, including the trade of young star Brandon Saad to the Columbus Blue Jackets, that turned out to be an expensive mistake.General manager Stan Bowman attempted to move Bickell repeatedly over the summer (one recent rumor involved the Edmonton Oilers and defenseman Nikita Nikitin) but were unable to complete anything, almost certainly because of the money that he is still owed over the next two years. It is likely that he will pass through waivers unclaimed.If the Blackhawks send him to the minors it will only save them $925,000 in cap space, via General Fanager.The other big move Friday was the decision to send Dano to Rockford to start the season. That one is a pretty significant development because Dano was one of the key pieces the Blackhawks received when they traded Saad to the Blue Jackets over the summer.Still only 20 years old, Dano is coming off of a promising debut season in the NHL that saw him record 21 points in 35 games and then follow it up with what was a pretty promising training camp and preseason performance for the Blackhawks. Given his skill and dirt cheap contract it was expected that he would have some sort of role on this season’s team. And he still might in the very near future. It just seems that it won’t happen at the start of the season.

AFC GAMES: NY Jets over MIA, INDY over Jax, CIN over K.City, SD over Cleve
NFC GAMES: Phila over WASH, Carolina over TB, ARIZ over St.Louis
INT CONF GAMES: ATL over Houst, BUFF over NY Giants
THUR NIGHT: PITT over Balt
SUN NIGHT: Dal over N.ORL
NFC NORTH GAMES: Mon Night,SEAT over DET, DENV over Minn, G.Bay over SF & Oak over BEARS
Home teams in ALL CAPS, Byes this week: Tenn & N.Eng
Last week: Les 12-4, Producers 13-3. Total through 3 weeks: Les 30-18, Producers: 19-19