By Woodrow Carroll
For the second consecutive season, Illinois’ kicker, James McCourt, a 6-1 and 215-pound senior, came through at the most opportune time for the Fighting Illini.
Saturday at Rutgers, McCourt’s 47-yard field goal with :03 remaining in regulation gave Illinois a 23-20 victory, its first of the season, over the host Scarlet Knights in a Big Ten Conference game.
McCourt attempted five field goal against Rutgers, 1-3, all in the second half . He connected from 23 and 24 yards prior to missing from 54 and 45 yards. Fortunately for Illinois, Rutgers’ quarterback Noah Vedral threw two fourth-quarter interceptions to give the Illini new life. Illinois redshirt freshman quarterback Isiah Williamson, 5-10, 180, led his team’s offense with 31 carries for 192 yards rushing and Illinois improved to 1-3.
Williamson will be an added dimension for the Illini in their 11 a.m. game at Nebraska Saturday. Nebraska defeated Penn State, 30-23, Saturday in an uncommon game between two teams normally powerful, however, each 0-3. Nebraska is 13-3-1 lifetime against Illinois and won the teams’ game last season, 42-38, in Champaign.
The dramatic victory Saturday ended Illinois’ six-game losing streak from last season. Illinois backers hope McCourt’s heroics will bring about a repeat of last season when a 39-yard McCourt field goal when time expired against Wisconsin to gave Illinois a stunning 24-23 victory over the heavily- favored Badgers. The conquest of Wisconsin was the start of four-game winning streak which set the stage for Illinois’ Redbox Bowl invitation won by California, 35-20.
Last season Illinois trailed Wisconsin, 20-7, prior to victory. Saturday the Orange-and-Blue trailed 20-10 prior to the comeback.
• Short schedule or not, Northwestern already surpassed its victory total from last season of three. By defeating host Purdue, 27-20, Saturday, Northwestern, No. 19 in the latest Associated Press poll, moved to 4-0. Last season, when hopes were high, Northwestern closed with a 3-9 record. This season has been a pleasant surprise for Northwestern, one of four Big Ten sides with nary a defeat. Northwestern and No. 9 Indiana each is 4-0. No. 3 Ohio State is 3-0 and No. 10 Wisconsin is 2-0 through four weeks.
There will be two undefeated teams after the Saturday games, assuming they play with COVID-19 a looming threat! Indiana will be at Ohio State at 11 a.m. Saturday and Northwestern be host to Wisconsin at 2:30 p.m.. The victors in those battles will become the frontrunners in their respective East and West Divisions.
• The Mid-American Conference (MAC) has been impressive so far this season, not necessarily for the quality of play! Two weeks into a six-game conference schedule, MACtion, which MAC likes to bill itself, has yet to be bitten by the COVID-19 bug. Knock on wood!
There is a nice symmetry to the MAC standings. Each division has a couple of 2-0 teams, then a pair of 1-1 sides with two teams at 0-2. Sadly, for Northern Illinois backers the Huskies are in the two-loss group.
In the abbreviated MAC schedule, Northern Illinois played its first two games at home. After falling, 49-30, to Buffalo, the Huskies hoped to rebound against Central Michigan (CMU) last week and did not in a 40-10 defeat.
Northern Illinois made it easy for CMU by showing no life in the first half. Eight possessions the first 30 minutes by Northern Illinois produced six punts, a turnover on downs, and safety for CMU, which led only 9-0 at halftime. Central Michigan opened it up the final 30 minutes to ease its way to victory. A late touchdown by the Huskies only made the final score slightly more respectable.
Northern Illinois was set to play at Ball State Wednesday this week and will play at Western Michigan Saturday, Nov. 28. The Huskies have only one home game remaining, a December 5 meeting with Toledo, prior to wrapping up at Eastern Michigan December 12. Such is the state of college football.