By Woodrow Carroll
In the final analysis, it was a Northern Illinois University victory even of the Huskies had to work harder than expected.
Heavily-favored Northern Illinois opened its football season last week with a 34-27 victory over the visiting Panthers of Eastern Illinois Thursday, Sept. 1 in DeKalb. The victory that was not secured until time expired.
Northern Illinois, the defending Mid-American Conference champion, was in contrast to Eastern Illinois, winner of one game last season. It looked as though a certain victory for Northern Illinois early in the game. With a 28-6 Northern Illinois lead midway through the third quarter, all seemed secure. But, Eastern Illinois kept coming back and the Northern Illinois faithful had a few worries prior to victory.
Next for Northern Illinois will be a 6 p.m. game Saturday, Sept. 10 in Tulsa, Okla..
The Tulsa University Golden Hurricane, an American Athletic Conference member, gave up a 10-pont lead in the second half and fell to Wyoming, 40-37, in double overtime Saturday, Sept. 3. A potential game-winning field goal by Tulsa with 0:02 remaining in regulation hit the right upright and bounced away.
• Of the 14 teams in the Big Ten only one failed to win a conference game last season, Indiana Hoosiers, 2-10 overall and 0-9 in Big Ten.
Illinois, after a convincing victory over Wyoming the prior week, was primed for the Hoosiers Friday, Sept. 2. An Illinois victory was in the offing. Only, the Illini failed at crunch time. With 11 minutes remaining in regulation, Illinois’ Chase Brown was stuffed at the Indiana one on fourth down with Illinois ahead by one point.
After Illinois added a field goal a short time later, the Hoosiers drove 75 yards in the waning seconds for the 23-20 victory. The Illini had no answer and Indiana had its Big Ten victory.
Brown carried 36 times for 199 yards against the Hoosiers. Indiana’s Shaun Shivers had a measly 28 yards on 15 carries. Yet, it was a one-yard rush for a touchdown in the final minute by Shivers that made the difference.
Illinois, 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten will be host to Virginia, 1-0 at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10.
Once again, the future of Illinois football has come to the fore. The big victory over Wyoming, was followed by the loss at Indiana. Last season, an Illinois victory over Nebraska in the opener was followed by four successive defeats and the struggle for Illini respectability was on.
Illinois’ most one-sided defeat a year ago was a 42-14 loss at Virginia, although a 24-0 loss at Wisconsin was equally ugly.
The Virginia Cavaliers scored an expected 34-17 victory over Richmond Saturday, Sept. 3 to open their season. Virginia plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference which has been dominated by Clemson in recent seasons.
After the first two weeks, the Big Ten Conference was 13-3 overall and the picture is better than at first look.
All three defeats suffered by Big Ten teams were to Conference members. Penn State beat Purdue, 35-31, Northwestern beat Nebraska, 31-28, and Indiana beat Illinois, 23-20. The Big Ten was 10-0 against outsiders at the start of this week.
• The Southeastern Conference( SEC) is the conference with the reputation. Given that the SEC’s University of Georgia beat fellow Conference member, Alabama, in the National championship game last season, it’s hard to argue with SEC brilliance. However, thanks to Florida State’s 24-23 thrilling victory over LSU Sunday, Sept. 4, the SEC has dropped a game to outside opposition.
The SEC was 14-1 overall after LSU’s loss to Florida State. The SEC will make its presence felt along the way this season.